The Shanghai old map shows evolutions of Shanghai city. This historical map of Shanghai will allow you to travel in the past and in the history of Shanghai in China. The Shanghai ancient map is downloadable in PDF, printable and free.

During the Song Dynasty (AD 960–1279) Shanghai was upgraded in status from a historical village to a market town in 1074, and in 1172 a second sea wall was built to stabilize the ocean coastline as you can see in Shanghai historical map, supplementing an earlier dyke. From the Yuan Dynasty in 1292 until Shanghai officially became a city in 1927, the area was designated merely as a county seat administered by the Songjiang prefecture.

Two important events helped promote Shanghai development in the Ming Dynasty. A city wall was built for the first time in 1554 to protect the historical town from raids by Japanese pirates. It measured 10 metres high and 5 kilometres in circumference as its shown in Shanghai historical map. During the Wanli reign (1573–1620), Shanghai received an important psychological boost from the erection of a City God Temple in 1602. This honour was usually reserved for places with the status of a city, such as a prefectural capital not normally given to a mere county town, as Shanghai was. It probably reflected the town economic importance, as opposed to its low political status.

During the Qing Dynasty, Shanghai became one of the most important sea ports in the Yangtze Delta region as a result of two important central government policy changes: First, Emperor Kangxi (1662–1723) in 1684 reversed the previous Ming Dynasty prohibition on ocean going vessels – a ban that had been in force since 1525. Second, in 1732 Emperor Yongzheng moved the customs office for Jiangsu province (江海关; see Customs House, Shanghai historical map) from the historical prefectural capital of Songjiang city to Shanghai, and gave Shanghai exclusive control over customs collections for Jiangsu Province's foreign trade. As a result of these two critical decisions, Professor Linda Cooke Johnson has concluded that by 1735 Shanghai had become the major trade port for all of the lower Yangtze River region, despite still being at the lowest administrative level in the political hierarchy.

The Shanghai vintage map give a unique insight into the history and evolution of Shanghai city. This vintage map of Shanghai with its antique style will allow you to travel in the past of Shanghai in China. The Shanghai vintage map is downloadable in PDF, printable and free.

International attention to the vintage Shanghai grew in the 19th century due to European recognition of its economic and trade potential at the Yangtze River. During the First Opium War (1839–1842), British forces occupied the city. The war ended with the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing, which allowed the British to dictate opening the treaty ports, Shanghai included, for international trade. The Treaty of the Bogue signed in 1843, and the Sino-American Treaty of Wanghia signed in 1844 forced Chinese concession to European and American desires for visitation and trade on Chinese soil as its shown in Shanghai vintage map. Britain, France, and the United States all carved out concessions outside the walled city of Shanghai, which was still ruled by the Chinese.

The Chinese-held vintage city of Shanghai fell to the rebels of the Small Swords Society in 1853 but was recovered by the Qing in February 1855. In 1854, the Shanghai Municipal Council was created to manage the foreign settlements. Between 1860–1862, the Taiping rebels twice attacked Shanghai and destroyed the city eastern and southern suburbs as its mentioned, but failed to take the city. In 1863, the British settlement to the south of Suzhou Creek (northern Huangpu District) and the American settlement to the north (southern Hongkou District) joined in order to form the Shanghai International Settlement. The French opted out of the Shanghai Municipal Council and maintained its own concession to the south and southwest.

During the 1950s and 1960s, vintage Shanghai became an industrial center and center for radical leftism as you can see in Shanghai vintage map; the leftist Jiang Qing and her three cohorts, together the Gang of Four, were based in the city. Yet, even during the most tumultuous times of the Cultural Revolution, Shanghai was able to maintain high economic productivity and relative social stability. In most of the history of the People Republic of China (PRC), in order to funnel wealth to the rural areas, Shanghai has been a comparatively heavy contributor of tax revenue to the central government.