Death of Emperor Kwang Hsu and of the Empress DowagerIn November， 1908， the Empress Dowager， Tzu-hsi， died at theage of seventy-three， her death being preceded twenty hours earlierby that of the Emperor， Kwang Hsu. The removal of this strong andcapable， but unscrupulous woman， left no one competent to steer theship of state through the stormy days to come， and thus prepared theway for the Revolution.
Opposition to Settlement ExtensionWe will turn now to the consideration of another way in whichThe Nationalist Government in Nanking in October， 1928， issued stringent lawsfor the suppression of opium.
the new spirit of nationalism displayed by the students， manifesteditself—namely by blocking all measures for the further expansion ofthe Settlements.
They did not want to increase the authority of the MunicipalCouncil， but to curtail it as far as possible.
The attention of the Chinese became fixed on the gradual andirresistible penetration of foreign influence into Chinese territory，which in the eyes of foreigners was justified on the ground of necessity.
Foreign mills， factories and residences had been erected outside thesettlement boundaries with the tacit consent of the Chinese authorities，and roads had been constructed， connecting them with the Settlement.
Dispute over Roads outside SettlementThe question arose of supplying these localities with water andelectricity， and of policing the roads and keeping them in repair. TheCouncil had granted the Shanghai Waterworks company authority toextend its mains into the outlying districts， but at the same time hadmade a regulation that those using the water supply should pay ratesand taxes.
The Chinese objected vigorously to the extension of Municipaljurisdiction， and gave as their reasons that “a Chinese Works Bureaufor Chapei was to be established， which would be competent to supplythe residents of that district with water and electricity， and would takeover the policing and repairing of the roads.“When the authorities in Chapel， in pursuance of the plan toestablish a Chinese Works Bureau， trained a constabulary， and stationedpolice on the roads， occasions for conflict between the Municipal andChapei police became frequent.
Council Seeks for Further Extension of SettlementFinally the relations between the Municipal and the local Chineseauthorities became so strained that the Council formally addressed theConsular Body， asking it to support the Council"s proposal “that all thelands lying between the Settlement and the railway line be incorporatedwithin municipal limits and made liable to administration under theLand Regulations.“ Among the reasons given by the Council for thisextension were the following： “the nominal boundary of the Settlementon the north is for practical purposes eliminated， merely threading itsway through continuous house property and if the authority of themunicipal police were limited by this， the difficulties of detective andpatrol work would be almost insuperable， and a large proportion of theland in question has been registered under the Land Regulations，“ thefact that land outside the Settlement boundary cannot be taxed， whileland within can be， puts an unequal burden on the shoulders of theresidents in the Settlement.
The Shanghai-Nanking Railway line was proposed as the mostsuitable boundary for the extension， owing to the absence of anynatural barrier.
The Consular Body addressed the Nanking Viceroy on the subject，asking him to appoint the Shanghai Taotai or some other officialwith whom it could enter into negotiations. The Viceroy refused todiscuss the matter and pointed out that the area of extension grantedin 1899 amounted “to over 21， 500 mow， which in comparison withthe English and American Settlements as originally fixed， amountedto an addition of twice the size. The object of fixing the extensionon this exceptionally liberal scale was that the measure might be anentirely permanent one， and that therefore there might be no furtherextension.“Furthermore the Viceroy reiterated the unwillingness of theChinese to contemplate the possibility of even a portion of the Paoshanhsien being included in the Settlement.
On August 21st， 1909， the Consular Body addressed the Viceroya second time， adding further arguments for extension， showing thatit would be advantageous not for the foreigners alone， but also for theChinese. It was stated that out of 53 ，000 houses in the InternationalSettlement， only 3，000 were owned by foreigners， while 50，000 wereowned by Chinese.
The Viceroy remained firm and declined to discuss the matterfurther， and the Consular Body decided to appeal to the Ministers inPeking， but all negotiations were for a time brought to a standstill bythe Chinese Revolution， which broke out in 1911.
Continued Friction over Construction of RoadsMeantime the causes of friction continued， especially in regard tothe construction and control of roads outside the settlement limits.