2 | Thursday, May 27, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY PAGE TWO

Left and right: North-China Daily News, an English-language newspaper in Shanghai, covers events in the city in 1949. Center: The front page of The Evening Democrat, a newspaper in Fort Madi- son, Iowa, United States, covers the withdrawal of the US Navy from Shanghai on April 25, 1949. photos provided to china daily Shanghai: city marks crucial turning point fROM PAGE 1 harm and damage to the city and people as possible, and how the soldiers were so disciplined.” Wang said: “All the material I used for the project As the PLA advanced into downtown Shanghai in came from Westerners writing in English. I hoped to May, 1949, Suzhou Creek, which runs through the city, present the story of Shanghai’s liberation from their and large buildings along its banks became the last perspective and to let more people know about this line of defense for Kuomintang troops. chapter of history.” Powell, the China Weekly Review editor, lived in The documentary features the stories of expatriates Embankment Building overlooking the Suzhou Creek in Shanghai, including diplomats, journalists, doctors battlefield. At the time, this big apartment block housed and traders. They tell how the CPC won public support more than 1,000 residents, 300 of them expatriates. because of the discipline of the army, dedication to Ahead of the battle, the building became a refuge for public welfare, and effective management, as the the Kuomintang, who planned to make Shanghai a Kuomintang regime descended into chaos, plagued by “Stalingrad of the East”. Powell became anxious and corruption and inflation. scared, like others in the neighborhood. Wang, a filmmaker at the Shanghai Media Group’s He wondered if the PLA would lose patience and documentary center, spent several years browsing bring out its artillery to attack the river bank. library records. Another US journalist, Harrison Forman, was on He also published a book last year titled Shanghai the roof of the Cathay Hotel looking down on advanc- Liberated, compiling information collected from his- ing PLA soldiers. What he saw surprised him. torical papers, personal accounts, correspondents and He quickly jotted down in his notebook: “Amazing the memoirs of expatriates living in Shanghai. that Palu (Ba Lu, or the Eighth Route Army, as the PLA Wang then set out to transform the information he was often called at the time) haven’t tried to enter the had gathered into a motion picture. He visited United hotel. Their discipline is really something. How easy it States academic Andrew Field, Adjunct Professor of would be for them to come in, set up some machine- Chinese history at Duke Kunshan University, who gun on the roof or in the Bund-side rooms and blast studied Asian history and was a “proud long-term res- the Garden Park Nationalist defenders.” ident of Shanghai for around 20 years”. After the three-day battle at Suzhou Creek, Powell With Wang directing and Field hosting the docu- and other residents of Embankment Building were mentary, the duo filmed in many locations where sig- relieved to find their homes intact. As well as being nificant events unfolded in 1949. strictly instructed not to use heavy artillery inside the Field said: “At that time, foreign news agencies contin- city to avoid causing damage, the PLA was not allowed ued filing dispatches overseas and English-language to enter private property. newspapers continued to operate in the city. So, what did Landmark structures such as Broadway Mansion, they have to say about the Communists? I thought it the General Post Office Building and Embankment would be a very interesting story to tell, and it was. Building were left intact. Together with Suzhou Creek, “It is interesting to read those (positive) reports they are some of the most notable sights in the city. written 72 years ago, especially since the news media When the battle was over, Forman walked to Nan- tends to focus on the bad. The new authorities secured jing Road in downtown Shanghai and saw something a good world press, and by their actions surmounted even more surprising. any prejudice which might have formerly existed.” He described in his notebook PLA soldiers sleeping outdoors on Nanjing Road, instead of finding beds in Amethyst Incident hotels or private property. In the series, Wang and colleagues visit landmark sites, “It’s a touching scene. These youngsters must be including the top of Shanghai Mansion, known at the dead tired marching and fighting for days and nights. time as Broadway Mansion, the General Post Office Build- … All afternoon they slept soundly along Nanjing ing on Suzhou Creek, and the Yangshupu Power Plant on Road on the sidewalks, a most incredible thing for a the northern stretch of the Bund. conquering army to do,” Forman wrote. There is footage of Shanghai’s urban landscape, A poster for the Shanghai Media Group’s documentary series. provided to china daily with restored buildings, new high-rises and repur- Key investments posed industrial heritage. As the story unfolds, it Along with its buildings, foreign investment in the reveals a pre-1949 city plagued by a dysfunctional gov- city was well maintained after the battle. ernment, widespread corruption and inflation. After Shanghai was forced to open to foreign powers One episode features the Amethyst Incident, a sig- in the middle of the 19th century, these nations made nificant event in Shanghai’s history. numerous investments in the city, some of them in In April, 1949, the British warship HMS Amethyst public facilities such as water and power plants. departed from Holt’s Wharf in Shanghai, which was The Yangshupu Power Plant, an important facility owned by the British, and sailed along the Yangtze that provided nearly 80 percent of the city’s electricity River to Nanjing, the Kuomintang government’s capi- supply, was one of them. It was run by the US-owned tal, despite repeated warnings from the People’s Liber- Shanghai Power Co. ation Army, which was about to cross the Yangtze. In 1949, the plant was low on fuel and was running The vessel’s crew paid little heed to the warnings, as a heavy deficit, but the management team was more British forces had sailed freely on the river for more concerned about rumors that a “scorched earth” poli- than a century. cy was being planned by the Kuomintang, who said The Amethyst was hit by PLA fire, running aground they would destroy the power plant before they and raising a white flag of surrender. The British were retreated, with the aim of leaving nothing for the quick to send two bigger ships to the rescue, but both CPC. were driven out of the Yangtze by the PLA and experi- The team was also afraid of the Communists, enced a total of 27 casualties. because for dozens of years, the US had supported the The documentary features a page from the note- losing side in the Chinese civil war. book of Life Magazine journalist Roy Rowan, on which After the Communists took control of the city on he writes, “The crowds of stunned British and Ameri- May 27, they tried their best to keep the power compa- can spectators looked as shell-shocked as the severely ny running, much to the owners’ surprise. The newly wounded sailors being carried ashore. No less established People’s Bank of China provided a loan for stunned, Shanghai’s city officials, who realized that the power plant, while the new government hastily the Communists had done something no Chinese assembled coal supplies from other parts of China to army ever dare do before — blow the warships of a keep the plant running. Western power out of one of its rivers.” Paul Hopkins, then-chairman of the Shanghai Pow- The Chicago Tribune reported that Shanghai’s Chi- er Co, wrote in his report to headquarters in the US, nese residents greeted news of the PLA attack on the “There is no question the Communists are a new type British warship with delight, because the foreigners of people who will ultimately bring great progress to “who had kicked China around for 100 years were now China.” getting what they deserved”. He thought they were “all significantly honest, This view was voiced by John Leighton Stuart, the hardworking individuals who lived on the barest then-US ambassador to China, who said: “I could sense essentials of food and clothing”. He also found them an undertone of national pride among other Chinese in “intelligent, very frank in discussing problems, and this achievement. Commercial and naval ships of for- with a good sense of humor”. eign countries, principally British, had long sailed up Hopkins later discovered that the only threat to the and down this mighty river at their own unbridled will, power plant came from Kuomintang air raids and a but now at last they had been bravely challenged and blockade. Clockwise from top: The Yangshupu Power Plant in Shanghai used to be a city landmark; PLA soldiers routed.” In February, 1950, the plant was bombed in a major air take a break on the sidewalks; Shanghai residents read newspaper reports about the city’s A few days after the Amethyst Incident, all foreign raid by the Kuomintang forces. The attack resulted in liberation. photos provided to china daily warships sailed out of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, more than 1,000 casualties, displaced over 50,000 people, since when such vessels have been not allowed to caused massive power cuts and shut down businesses. enter the riverway uninvited. Speaking about making the documentary, Field rebuild and develop Shanghai. The power plant district waterfront, which has been transformed from said, “It is shocking to think that the Nationalists were remained in operation until 2010, when it was decom- an industrial rustbelt into an area of public spaces and Three-day battle willing to sacrifice the city to achieve their aims.” missioned to reduce carbon dioxide discharges as the attractive scenery. In the documentary, Wang states, “What impressed However, the heavy damage only served to highlight city authorities pledged to go green and control air Wang said, “We captured many fine images of the me most was how during the battle for the liberation the effectiveness and resilience of the new govern- pollution. city and were also able to showcase the prosperity and of Shanghai, the PLA was instructed to cause as little ment and strengthen people’s determination to The site and others still stand proudly on the Yangpu glory of present-day Shanghai.”