Alley in the former French Concession, Shanghai, China
The former French Concession, Shanghai, China, was a foreign concession from 1849 until 1943. In the olden days, Shanghai is divided into different districts as a result of the Westerners trying to carve out a part of the city for their own fellow compatriots. Thus, Shanghai has the British Concession, the American Concession (these two later became the International Settlement), and the French Concession.
It progressively expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but came to an end in 1943 when the Vichy French government signed it over to the pro-Japanese puppet government in Nanjing. For much of the 20th century, the area covered by the former French Concession remained the premier residential and retail district of Shanghai, and was also one of the centers of Catholicism in China.