Robert Hart and the Chinese Maritime Customs
The ledger at Ningbo in 1854 was a bad ledger. Robert Hart, who had come out to China the year before at nineteen with…
24 min read
Tag
Treaty Ports
How Three Towns Became Wuhan
Wuhan is not one city. It is the awkward but durable union of three: Wuchang on the southern bank of the Yangtze, Hankou on…
16 min read
The Long History of Shanghai’s Bund
Stand on the riverside promenade in central Shanghai and you face two centuries at once. Behind you, along a curve of the Huangpu River…
14 min read