Chapter I The origin of the police in the French Concession

The French Concession in Shanghai was the product of Sino-French treaties and local negotiations between the French Consuls in Shanghai and the local Chinese authorities. As it transformed itself from a residential area reserved for foreigners to one in which Chinese and foreign residents lived alongside each other, and as its tasks changed from the management of just foreign residents to the administration of all residents, the French Concession enlarged its powers—including policing power over the Chinese residents. The special geography of jurisdictions in Shanghai created a special context for the French police. Thus the process of the urbanisation of Shanghai posed challenges and problems and, in the process of meeting them, the police of the French Concession came to play an important role within the network of the French Empire.