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Old French concession gave wealthy folks a fancy playground
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Wukang Road is in the former new French concession, or the western district of the concession. The French Municipal Council gained this vast area by expanding its concession westward as far as today’s Huashan Road in 1914.
The French concession was created in 1849 on a narrow strip of land sandwiched between the British settlement and Shanghai old town. The concession was expanded in 1900 and for the last time in 1914, when its area totaled more than 1,000 hectares.
“The breakthrough point for Shanghai’s modern urban development was the first decade of the 20th century. This period marked the beginning of massive industrialization, a booming population and rapid expansion of urban space. The new French concession thrived from in this period,” says Tongji University associate professor Liu Gang, who did his PhD research on the area.
According to the book “Shanghai Wukang Road,” the eastern district of the French concession with Jinling Road as its axis had become commercialized by around 1915. A high-density road network and alleyway houses had also taken shape in the area.
On the contrary, the concession’s western district still looked like countryside, crisscrossed with farms, villages, graveyards and small rivers.
It was planned as a high-end residential zone to accommodate the city’s growing population of wealthy individuals. By the 1920s and 30s, the city witnessed the fastest urban development in its history.
Under this background and owing to high construction standards and strict management by the French Municipal Council, the new district, including the neighborhood of Rue de Ferguson (today’s Wukang Road) quickly grew to be an idyllic, convenient community with garden villas and apartment buildings.
Experts praised it as “the only well-planned, high-quality residential area in old Shanghai.”
“Buildings along Wukang Road were mostly low-density, independent residences, which was rather different from the high-density, mixed-used buildings, such as shikumen, in the city’s earlier settlements and concessions,” Liu says.
“In the 19th century, the urban space was divided by Chinese and foreigners. But after 1900, social groups began to define urban spaces.
“In shikumen, poor people had to live in high density homes because it was cheaper,” Liu continues. “Residents usually exchanged services with each other to keep their costs down. But in the new district, wealthy people were enjoying more space and privacy. They did not rely on their neighbors for a living. With these different urban spaces, and the rich, the poor, the foreigners, the Chinese, men and women all mingling together, Shanghai was a very interesting city.”
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