Word: shanghaies
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Shanghai's past prosperity, he cried, had been built on an "infamous union of imperialism and compradores." Of 6,000,000 people in the city, barely half were engaged in "productive" labor. Therefore, the remedy was to cut its population in half, to change it from "a consumptive to a productive" place by uprooting non-productive citizens and sending them back to the land. Echoed one Red paper: "The ideal city of modern times is the 'garden city,' where the population should not be too large...
...Frugal City. The Communist plan fell into several stages. Decentralization would not only move out "nonproducers" but shift factories to the interior, where they would be closer to food, raw materials and coal. What remained of Shanghai would be turned "inward," i.e., weaned away from dependence upon foreign trade...
Finally, all citizens would have to tighten belts, practice extreme thrift and frugality. Thundered Ta Kung Pao: "The rest of China is poor, but Shanghai looks wealthy. The rest of China lives a spare and simple life, but Shanghai indulges in luxury. The time has come for this abnormal situation to be corrected...
...Dying City. Despite Ta Rung Pao's complaint, Shanghai was well on the way to becoming an economic graveyard. Industrial production was down an estimated 50%, and still falling. "The Chin Chong Iron Works," read an item in the press, "is trying to sell electric fans for 30,000 jenminpiao each (about $12 U.S.), which is only sufficient to cover labor costs, but there are no buyers...
Since the automobile license fee was upped to $50 U.S. monthly, more than 9,000 automobiles have vanished from the streets; gasoline is $3 U.S. a gallon. In Shanghai's curio bazaar, where foreign visitors used to throng, merchants slump disconsolately beside their stalls or aimlessly play Chinese checkers. In once-thriving jewelry stores on Nanking Road, where intricately wrought gold ornaments and glistening jade once brought handsome prices, merchants have turned to selling soap, DDT, medicines, towels and underwear. Of 136 factories that formerly made headily scented cosmetics, only 30 are in operation, and they are engaged exclusively...