Shanghai – An Asian Metropolis with European Influences
VHS Bonn Lecture – South-East Asia
Shanghai – An Asian Metropolis with European Influences
By J. Patrick Fischer – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Shanghai is one of China’s 13 metropolises, the country’s biggest city and one of China’s main industrial centers. Throughout history Europe and the US, having their own concessions carved out after the First Opium War around the mid-17th century, but also Russia, during the Chinese-Russian Friendship era and Anti-Communist White Russians and Russian Jews fleeing the newly established Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s, left visible marks on the Asian metropolis. With the world’s busiest container port to its name, Shanghai aims to be an international shipping center in the near future. This begs the question on how its urban development will play out. Will it follow Europe’s or the one of the US? Or embark on a totally different path given its sociocultural idiosyncrasy that is still hard to grasp for foreigners? Ethnologist Prof. Dr. Christoph Antweiler from Bonn University shared with us his view and opinions on the basis of his research and several stays in Shanghai and all around Asia.
Speaker
- Prof. Dr. Christoph Antweiler
- Ethnologist
- Director of Bonn International Graduate School – Oriental and Asian Studies, Bonn University
Authoritarian Power
Push Effect
Involving the police can have adverse effects for the one filing the complaint too. For one thing, it means not complying with the peace- and rightful picture of a Chinese citizen, whereupon corrective disciplinary measures could follow. Also, after opening up to the dictatorial regimen, you could be seen as a whistleblower by your neighbors, which would reduce their feeling of trust and social interactions with you. Therefore, people resolve minor issues like in the example mentioned in the Tweet above by themselves.
Pull Approach
Shanghai’s Street Scene
Minorities
Historic Architectural Influences
Future Development
