British Royals & Shanghai

Shanghai, March 2015 – With Prince William visiting Shanghai this week, we thought it was an opportune moment to look back at royal visits to Shanghai in history. It didn’t start off auspiciously …
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Prince William meeting with students at Nanyang Secondary School in Shanghai.

Queen Elizabeth I tried to get the ball rolling in 1602 with a letter to Ming Emperor Shen Zong 神宗 with the idea that their two great nations establish trade. She was met with deafening silence from Cathay – apparently the ship carrying the missive had gone down – and turned to other pursuits. In 1793, fresh from losing those pesky American colonies, George III sent an emissary to the Court of the Qianlong Emperor. This did not go well. Qianlong replied to this affront with a letter that has become known as the “Blessing of Civilization”:

“You, O King, from afar have yearned after the blessings of our civilization, and in your eagerness to come into touch with our converting influence have sent an embassy across the sea. I have ever shown the greatest condescension to the tribute missions of all states which sincerely yearn after the blessings of civilization, so as to manifest my kindly indulgence….

The Qianlong Emperor: Giuseppe Castiglione, Palace Museum.

He continued, “I do not forget the lonely remoteness of your island, cut off from the world by intervening wastes of sea, not do I overlook your excusable ignorance of the usages of our celestial empire. But the demands presented by your embassy are not only a contravention of dynastic tradition but would be utterly unproductive of good result to yourself, besides being quite impracticable.” In case George was slow on the uptake, he added, “We have never valued ingenious articles. Nor do we have the slightest need of your country’s manufactures.”

The British put on their thinking caps, came up with opium as maybe something that the Chinese would have need of, and helpfully began supplying it. When the Chinese frowned upon this, and lo and behold, the Opium Wars were underway, Queen Victoria’s superior technology won and China was opened for trade. No wonder, then, that things were a bit bristly between the two countries. Bristly or not, the British in old Shanghai were a patriotic lot, and enjoyed celebrating Jubilees, coronations, and the occasional visit from minor royals.

The original Hall & Holtz Building, decorated for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. Source: Virtual Shanghai

So Shanghai’s first department store, Hall & Holtz, founded in 1855, festooned its building in royal bunting and the Union Jack on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. The building depicted the photograph is now gone, but a later Hall & Holtz building still stands, on Nanjing and Sichuan Roads. Minor royals enjoyed popping by, such as the Duke of Connaught, Queen Victoria’s son, in 1890 – the first British prince to visit Shanghai. He was welcomed with a banner on the Bund that earnestly said, “Young Shanghai welcomes tee (sic) Scion of Old England”.

The coronation of George V at the former British Consulate in 1911. Source: Virtual Shanghai.

In 1911, George V’s coronation was feted at the former British Consulate building on the Bund (which still stands) – a festive occasion for which everyone turned out in best dress, from top hats to topees and boaters. In 1926, Prince George appeared at that very same spot, to inspect the parade at the British Consulate, for Empire Day (!).

In 1936, the coronation of George VI and Queen Elizabeth – the Queen Mum – lit up a Bund that looks surprisingly similar to the one we have today. Gaudily lit for celebrations are the Peace Hotel and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, but the piece de resistance is the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company: “Long Live the King & Queen, George VI / Elizabeth” is spelled out in lights on its facade.

The Bund, decorated for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, 1936. Source: Virtual Shanghai.

What with being rebuffed by Qianlong and then forcing their way in, Sino-British relations were understandably strained. So it is perhaps not surprising that the first British sovereign to actually visit China was Queen Elizabeth II, William’s grandmother, in 1986. After the obligatory stop in Beijing, she arrived in Shanghai, where she sipped tea at the Huxinting Teahouse with an intimate group that included the then-Mayor of Shanghai – Jiang Zemin.  Prince William’s visit is the highest-level royal visit since then – but we have to say, the level of festooning, light-ups and headgear has really dropped off.

Sources:

Changing China: Readings in the History of China from the Opium War to the Present, by J. Mason Gentzler (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1977)

www.visualisingchina.net