Demography
While the French Concession began as a settlement for the French, it soon attracted residents of various nationalities.
In the 1920s, with the expansion of the French Concession, British and American merchants who worked in the International Settlement often chose to build more spacious houses in the newer part of the French Concession. One legacy of this Anglophone presence is the American College on rue de Pétain (now Hengshan Road), and the nearby Community Church.
Shanghai saw a large influx of Russian émigrés in the wake of the Russian Revolution. This raised the Russian population in the French Concession from 41 in 1915 to 7,000. This number further increased after the Japanese occupation of Manchuria to 8,260 by 1934. Two Russian Orthodox churches can still be seen in the former French Concession. The Russian community had a large presence on commercial streets such as the avenue Joffre, and contributed to the development of the musical profession in Shanghai.
The Chinese population in the French Concession swelled during the Taiping Revolution, reaching about 500,000 just before the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. During World War II, Japanese forces initially occupied only the Chinese areas, leaving the foreign concessions alone. Residents of the Chinese areas moved into the French Concession in large numbers, reaching 825,342.
Read more about this topic: Shanghai French Concession