Shanghai started as town in 1267 A.D. Eventually it became a port city due to its excellent location on the mouth of the Yanzi River. (Click here for an in-depth history of Shanghai prior to 1842) In 1842, it was one of the five open cities named by the Treaty of Nanking. Due to its new status, Shanghai experienced very rapid economic and geographic growth. Most foreign investors and companies choose Shanghai as a base of their operations, so by 1930 there were four hundred foreign and domestic banks located in the bund in an area of a half of kilometer. During its occupation by Westerners as an open city the city was divided into two sections, a section inhabited by foreigners and one by the Chinese.
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This division ended when the Communist Government came into power in 1949(Click here for more information). The development of Shanghai also stagnated under communist rule until 1990. In 1990, China designate the Pudong New Area as the Dragon Head of Chanjang Delta and China.