Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/380

372 performances of high-class music throughout the year, and a series of dances, concerts. and other entertainments dispels the dullness of the winter months. In short, the monotony which is characteristic of life in the East is absent from Shanghai, which is often styled the "Paris of the Orient," in recognition of its gaiety.

Shanghai is divided into three parts—the International Settlement, the French Concession, and the Native City—which are adjacent to one another. The first two constitute the Foreign Settlement and embrace an area of nine square miles. As the French Concession consists only of about 1,625 mow, it will readily be seen that the International Settlement is by far the more important of the two. Within it a unique system of administration obtains, and the remarkable success by which it has been attended has won for Shanghai the name of the "Model Settlement." Under the Land Regulations, which have been approved by the imperial authorities at Peking and the Ministers of the various Powers having treaties with with China, the foreign owners of land and occupiers of houses possess the fullest powers of self-government. For the conduct of public affairs a Municipal Council is elected each year by popular vote, but it has no power to levy rates, make bye-laws, or embark upon new projects without first obtaining the sanction of the ratepayers assembled in public meeting. For the settlement of disputes between the Council and individual members of the community a Court of Consuls was constituted in 1870. There is a Municipal Council, also, in the French Concession, but its decisions are inoperative until they receive the assent of the French Consul, who is, ex officio, president. The spirit of progress has recently communicated itself to the Native City, and as a consequence the first Chinese Municipal Council in the Empire was established here two or three years ago. In the Settlement every foreigner is amenable to the laws of his own country. Cases against Chinese are heard before a Mixed Court, presided over by a Chinese magistrate, with whom sits a foreign assessor appointed by the principal Consulates. The heart of the Settlement lies in the old British Concession, which was soon extended northwards from the Peking Road to the Soochow Creek. A magnificent boulevard runs along the riverside, where in the early days a sedgy swamp was bordered by a towing path, and this is the redeeming feature of a town otherwise devoid of beauty. The river bank is carpeted with a wide and well-kept stretch of level grass bordered on either side by an asphalte path, while the roadway beyond is lined with trees whose foliage refreshes the eye and affords grateful shade in the summer. In the middle of the Bund—for that is the name of this delightful promenade—stands a large statue of Sir Harry Parkes, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., British Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to China from 1882 to 1885. This was erected in 1890 by the foreign merchants in China in recognition of his great services. Further along is a monument in the form of a broken mast to commemorate the heroic death of the crew of the German gunboat Iltis which was wrecked during a typhoon off the coast of Shantung in 1896.

At the northern end of the Bund are the Public Gardens, occupying an admirable situation at the junction of the Whangpoo, which is about a quarter of a mile wide at this part, and the Soochow Creek, originally the more important stream of the two. The site, which was reclaimed from the foreshore, belonged to the British Consulate until 1864, when the Foreign Office agreed to its conversion into a public garden on the understanding that if it ever ceased to be used for that purpose it would revert to the British Government. Towards the cost of levelling the property and laying it out in lawns, shrubberies, and flower-beds, the trustees of the Recreation Fund contributed Tls. 10,000. The little enclosure is kept bright throughout the year with a constant succession of flowering plants, many of which have been imported from Europe and elsewhere. Snowdrops, hyacinths, tulips, and roses are to be seen in season, but the most beautiful sight of all is afforded by the magnolias in bloom. Facing the band-stand there is a large fountain of rockwork, erected to commemorate the jubilee of Shanghai, which was celebrated on November 17 and 18, 1893. In close proximity to this stands a graceful granite monument to Augustus Raymond Margery, who was sent by Her Britannic Majesty's Government to open up a trade route between China and Burma, and was murdered in Yunnan on the return journey on February 21, 1875. A second fountain depicts two little children in terra cotta seeking shelter from the rain under an umbrella, and a short distance away a small granite obelisk records