Page 16 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

1842 treaty not only changed China and the China Trade forever but it also fuelled a new-
found pride in the West for all things “oriental” to celebrate and commemorate their
perceived victory. It also fuelled a whole new momentum in the growth in number of
affluent Chinese, particularly in Hong Kong and Shanghai, most of whom felt embracing a
Western lifestyle was an appropriate way of demonstrating their affluence.

Shanghai before the treaty was a port city that had evolved over 1000 years alongside
mudflats on the Huangpu [Wangpoo] River. As part of the treaty, 183 acres of hitherto
undeveloped riverfront land were given over to the autonomous control of the British who
were then allowed to broker and manage that land as they saw fit. The Shanghai Municipal
Council was the eventual result of what was known as the “International Settlement”.

As with the term ‘Chinese Export Silver’, ‘International Settlement’ implies one thing whilst
the reality was something quite other; despite a huge initial rush, foreigners never counted
for more than 4% of Shanghai’s population. The real catalyst that lit the touch paper of and
caused the rapid expansion of affluent Shanghai to occur came 11 years after the signing
of the treaty that created it - the Taiping Rebellion in 1853 and the capture of old Shanghai
caused a vast influx of wealthy Chinese into the International Settlement because of the
protection it afforded. Although never intended as such, many Chinese stayed and made
their home their. Whereas in 1852, land in the settlement area sold for £50 an acre, 10
years later the same land was selling for £10,000 an acre. Fortunes were made in land
and property development and speculation.

By 1911, the original 183 acre site had expanded to 5,583 acres. The neighbouring French
Concession had expanded by almost 16 times its original size to 2520 acres. Vast new
wealth was generated in these areas, much of it by the ascendant and fast-expanding
Chinese middle class.

In Hong Kong, although driven by vastly different factors than those of Shanghai, the city
grew at an alarmingly fast pace and the same wealth-generating machine created an
unprecedented growth in affluence.

The rate of wealth generation in Shanghai and Hong Kong could not be readily known
about or even understood in established European and American cities unless it had been
witnessed at first hand. The sheer volume of affluence and the lifestyles it promulgated
have largely gone under the radar or been forgotten over the course of time. Throughout
this time period we can see through the stylistic changes in Chinese silver wares that the
demand was locally generated and a direct consequence of the rising levels of affluence.
Instead of the early 19th century pseudo-Georgian silver that came out of Canton for
export, a somewhat parochial pseudo-Chinese style quickly evolved that manifested as
cocktail shakers sets and tea sets that serviced the local nouveau-riche rather than their
Western counterparts.

While the Western world is well aware of the late 19th/early 20th century rise of the
department store, few would know that the Chinese Wing On Company and Sincere are
contemporaries of Harrods, Galeries Layfayette, Selfridges, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, David
Jones and Kaufhaus des Westens [KaDeWe]. Early 20th century Hong Kong and
Shanghai had sufficiently large affluent sections of society to sustain not only these two
stores, large even by Western standards, but several others as well. Shanghai and Hong
Kong had significantly large affluent middle class populations that spent money as freely
as any Western capital city, if not more.