CONDITIONS IN SHANGHAI AND NEIGHBORING AREAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A005900970010-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 11, 2008
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: February 18, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2008/03/11: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005900970010-3
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
SUBJECT Conditions in Shanghai and
Neighboring Areas
DATE OF INFO.
This material contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States within the mean-
ing of the Espionage Laws, Title 18, U.B.C. Secs. 793
and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in
any manner to an unauthorlaad person is prohll,'* '
by law. 25X1
DATE DISTR. 18 February 1955
NO. OF PAWS 5 25X1
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
Food and Rationing
1, In mid-August 1954 there was a shortage of rice, vegetable oil for cooking, sugar,
pork, beef, chicken and eggs on the open market in Shanghai. Fish, except
"yellow fish," was also in short supply. However, only vegetable oil and sugar
were rationed; they were rationed in the following amounts:
a. One catty of vegetable oil for each adult Ind one-half a catty for each
child a month.
b. Four Jiang of sugar per person a day (sic).
2. In the rural areas near Shanghai vegetable oil was in such short supply that
the monthly ration for each family, regardless of the size, was only one-half
a catty. However, during June, July and early August, there was so little
vegetable oil in these areas that a large number of families obtained none at
all.
3. Many of the Chinese were complaining to bhe.officials of their labor unions about
not only the scarcity of rice in Shanghai but also the low grade of the rice
obtainable. They were informed by these officials that nothing would be done
to improve the situation. About early August, the residents of Shanghai were
notified by representatives of the municipal authorities at the weekly residen-
tial district meetings that rice would probably be rationed in Shanghai, begin-
ning about January 1955, and in the following amounts: one catty a day for
each adult and one-half catty a day for each child.
STATE V
(NOTE: Washington distribution indicated by "X" s Field distribution by "#'".)
Approved For Release 2008/03/11: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005900970010-3
 Approved For Release 2008/03/11: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005900970010-3
CONFIDENTIAL
h pork and beef were not officially rationed in Shanghai, each retail
Although one-half a pig and
meat dealer was permitted to obtain and to sell daily only n to form daily
20 catties of beef. As a result, large lines of -c'uatcim?exs begs
t markets in Shanghai.
l
mee
t of al
at about 5:00 eom. in fron
owb
hai..were.. a to
the open Parke 'in' SbMM9
e items on
5. The prices of som
Beef
Pork chops
Lean pork
Ordinary pork with fat
all chicken eggs
Medium-sized chicken eggs
Large chicken eggs
small duck eggs
Mediums-sised dilek ?aggs
Large duck eggs
Chicken
"Kandarin" fish
"Yellow" fish
Cauliflower
Celery
Sp i*ach
" t I
"StfYat-sen iryu
(for man atsd *zwb)
western style me"f staomate; sb
Western stye on 's
Cs.Oorlovakii
Peaicill.in, produced in
A, 2Qn00
(depending ontsal3ty~
I standard-size
7000
850,000 to
?500,000 (48 ending
Quality r
560*000 to
600?QQO,(depending
Trancaor?;ation Facilities
6.
7.
mf Ahanahai were kept fairly clean; o
about
Aour
all parts of the atty ; in
and ver? o-ld+,ui6e '!?0.
.....
laid an z , .
azwy cleaning of 'siifiet ta, thss-~Ml14,'. Ito being
1
h lane were comps e in
b&Lnc tor own
rest of the time.;
. . , , eince'theoccupa-
The transportation system in Shang si eAe o hs`s 4
tion of tb* city.: by the Communists. Bus and trolley routes extennddedetoo ralltowns
parts of the city; there was also bus service between Shanghai
in the Shanghai. sres~s k ler ,n ber of the busses were converted from former
of IJ. as4ufactWo. We were also
CNAC, CATC, M,strd 'MMA 2.4 t4 .1 art
busses imported recently from Russian 8' ili'1.7.f~be tlu rfeQ e~t q ' agpe . for .The.nus-ber of trolley cars and busss induce in Shanghai was ued daily from the
me-iateriat~e, 'of good service. The bus edicabs were available the
5:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. A few motor taxis and many p
CONFIDENTIAL
tJtif
1 catty
1 do
1do.
1 4o.
1 do.
1 do.
1 d6i
7000
6500
5020
.300
1300
759,
800
600
' "-O*tt1..
5000
1 do.
2500
.
3000
bundles
s13b~tly Via?
1000
.
1 catty
.500
Approved For Release 2008/03/11: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005900970010-3
 Approved For Release 2008/03/11: CIA-RDP80-00810A005900970010-3
CONFIRgTIAL
8. The principal bus routes in the Shanghai area were as follows:
a. 010 bus route, from Nanking Road Road and the Lund to Jessfie4d park ria Nanking
Road Central and Wnking Tiest, the former Bubbling 1-eU Road.
b. #9 bus route, trot Ranking Road and the Bund-to Ziksrei District
Road., Avenue loch, Rue Roi Albert, Avenue Jotfre and A .cue Pet via Yates
at~.
c. #52 bus route, from, Nanking Road and the Rund to Roosung.
9. The bus service between 5k-ghai and Woasung has been in efftet since about
late 1953, when the construction of a concrete road from 8hatosi to Voosung
was completed. Se trip by bus troy Msaghri to Woosung. took t roi tejy
one hour.
10. The bus fares in Shansh ai were as follows : p
Of the line j .aQ 1Q00 for taro- 5?0 .for one-t~.rd the distance
Lance. This included the bus ~ Noon stsncej ~' 1500 fqr the full dis-
~ V" no fyt~es transfer
froa one route to another..
11. The principal trolley routes in Shanghai were as follows: Mmu a. West (theey route, frm Ro ?lark to. St . George I s Arcade on Ranking Road
taut and Raft" Bond West . Am&) pia Garda Bridge, R1rMti as ;bad Can. ft~
route# b. S and g Raid Central and ~ to ft. George 14 Arcade rim- Garden ~eids.
leaking ft" 1het.
12. E. troll..? fares in Shanghai for first and third class wee. arrr moan j the.
w no asoond class and, no free transfer from one rouft to anothses
a. First 0iae01 aR 4oo :f v sae tbWtk the distance of the lips; aQ 600
for aae.,talf the distance j aw 700 for tmree ?f %n" the ddatsase
900 for the full distis., j a!
b Third class' ' 300 for one-to th the distance of the
ona.hal! the "stow) aQ 600 far three.fourths the diems1 C for for
'W the tall distaw.
13. Is i it was oa4usorjr for all ohildres between the
foiwt.en to attend schools including kiss afes o! four and
paid, but they were lar and varied in acoosdanoe with that room, had. to be
All schools is MWROMI 'taught the Peiping dialect only. AU Oblasse W=ks 's
also had to study thee Peiping dialect at their place of bus
hover after the oagin of their nouns; W for about an
U7 of slat hovRt.
Cons on .
r
1A. Ali to 1Oysd =1e Chinese in
16 300 were .enseripted in
to the a
tralmag, ' single or married, betwun the'.&M add always sent tla! frog U&qOAi
for
Reaction to prCraeaeea
15. May Chime is Shanghai referred to Stalin and,$I1.enkov as "papN Stalin"and
KAO Tse-tung alemburo in a derisive manner. Before the death of
imed
r to
as "Stalin s son in the same manner;
th1r called his
COHFIiRaTja;,
Approved For Release 2008/03/11: CIA-RDP80-00810A005900970010-3
 Approved For Release 2008/03/11: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005900970010-3
"Malenkov?s son." Most Chinese in Shanghai believed that MAO would do
anything he was told to do by Malenkov. They placed the responsibility for
the shortage of food in Shanghai on Malenkov; they were certain that large
quantities of food were being sent from China to the U.S.S.R. and its
satellites at Malenkov's bidding.
16. Some Chinese in Shanghai often referred somewhat respectfully to CHIANG Kai-shek
as the "old man." They also often expressed the hope that some day CHIANG would
be able to return to China and replace MAO as the head of a democratic Chinese
government.
17. The VOA broadcasts in the Chinese language and the broadcasts from Taiwan heard
in Shanghai were intelligible, but there appeared to be some slight interference
with all of them. Chinese in Shanghai were warned by Public Security Bureau
representatives, who visited their homes at least once every month, that it 25X1
was permissible to listen to VOA programs provided the radios were not tuned
in loud enough to be heard outside the room in which the radio was located and
Provided the listeners ny time discuss these programs. L_ -1
may violation of these two rules would re- 25X1
suj.z in pun s n o an r. A large number of people in Shanghai lis-
tened to VOA programs regularly and secretly discussed among themselves the
information obtained from these programs.
Telephone Service
18. ,The telephone service in Shanghai was good=
The dial tome started almost immediately after the
lifting o the rece ver'. The price of a telephone call on a public telephone
was JO 500. The monthly charge for a private telephone was J!ll 64,000; for
each call in excess of 20 there was an additional charge of J!h 300.
General Conditions
19. About early 1953 the dredging of the Whampoo river area in the Yangtsepoo
District was completed.
20. The jails in the Shanghai area were officially referred to as "detention houses."
Almost all of the prisoners, male and female, were eventually put to work, with-
out pay, on building roads in the Shanghai area or were sent to other areas of
China to work on public construction projects.
21. The fee for treatment in the clinics of all hospitals in Shanghai was JMP 2000
for each visit. Medicines prescribed must be purchased by the patient at pub-
lic pharmacies.
22. While enroute in mid-August from Shanghai to Canton by train via Hangchow, it
was observed that almost all the rice fields along the way were completely
flooded. One of the train conductors stated that this occurred when rivers
in the area overflowed their banks as a result of the heavy rainfall during
May, June)and July. The conductor stated that he was told by farmers in the
areas along the Hangchow-Canton Railroad that almost the entire rice crop in
these areas had been ruined by the floods.
Comment. This appears to be a rather generous ration. Reports
of smaller rations have been received which vary from 4 to 16 Jiang per
month.
Approved For Release 2008/03/11: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005900970010-3
 Approved For Release 2008/03/11: CIA-RDP80-00810A005900970010-3
CONFIDENTIAL
-5-
2. Although almost all the names of streets in Shanghai have been changed
since the occupation
heostreetscity y their old names, such asresidents
Bubbling Well
Shanghai reffer to
Road, Avenue Joffre, etc.
3. According to the western system of computing age, this is between the
ages of 3 and 13.
These Chinese appeared to reflect the thinking of most Chinese in Sha i,
who at first welcomed enthusiastically theiCoon nists bto Sh ecause fix exces-
sive but who later became increasingly
sine taxation and the ~suppression a nostalgiefatpersonal taehmeatlforrC1e8IAWG? the Communists.
They now appear
5. This interference was apparently not caused by atmospheric conditions
or by the inadequacy of the radio sets on which these programs were
heard. er to be the result
programs completely uunintelligible.t
of sufficient nt strength
CONFIDFDT'TIAL
Approved For Release 2008/03/11: CIA-RDP80-00810A005900970010-3