Nanshi District (, was a district located in central

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

until its merger with

Huangpu District, Shanghai Huangpu District (), makes up the eastern part of Shanghai's traditional urban core and is today the most central of Shanghai's 16 districts. Huangpu district is the seat of municipal government, includes key attractions such as The Bund and the ...

on 13 June 2000. It had an area of , of which was water, and population of as of June 2000.

Location

The former Nanshi District, literally "southern city", was the historical core of Shanghai. It included the old, walled city as well as the nearby docklands on both sides of the

Huangpu River The Huangpu (), formerly romanized as Whangpoo, is a river flowing north through Shanghai. The Bund and Lujiazui are located along the Huangpu River. The Huangpu is the biggest river in central Shanghai, with the Suzhou Creek being its maj ...

. Shanghai County was established at the beginning of the

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

. A city wall was built to repel the

Wokou ''Wokou'' (; Japanese: ''Wakō''; Korean: 왜구 ''Waegu''), which literally translates to "Japanese pirates" or "dwarf pirates", were pirates who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th century to the 16th century.

, and this Ming Dynasty wall defined the extent of urban Shanghai for the next few centuries.

History

In 1842, the area north of the old city was established as the British concession in Shanghai, which later became the

Shanghai International Settlement The Shanghai International Settlement () originated from the merger in the year 1863 of the British and American enclaves in Shanghai, in which British subjects and American citizens would enjoy extraterritoriality and consular jurisdictio ...

. At the time, the concession was referred to by locals as the "northern city" while the walled Chinese city was the "southern city". From this reference was later derived the name ''Nanshi'' (). Upon the defeat of Japan at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, a unified municipal administration was established over urban Shanghai for the first time since the mid 19th century. In 1945, after the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeas ...

government took control, the old city was divided into the Third District (Yimiao District) and the Fourth District (Penglai District). In 1959 these were merged to form ''Nanshi District'' (with a small part of former Yimiao District merging into Luwan District).

Location

History

References

See also