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CHAPTER II.
SHANGHAI TO ICHANG.
Shanghai 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
