Description: This book is the first part of the Wakeman Shanghai Trilogy. The It system describes how the Kuomintang government relied on police force to achieve its initial rule over Shanghai from 1927 to 1937. It clarified many historical issues in the past decade, such as the relationship between the central system and local forces, the role of secret organizations and criminal groups in corrupting state institutions, and the evolution of Shanghai's political organization under the pressure of Japanese invasion and occupation. The organic combination of Shanghai's municipal and police changes with the Chinese political background at that time reflects the macroscopic vision of a historian.
