The Manchus
Henry McAleavy describes how the last Chinese imperial dynasty owed its origins to a petty Manchurian chieftain, Nurhaci, who revolted against his Chinese overlords, whose son invaded and conquered China, and whose grandson occupied the Dragon Throne.
From the outbreak of hostilities between China and Japan, in the summer of 1937, down to the beginning of the Pacific War in December 1941, the foreign settlements at Shanghai formed a tiny enclave in the midst of a vast expanse of Japanese-occupied territory.
With the exception of that part of the International Settlement garrisoned by Japanese troops, they were controlled by countries recognizing as the legitimate government of China the Nationalist regime of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek which, driven from its capital of Nanking, had retreated up the Yangtse until it had installed itself at last in the remote western city of Chungking.
Because of the war, the Chinese population of the foreign areas was swollen by a multitude of refugees of every sort and condition, all of whom were bitterly hostile to the Japanese and to those of their countrymen who collaborated with the invaders. In such circumstances, the greatest prudence was required by the settlement authorities to maintain order and to avoid giving the Japanese a pretext for taking over the administration.
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