Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/65



is an example of one of the curious anomalies which have been generated by the collision of Western progress with Eastern stagnancy. It presents, indeed, an astonishing phenomenon, a European city—not unfit to be the capital of many a European country—dumped down on a Chinese mud-flat. The mud-flat is still the property of China, who receives ground-rent from the foreigner who has spread his palatial mansions over it; but beyond receiving this consideration she has little say in the management of the settlement, which entrusts a municipal council with the conduct of its affairs. Shanghai is, in fact, an independent republic with a government of its