During the year 1925 the Council took a census of the populationof the International Settlement. The figures showed a remarkablegrowth within a period of five years.
The total number of foreign residents in 1925 was 29,947 asagainst 23,307 in 1920, and the number of Chinese residents was810,299 as against 75 9,83 9 in 1920. In the French Concession thepopulation was foreigners 7, 811 and Chinese 297,072.
An analysis of the figures showed that the Germans had athreefold greater number than in 1920 (indicating a rapid returnafter repatriation) and that there was a great increase in the Russianpopulation. The Japanese was the largest foreign community,numbering 13,804 as against 10,215 in 1920. The British andPortuguese remained stationary, while the Americans showed adecrease.
Gift of Country HospitalAt the Ratepayers‘ meeting in April, 1926, the Chairman ofthe Council made an announcement of the generous gift to theMunicipality, by an anonymous donor, of the Country Hospital onthe Great Western Road. It had accommodation for 125 patients andwas to be “for the benefit of the foreign residents of Shanghai withoutdistinction as to nationality or religious belief.“ The value of the giftwas one and a half million taels.
Dr. J. B. Fearn, the Medical Superintendent of the GeneralHospital, was appointed as the first Resident Medical Superintendentof the Country Hospital. Although in poor health, he devoted himselfuntiringly to the work of both hospitals and fearing his days werenumbered, was especially eager to get the new hospital well organizedbefore his end came. He died, greatly lamented by all who knew him,on June 7th, 1926.
Industrial Troubles
Industrial conditions remained very unsettled throughout theperiod we are describing. Although the long strike had ended, yetstrikes continued to break out, showing that labour agitators wereat work stirring up trouble. Again we see the sinister influence ofBolshevism. Four Soviet omissaries arrived in Shanghai in August,1925, and assured the Chinese workers of the sympathetic friendshipof Russia. There were strikes in cotton mills, China Merchants SteamNavigation company, Chinese Telegraph Administration, commercialPress, Chung Hua Book company, and the Post Office. To show howserious this was in regard to the productive activity of labour, it wasestimated that by the long strike some ten million working days hadbeen lost.
New Buildings
In spite of the strikes, however, several new large buildings werecompleted and others were in course of construction. In 1925 the newAmerican Club was formally opened, and the new Race Club Stand onMohawk Road was finished. The latter is 490 feet in length and is oneof the largest in the world. The rows of steps from which the racing isviewed, put end to end, are estimated to be three miles in length.
In 1926 the new premises of the Cercle Sportif Francais, on thesite of the former German Country Club, were thrown open.
The foundation stone of the Foreign Y. M.C.A. Building waslaid by Captain Robert Dollar, a generous benefactor of Y. M. C. A."sthroughout the world. This building, of a novel style of architecture,recently completed, stands opposite the Race Course on Bubbling WellRoad.
Work was begun on the new Sassoon Building on the corner ofNanking Road and The Bund. The entrance to Nanking Road, themain thoroughfare of the Settlement, had always been too narrow, butas this palatial structure is built on a new line, allowing greater widthto this important road, this defect has now been remedied.
The site of the British Post Office on the corner of Peking andMuseum Roads was sold in 1925 to the Shanghai Land Investmentcompany. It measured a little over two mow and three fun, and theprice paid for it, Tls. 293,000, shows the increased value of land in thispart of the Settlement.
Nationalist MovementReturning to the account of the Nationalist movement in China,we must briefly refer to the events preceding the taking of Shanghai byA fun is one-tenth of a mow.
the Nationalist Government, and the situation which developed inthe Settlement.
Advance from Canton to the NorthAfter the communists had gained control of the governmentin Canton it practically came under the domination of Borodin andother Russian advisers. A northern expedition was organized underthe command of Marshal Chiang Kai-shek, who had formerly beenprincipal of the Whampoa Academy for the training of cadets, and hisarmy set out for the North in July, 1926.
As the Nationalist Army advanced, the soldiers occupied, amongother buildings, schools, hospitals and churches, and the missionarieswere obliged to evacuate. Attached to each army was a politicaldepartment, at the head of which was frequently a communist. Thisdepartment carried on propaganda work in the territory about to betaken over, and thus prepared the way for the coming of the soldiers.
The Nationalists received a hearty welcome from the people. In theterritory which they occupied they set up a government according tothe Soviet form. The political departments were bitterly anti-religiousand anti-Christian and took as one of their slogans tnat “religion wasan opiate for the people.“Marshal Wu Pei-fu"s forces in Central China were repeatedlyrouted, and the Nationalists by September, 1926, were in possessionof Hankow and Hanyang. Wuchang was besieged and although it heldout for some time, was finally forced to capitulate. The capital of theNationalist Government, with Borodin as the chief adviser, was movedto Hankow.
There was considerable anti-foreign spirit connected with theThe Government of China now in power has adopted the name of NationalGovernment.
Nationalist movement. It was directed especially against Great Britain,the United States and Japan, as they were considered to be the threegreat imperialistic and capitalistic powers.