Shanghai, once a trading city quasi-independent from the Chinese government and host to Europeans, Americans and Japanese seeking to make a fortune, is illustrated by a series of stories, news items, photographs and cartoons. In this environment, with American sailors, British judges, Japanese taxi dancers, Indian police, Chinese gangsters, French cyclists, and Russian gunmen all rubbed elbows with each other. Where Coca-Cola and opium were both available at the market and you could get a taxi with or without a girl to escort you to a nightclub. Graham Earnshaw's 140-page book does more to bring Shanghai to life than any 300-page history I've seen.
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