"Little Japan" in Hongkou: The Japanese Community in Shanghai, 1895-1932 MO Yajun A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in History © The Chinese University of Hong Kong July, 2004 The Chinese University of Hong Kong holds the copyright of this thesis. Any person(s) intends to use a part or whole of the materials in the thesis in a proposed publication must seek copyright release from the Dean of the Graduate School. IL/統系馆書圓\A ICo 9 m 15 )j| university J碧j VfisilBRARY system/^ Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Leung Yuen-Sang, for his support and guidance throughout the two years of my master studies. Without his guidance and help this work could never be possible. I would also like to thank Professor Yip Hon-Ming, who has provided advice, encouragement, and support to me throughout the course of this study. I must also express my gratitude to the following scholars for their generous assistance in collecting data and in other capacities: Professor So Kee-Long and Dr Siu Kam-Wah at the History Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Dr Lee Pui-Tak at the Centre of Asian Studies of the University of Hong Kong; Professor Hamashita Takeshi and Dr Furumatsu Takashi of Kyoto University, Japan; Professor Shiba Yoshinobu ofToyo Bunko, Japan; Mr. Chen Zu'en at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, China. Finally, I wish to record my special thanks to my dearest parents, who love and believe in me in everything I have attempted to do, and especially in this endeavor. With their deep love, I would never lose my confidence in experiencing any challenge in my life, and I would never feel lonely anytime, anywhere. i • Abstract This thesis examines and investigates the Japanese community in Shanghai from their emergence and formation in the city in the late nineteenth century to their development through the early Republic era, focusing particularly on the Japanese concentration in Hongkou district in the early twentieth century. In light of a thorough examination on the historical-geographical background of the city of Shanghai, the first part of this thesis reveals the uniqueness of the urban space and the hybrid culture of modem Shanghai and the special characteristics of the Hongkou district. This part not only introduces the milieu within which the Japanese community initiated and developed, but also shows the complexity of the foreign presence in the city. The second part of the thesis is a discussion on the formation, structure and actions of the Japanese community in Shanghai. Without an exclusive Japanese concession, the Japanese community in Shanghai developed by joining the foreign enclaves in the city - the International Settlement in Shanghai. However, they had established their own “sphere of influence，，in Hongkou district through their consulate and other Japanese communal organizations, and fostered their own lifestyle in Hongkou. By focusing on the relationship between the Japanese community and other foreign or Chinese communities in Shanghai, the last part of this thesis relates the Sino-Japanese tension to Japanese communal lives in Shanghai. Inside the authority of the International Settlement, they had less voice than their western counterparts. Meanwhile, the anti-Japanese sentiment in China and organized actions against Japan in Shanghai irritated the Japanese community, who reached its exploding point in 1932. The Japanese military actions in the January of 1932 may partly result from the appeals of Japanese community who wanted to protect their “home，，in Hongkou. ii 論文摘要 本文嘗試以社會史的視角入手’探討十九世紀末到二十世紀初上海曰橋社會 的形成及其發展過程0全文共分三個部分，七個章節。首章介紹近代上海的城市 空間的發展過程及其複雜的社會文化背景。第二章考察虹口的歷史地理背景，外 國人和中國人社區的發展’討論了虹口在上海城市空間中所處的特殊地位，及其 對上海曰橋社會的影響°第三章分析在上海，尤其是虹口，日橋社會的形成。第 四章則將重點放在其內部行政管理體制。第五章’討論日橋社會內部的社會階層 的分化的同時，並且嘗試重塑了日僑社會在虹口日常生活的大槪面貌。第六章和 第七章則著重探討了日橋與上海其他西人或中國人社會之間的摩擦、衝突和妥 協。 在有關近代上海的社會史硏究中’日僑在上海的歷史相對少人問津。近人對 中曰關係史當中的政治史、外交史的關注往往掩蓋了其在社會史層面上的複雜 性。本文通過報紙、檔案、回憶錄和其他資料，嘗試重塑其社會構成以及日本人 在上海獨特的生活面貌：一九一〇年代之後，上海日橋在人口上遠遠超過其他在 上海的外國人，但在上海他們並沒有自己獨立的“日租界”。他們通過在上海的 曰本領事館和其他內部組織的來維持日本人社會的運作和發展，並漸漸“獨立” 於公共租界而在上海形成自己獨特的社區。在二十世紀初，日橋社區的發展幾乎 將虹口地區變成了他們的的勢力範圍。虹口從最初曰本人自發的聚居區域，到最 後成爲一個幾乎半官方的“日租界”。而一九二〇年代末，隨著中國民族主義情 緒的日益高漲，上海日本人社會與中國人及其他外國人社會之間的摩擦也日益激 烈。 iii Table of Contents Introduction 1 Part I: Remapping Shanghai, Remapping Hongkou 4 Chapter I. Reconfiguration of the urban space in modem Shanghai 4 1.1 ‘‘Tri-cities” in Shanghai: urban space in transformation 4 1.2 A divided city, a hybrid society 8 Chapter II. How special was Hongkou district in Shanghai? 10 2.1 Where was "Hongkou"? 10 2.2 American Settlement: “the Cinderella among the settlements" 12 2.2.1 From waterways to waterfronts 14 2.2.2 Bridges and roads 16 2.3 New frontiers for new comers 19 Part II: Structuring of the Japanese Community in Hongkou District 21 Chapter III. The latecomers to Shanghai 21 3.1 Why not an exclusive Japanese Concession? 21 3.2 Population growth after 1895 25 3.3 Choose Shanghai, choose Hongkou 30 3.3.1 "Why go to Shanghai?” 30 3.3.2 "Why choose Hongkou?" 33 Chapter IV, The administration structure and the power system 37 4.1 Japanese Consulate in Shanghai 37 4.2 'JRA': a ‘self-governing，body run by the elites 42 4.3 Public services and communal duties 50 iv 4.3.1 The JRA-run schools and their school system in Shanghai 51 4.3.2 Japanese company in SVC 55 4.3.3 Public health service 4.3.4 Other services 57 Chapter V. 'Little Japan，，a self-contained community 59 5.1 'Kaishaha，vs. 'Dochakuha， 59 5.2 A society formed by small traders 64 5.3 Make Hongkou a Japan town 68 5.3.1 'Japanese streets' & ‘Little Tokyo' 68 5.3.2 Japanese lives in Hongkou 71 5.3.3 'Nagasaki ken-Shanghai shi， 74 Part III: Compromises and Conflicts 76 Chapter VI. Conflicts with compromises 76 6.1 Japanese community and the Shanghai Municipal Council 76 6.1.1 Representatives in Council 77 6.1.2 Japanese participation in the SMP and other services in the SMC 78 6.1.3 Japanese wanted more voice in the SMC 81 6.2 The anti-Japanese boycotts and Japanese community 82 6.2.1 The boycott as an economic tool 83 6.2.2 The hostilities and the Japanese reaction 86 6.3 Conflicts with compromises 89 Chapter VII. Shanghai 1932: An era ended 92 Conclusion 99 Notes 102 V Appendices Appendices A Glossaries Appendices B Bibliography 151 List of Tables Table 1. "Hongkou" in different Gazetteers of Shanghai County 11 2. The Japanese Population in Shanghai, 1889-1909 27 3. The Development of Japanese Population in Shanghai, 1912-1931 28 4. Japanese Firms in Shanghai, in First Decade of Meiji Era 32 5. The Geographical Origins of the Japanese Merchants in Shanghai, 1894 34 6. The Proportion of Japanese in Shanghai (1889-1892) 38 7. The Members of JRA Administrative Committee in 1915 and 1922 48 8. The Enrollment of Japanese Primary Schools in Shanghai (1911-1932) 52 9. The Japanese Schools run by the JRA 55 10. The Proportions of Japanese Population in Different Professions in the Early 1910s 60 11. The Different Status of "Kaishaha" and “Dochakuha’， 62 12. The Election Result of the Residents' Council of the JRA (1925, 1929) 63 13. The New Registered Japanese Commercial Firms in Shanghai (1918-1932) 65 14. The Japanese population resided in Outer Hongkou Area 70 15. Japanese Small Businesses Opened inside the "Japanese Streets Area" (1924)....72 List of Figures Figure 1. Shanghai Japanese Clubs (1903-1908) 44 2. The Structure of Japanese Residents' Association 47 vi vii Introduction The Japanese empire in modem China, which initiated from the end of nineteenth century, can be distinguished two forms: the formal and informal ones, demonstrating two different kinds of Japanese experience and roles in China] While in its formal colonies, the Japanese had enjoyed the overall control of the local society and was able to promote their colonial policies in a planned way, it was impossible for other Japanese societies to establish such authorities in many Chinese treaty ports, where also held a large number of Japanese migrants in some insulated Japanese communities. Among all the Japanese communities in different Chinese treaty ports, the Japanese community in Shanghai might be the most unusual one, not only because the Japanese failed to establish their exclusive concession in this city but also because of the complexity of the foreign presence in this “queen of the treaty ports in China，，. Current scholarship in the history of Shanghai centers upon the multiplicity of the city, among which there is a growing body of writings on the complexity of the "foreign presence" in Shanghai.^ However, little attention has been given to the Japanese community. The modem relationship between Japan and Shanghai can be traced back to 1862，when the Senzaimaru (千歲九)，the first Japanese vessel of the modem era, arrived in Shanghai. Ten years later, by the time that modem Japan first opened diplomatic and trade relations with China in 1871, the Japanese Consulate was first established in Shanghai on the north bank of the Suzhou Creek (蘇州河).And during the early twentieth century, the Japanese community in Shanghai became the largest foreign community in the city. This study focuses on the Japanese community in Shanghai: their emergence and development in the city from the late nineteenth century in general, and their concentration in Hongkou (虹口）in the early twentieth century in particular. This 1 study investigates how these “latecomers，’ established their own kingdom in the foreign enclave; how deep their self-governing institutions influenced the daily life of the ordinary Japanese in Hongkou district; and how these administrative agents and other organizations had given these Shanghai Japanese a sense of identity and cohesiveness in the city even without a formal Japanese concession.