Shanghai

Stella Dong's wonderfully readable biography of Shanghai explains precisely why a missionary once declared, "If God lets Shanghai endure, he owes an apology to Sodom and Gomorrah." The greatest metropolis in Asia during its heyday -- from the turn of the nineteenth century until Mao's army swept away its decadence in 1949 -- this corrupt, pleasure mad, and squalor-ridden city combined the exuberant vulgarity of Rio during Mardi Gras with a Wild West lawlessness. Deftly and with panache, Dong chronicles how a wilderness of swamps was transformed into a dazzling, modern-day Babylon. The sickly sweet smell of opium permeated every lane and side street, and in its myriad fleshpots labored a tragic army of prostitutes and "taxi dancers." Seductive and cruel, Shanghai was no place for the innocent: a powerful criminal underworld controlled the port in league with the city's wealthiest citizens and military satraps. Along with its predatory climate, Shanghai was the most turbulent spot in the Orient, for war, rebellion, and economic disaster were never far from its door. - Jacket flap.