Databases

China and the Modern World: Records of Shanghai and the International Settlement, 1836-1955 provides a primary source collection vital to understanding and researching the social, political, legal, and economic history of the highly globalized Shanghai International Settlement as well as the history of modern China from 1836 to 1955. Comprised of nine series of British Foreign Office files from The National Archives in the United Kingdom that are directly related to the history of Shanghai and the International Settlement, plus a small number of files selected from the records of the British Ministry of Labour, Treasury, and War Office, this collection illuminates Shanghai and the International Settlement as the seat of various formative events that shaped the history of modern China as it transformed from an imperial dynasty to a globally engaged republic.

The archive consists of a wide range of archival documents—including but not limited to general correspondence; judges’ and magistrates’ notebooks; registers of companies, births, deaths, and marriages; protocols of treaties; dispatches; reports; maps and plans; and photographs—produced by the Foreign Office, British legation in China, British Consulate in Shanghai, British Supreme Court for China, and so on.

The database is also accessible via Gale Primary Sources.