The wicked city of Shanghai was to have quite a transformation. When the Communists took over they decreed that anybody without gainful occupation had to leave Shanghai and go to work in the fields in the country. The population of Shanghai dropped from 4 million to 2.5 million. Among the 1.5 million who went to the country were substantial numbers of the prostitutes, street people, drug dealers, money changers, beggars, and the like. But, from its 2.5 million population in 1950 Shanghai grew to today’s population of 17 million or more (1995). Some of the old Shanghai still remains. The old Palace Hotel where Pancho and I stayed is still there, the principle avenues (Bubbling Well, Nanking etc.) and the old Dutch school all still remain.

The embassy moved to Beijing and the British Sahib is long gone.