Customer Reviews

The Shanghai Badlands: Wartime Terrorism and Urban Crime, 1937-1941 (Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions)

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This study covers the history of crime in Shanghai from November 1937 to December 1941. During this period, the Shanghai metropolitan area was sub-divided into the International Settlement, the French Concession and Japanese controlled Shanghai. In this war time city of overlapping jurisdictions and loyalties, crime flourished as it had never before.

Thanks to the release of secret Chinese police files long held by the CIA, Frederick Wakeman is able to chronicle the story of crime in Shanghai. This story has all the drama of a great crime tale. The book focuses on the western suburbs of Shanghai known as the "Bandlands". This disputed region of the city was the home to gambling casinos, brothels and opium dens.

All the great characters of a Chinese crime tale are present. There is the Green Gang, Japanese Secret Police, Nationalist Assasins, Puppet Government Assasins, Korean and Japanese Gangsters and helpless Imperialist police forces. The violent interaction of all these forces is inherently interesting.

Although, written for the Chinese History specialist, there is enough of interest in this book for anybody who wants to read a good real life crime tale. However, I would recommend first reading Wakeman's "Policing Shanghai". It places this story in its proper historical context.