City of Belmont - Ruth Faulkner Public Library

Kings of Shanghai, two rival dynasties and the creation of modern China, Jonathan Kaufman

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

collective biography

index present

non fiction

Kings of Shanghai

bibliography

Jonathan Kaufman

two rival dynasties and the creation of modern China

KINGS OF SHANGHAI tells the story of two Jewish families - the Sassoons and the Kadoories - who immigrated to China in the mid nineteenth century and became dynasties of a sort, standing astride Chinese business and politics for more than 175 years. The Kadoories were aristocrats while the Sassoons were essentially royalty, overseeing and governing the Jewish community in Baghdad across many generations. Forced to flee in the nineteenth century, the Sassoons spread out over central Asia, with two sons going to Shanghai following the Opium Wars to establish a business empire that would launch them into the upper echelons of the British establishment. The Kadoories followed soon after, their patriarch Elly first working for the Sassoons and then, after being fired, establishing a rival and equally successful trading company of his own