Appendix 4 · Principal Sources and Works Cited
This appendix lists all the principal works and sources actually consulted, cited or referred to in the writing of this book. Note on the grading: A = primary/authoritative (gazetteers, government bulletins, cultural-relic registers, authoritative institutional archives); B = secondary/authoritative media (in-depth reporting in the mainstream media, topical articles from party-history and gazetteer bodies); C = reference/unofficial (encyclopaedia entries, travel writing, personal reminiscence, online articles, used only to fill in details).
One: Local gazetteers and government documents (Grade A)
| # | Work | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gazetteer of Zhabei District, compiled by the Zhabei District Gazetteer Compilation Committee of Shanghai, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, 1st edition, March 1998 | the single most important pillar of this book. Its "General Introduction" provides a systematic account of Zhabei from its naming to the early 1990s, data on industry, commerce and culture, statistics on losses in the two Shanghai campaigns, and data on the shantytowns |
| 2 | Sequel to the Gazetteer of Baoshan County | recorded in 1917 that Zhabei already had 27 roads; the source of this book's data on the first round of road building |
| 3 | Report on the Work of the People's Government of Jing'an District, Shanghai (March 2016) and material from the first session of the first Jing'an District People's Congress | the process of the "merger of two districts into one" and post-merger data (19.437 billion yuan and so on) |
| 4 | Reply of the People's Government of Jing'an District, Shanghai, to proposal No. 0314 of a deputy at the fourth session of the 16th Municipal People's Congress | the present state of the renovation of Daning Park, the "circus-world performing-arts cluster" and the Lingshi Road e-sports industrial belt |
| 5 | Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, Table of Administrative Division Names of Shanghai Municipality (as of 31 July 2024) | the current list of Jing'an District's 13 sub-districts + 1 town |
| 6 | Register of Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relic Protection Units (successive batches) | the tomb of Song Jiaoren (2-12, 25 Aug 1981), the Qian family ancestral hall (8-40, 4 Apr 2014), the site of the Oriental Library (22 Nov 1960), the Huzhou Guild Hall (26 May 1959), the place of bloodshed in the April 12 massacre (26 May 1959), the site of the Shanghai North Railway Station (Aug 2000) and others |
| 7 | Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, "The 1911 Revolution and Shanghai's Street Names" | the official account of the five-races-in-one-republic street-naming system |
| 8 | Measures of Shanghai Municipality for the Implementation and Management of the Full Refurbishment and Demolition-and-Rebuilding of Old Housing (trial) | the policy basis for the redevelopment of Fangua Lane and Pengpu Xincun |
Two: Party-history and revolutionary-history material (Grade A/B)
| # | Work | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | A Survey of Shanghai's Important Revolutionary Sites (reproduced on Fudan University's "Shanghai Red Resources" website) | authoritative accounts of the Huzhou Guild Hall, the Oriental Library, Qingyun Road Square, the Baoshan Road Massacre, the Sanshan Guild Hall and the commemorative sites of the three armed uprisings of the Shanghai workers |
| 10 | Shanghai Party History website, "Sanzeng Lane's Finest Hour, Condensed in This Memorial Hall" | the people of Sanzeng Lane, details of daily life, Shanghai University |
| 11 | Shanghai Party History website, "A Study of the Historical Spaces of the CCP Central Organs in Shanghai in Their Early Period" | the logic of the siting of the CCP's central organs |
| 12 | Shanghai Party History website, "Red Glory in the Shikumen Lanes! Nearly 20 Moves in 2 Years — How the Shanghai General Trade Union Fought" | the history of the Shanghai General Trade Union's moves from lane to lane (Yingye Lane, Baoshan Lane, Hexing Lane, Baode Lane, Shuncheng Lane, Jingyun Lane, Yipin Lane, the Huzhou Guild Hall and so on) |
| 13 | Shanghai Party History website, "He Studied under Chen Wangdao and, for the Cause of the Party and the Working Class, Was Willing to Sacrifice Everything" | Wang Shouhua (in the "Red Faith Casts Shanghai" series) |
| 14 | People's Daily, "The Early Central Leading Organs of the CCP in Shanghai" | No. 3 Sanzeng Lane, Wang Hebo's choice of the site, the code name "Zhongying" |
| 15 | Shanghai CPPCC website, "Red Memories in Shikumen (II)" | details of life in Sanzeng Lane, and citations from Luo Zhanglong's Records of the Chun Garden |
| 16 | People's Daily Online party-history channel, "The January 28 Incident and the Battle of Shanghai" | the whole course of the January 28 fighting and casualty statistics for both sides |
| 17 | People's Daily Online, "12 April 1927: Chiang Kai-shek Launches the Shanghai April 12 Coup" | the April 12 coup and the Baoshan Road Massacre |
| 18 | People's Daily Online, "After the Boundary Changes, Has Your Shanghai ID Card Become a Collector's Item?" | the Zhabei District code 310108 and Shanghai's successive boundary changes |
| 19 | China Martyrs website (Ministry of Veterans Affairs), "Wang Shouhua" | the most detailed biographical sketch of Wang Shouhua |
| 20 | Shanghai General Trade Union, "Tales from Labour History: A Hundred Years Ago, This Suitcase Bore Witness to a Martyr's Glorious Life" | the donation of the suitcase by Wang Shouhua's grandson He Lihua |
| 21 | Eastday, "Red Faith Casts Shanghai" short videos · Wang Shouhua | the first man to die in the April 12 coup |
| 22 | The Paper, "Studying the 'Four Histories': 9 Important Places Here in Jing'an" | the Commercial Press, the Oriental Library, the Huzhou Guild Hall, the Baoshan Road Massacre, Shanghai University, Sanzeng Lane |
| 23 | Shanghai Party History website, material relating to "On the Catalogue of the Books Remaining from the Hanfen Tower after the Flames" | the rare volumes that survived at the Hanfen Tower |
| 24 | the "War of Resistance History" section of the Shanghai Battle of Shanghai Memorial Hall | a chronology of the January 28 Incident |
Three: Studies of individuals (Grade B)
| # | Work | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | China Military Online, "Xie Jinyuan and the 'Eight Hundred Heroes': a Lone Army's Bloody Battle at Sihang" | Xie Jinyuan's life, the fighting at Sihang Warehouse, the commemorative place names, the 2014 roll of martyrs |
| 26 | Xinhua, "Sunset on Suzhou Creek — Visiting the Shanghai Sihang Warehouse War of Resistance Memorial Hall" | the west wall of Sihang Warehouse, the letter home, Chen Shusheng, the recollections of Yang Yangzheng |
| 27 | Xinhua Net, "Behind the Bloody Battle of the Eight Hundred Heroes at Shanghai: China Hoped for Western Support and Was Betrayed" | the Nine-Power Treaty conference, the 298 last letters, Chen Shusheng's letter in blood, Yang Huimin's delivery of the flag |
| 28 | Shanghai Veterans (the website of the Shanghai Municipal Veterans Affairs Bureau), "Remember · Glory: 93 Years Ago He Sent Out a Secret Order to Resist Japan While Ill" | Jiang Guangnai's meeting while ill on 23 January, "answer him with cannon!", the official assessment of 1988 |
| 29 | Guangxi CPPCC, "The 19th Route Army and the 5th Army in the Battle of Shanghai" | the comparison of the two sides in the January 28 Incident; the Japanese changing commanders five times |
| 30 | Commercial Press website, "House History: A Publishing Giant, a Man of Pure Confucian Learning" | Zhang Yuanji and the Commercial Press, the bombing of 1932, the paper ash falling on the Zhang house |
| 31 | Commercial Press website, "Recovering the Past · The Oriental Library" | data on the Oriental Library's collections, the Hanfen Tower, the revival committee |
| 32 | Commercial Press website, "Chen Yun" (a biographical entry) and "Chen Yun and the Commercial Press" | Chen Yun's years as an apprentice, the 1925 strike, his inscription |
| 33 | Shaanxi Party Building Network, "The Youthful Chen Yun's Years in the Special Branch in Shanghai" | Chen Yun's hiring, the address of the circulation office, the Hongkou branch shop |
| 34 | Xinhua Net / Jiefang Daily, "Chen Yun and Shanghai: an Unfailing Attachment to His Home Town" | the story of Chen Yun "looking at the signboard", Shangxian Lane, 211 Henan Middle Road |
| 35 | China Youth Daily, "Zhang Yuanji Is Beyond Recall" | Zhang Yuanji's life, Ye Shengtao's assessment, "level ground can still be made a mountain" |
| 36 | China Publishing Group, "The 'Past and Present Lives' of the Hanfen Tower Collectanea" | the more than 5,300 rare volumes stored at the Jincheng Bank warehouse |
| 37 | People's Daily Online, "A Special Issue on National Calamity from Seventy Years Ago" | the "Commercial Press National Calamity Special Issue of the Directory", with losses of 16,330,504 yuan |
| 38 | Tencent News · Memory on the Sea, "Because of Wu Changshuo, Shanghai's Shanxi North Road Had the 'Whampoa' of the Art World" | Wu Changshuo's 14 years in Zhabei, Mei Lanfang's visit, Mourning the May Thirtieth |
| 39 | NetEase News, "Wu Changshuo's 170th-Birth-Anniversary Commemorations Conclude in Shanghai" | the "Zhabei Produced Wu Changshuo" exhibition, the interview with Wu Chao |
| 40 | Jiefang Daily Shangguan News, "From 'Strengthening the Bone' to 'Utter Composure': Reading the Exhibition The Strength of Bronze and Stone, the Heart of Grass and Trees — Wu Changshuo and Shanghai" | the 1912 phenomenon, the three functions of Jiqing Lane |
| 41 | China National Radio, "Zoumatang, Qiujiang, Taopu… This Is How Shanghai's Waterways Got Their Names!" | the origin of Pengyuepu's name (the tide-quelling spirit Peng Yue), Qiujiang, Taopu |
Four: Urban renewal and contemporary reporting (Grade B)
| # | Work | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 42 | Jing'an District People's Government, "(Shanghai Vistas) Drilling Begins on the Fangua Lane Redevelopment: Between Demolition and Rebuilding, a Century of Shanghai's Urban Change" | four generations of redevelopment at Fangua Lane |
| 43 | People's Daily Online Shanghai channel, "Demolished and Rebuilt on the Same Site: Shanghai's One-Time 'gundilong' Transforms Again" (source: Jiefang Daily) | the scale of Fangua Lane, the flat designs, the funding |
| 44 | Xinhua Net, "Waiting for the Melon to Ripen and Fall — a Record of the Fangua Lane Redevelopment in Shanghai" (Xinhua Daily Telegraph) | the people of Fangua Lane and "the hardest thing in the world" |
| 45 | CNR, "One Step Closer to the Dream! Lottery for Flat Selection in the Fangua Lane Redevelopment" | the latest progress at Fangua Lane; the main structure capped in December 2025 |
| 46 | Guangming Online, "Shanghai's Century-Old Fangua Lane Will Become a Modern New Community" | the origin of the name Fangua Lane (the giant pumpkin of 1947) |
| 47 | Jing'an District People's Government, "Jing'an District Head Lu Xiaodong Delivers the Government Work Report: Making Up the Shortfalls and Answering the People's Hopes" | the process of the "merger of two districts into one" and the post-merger data of 2015 |
| 48 | China Economic Net, "Shanghai's Zhabei and Jing'an Merge into a New Jing'an District, Whose Population Reaches a Million" | the new Jing'an's 13 sub-districts and 1 town, and its 37.37 km² |
| 49 | Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources (reproduction), "Shanghai: the 'Merger of Two Districts into One' of Jing'an and Zhabei" | the three official reasons, and the sequence of Shanghai's boundary changes in the new century |
| 50 | People's Daily app, "A Reading Event for the Shanghai Culture Map Series: Jing'an's 'Western Air' and 'Swagger'" | Huang Yuan's discussion of the contrast in character and in naming between Jing'an and Zhabei |
| 51 | CNR, "Shanghai's Jing'an and Zhabei Announce Their Merger into Jing'an District" | Zhabei's basic facts and the detailed sequence of its successive boundary changes |
| 52 | Xinhua, related material on China National Radio | |
| 53 | Jing'an District Greening and City Appearance Bureau, "So That's Why the 'Park': Zhabei Park, Preserving the Old While Renewing" | the history of Zhabei Park, and "the two parks named after districts" |
| 54 | NetEase, "The Rise of Daning and Its Ceiling" | the timetable of Daning's development, and "a city lung unique in all Shanghai" |
Five: Place-name research and popular writing (Grade C, for supplementation only)
| # | Work | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 55 | Boya Place-Name Directory, "The Origin of the Place Names of the Towns and Sub-districts of Jing'an District" and "The Historical Lineage of the Sub-districts of Jing'an District" | the naming and lineage of the 8 sub-districts and 2 towns (including the former Jing'an) |
| 56 | Administrative Divisions and Place Names website (xzqh.org), sub-district entries | the boundaries and lineage of Zhijiang West Road, Beizhan, Gonghexin Road, Baoshan Road, Linfen Road and other sub-districts |
| 57 | China Cultural Relics website, "Row, Row: the Cradle of National Industry, Suhe Bay, North of the Gate Where Past and Present Meet" | the building of Zhabei's roads and the changes to their names |
| 58 | Toutiao · Shanghai Suhe Bay, "Exploring the 'Secrets' in the Street Names of Suhe Bay" | details of the renaming of Gonghe Road, Datong Road, Guangfu Road and others |
| 59 | Toutiao · News Workshop, "Shanghai Actually Has a 'Guoqing Road'? It's in This District!" | the lineage of Gonghe Road, Gonghexin Road and Guangfu Road |
| 60 | Shanghai Online, "Stories of Old Shanghai: Its Charm and Classics Have Never Faded" | the lineage of the old North Station |
| 61 | Baidu Baike, entries on "the Site of the Shanghai North Railway Station", "Zhabei District", "the Old Shanghai North Station" and others | railway station data, the station building's floor area and so on |
| 62 | Kuaidong Baike, entries on "Pengpu Xincun Sub-district", "Pengyuepu", "Linfen Road Sub-district" | the lineage of Pengpu and Linfen and descriptions of the terrain |
| 63 | Baidu Baike, entries on "Pengpu District", "Pengpu Xincun", "Pengpu Town" | the administrative history of Pengpu and the legend of the "overlord tide" |
| 64 | Wikipedia / Wikiwand / Wikipedia mirrors, the "Zhabei District" entry | Zhabei District's water bodies, administrative divisions and brief notes on its sub-districts |
| 65 | wikis.pro, the "Zhabei Park" entry | the cultural-relic protection number of Song Jiaoren's tomb, and the history of the park |
| 66 | Sogou Baike, the "Pengpu Xincun Sub-district Office" entry | the full sequence of Zhabei's sub-district arrangements |
| 67 | 360 Baike, the "Shanghai Zhabei" entry | the administrative lineage of Zhabei |
| 68 | Ctrip community travel piece, "Zhabei Park, Once Called Jiaoren Park" | on-the-ground observations of Song Jiaoren's tomb, Zhang Taiyan's inscription "Yufu", Yu Youren's inscription |
| 69 | Toutiao, "That Banquet in 1927, a Dead End the Moment He Went In: the First Man to Die in the April 12 Coup, Just 26" | details of Wang Shouhua's going to the banquet (Note: this article is of the nature of a personal public account, and this book adopts only the parts of it that agree with the official biographical sketch) |
Six: In-depth media reports (the "Memory on the Sea" series, Grade B)
| # | Work | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 70 | Sohu / Memory on the Sea, "Why Did Lu Xun, Ba Jin, Lao She, Hu Shi, Ye Shengtao and Zheng Zhenduo All Come to One Baoshan Road?" | Baoshan Road's cultural landmarks, the Commercial Press, the Oriental Library, Zhao Jingshen's recollections |
| 71 | Tencent News / Memory on the Sea, "Because of Wu Changshuo, Shanghai's Shanxi North Road Had the 'Whampoa' of the Art World" | see #38 |
Note on the conventions of citation
- For paragraphs in the main text headed "Sources", the sources can all be found in the corresponding entries in the table above.
- For every statement involving a figure (population, area, number of volumes, amount of loss, casualties), this book gives priority to Grade A material; where Grade A material is lacking it uses Grade B; where Grade C is used only as an order-of-magnitude reference, it is clearly indicated in the text.
- On discrepancies over dates such as "Pengyuepu in the Yuan dynasty" versus "Pengyuepu in the Song dynasty": different gazetteers differ in their records of Pengyuepu and the Pengwang Temple (the temple built in 1299, the river 7–7.745 km long and so on), and this book notes in the relevant chapters that "the records in different gazetteers differ slightly".
- On the completion date of Song Jiaoren's grave: there are two accounts, "1913" and "June 1914"; this book follows "completed in June 1914", while noting that "he was buried on 26 June 1913".
- On the actual strength of the "Eight Hundred Heroes": there are accounts of 414, 420 and 450; this book follows the "more than 420" used by China Military Online and Xinhua.
- One controversy that needs special mention: as to the floor from which Chen Shusheng leapt during the fighting at Sihang Warehouse, Xinhua records "a fifth-floor window", while other material records "an upstairs window"; this book follows "a fifth-floor window" and has noted the difference.
- On who stood behind the "Song case": this book gives no conclusion, stating only that "Yuan Shikai, Zhao Bingjun, Hong Shuzu, and even Sun Yat-sen, Huang Xing and Chen Qimei have all fallen under suspicion, and the killer of Song Jiaoren remains a mystery to this day".
One citation to note with particular care
In the "Wang Shouhua" piece in Part Four of this book, the specific course of "the banquet on the evening of 11 April" (the details of forcing him to hand over command, beating him unconscious, stuffing him into a sack and so on) — the wording of the official biographical sketches (China Martyrs website, Shanghai Party History website) is:
"Du Yuesheng, on the pretext of 'a matter of great secrecy to discuss', 'invited' him to a banquet at Du's mansion… the thugs who had long been lying in wait rushed forward, stuffed Wang Shouhua into a sack, carried him to Fenglin Bridge and buried him alive; he was only 26 at his death."
The rest of the finer details (such as "forcing him to hand over command of the workers' pickets") come from self-media articles, and this book has noted their nature where it has used them. Careful readers are advised to take the wording of the Shanghai Party History website and the China Martyrs website as authoritative.
This appendix is updated along with the book. If you find an error or omission, you are welcome to raise an Issue at the GitHub repository.