Paolo Alberto Rossi (28 October 1887 - 2 November 1969) was an Italian diplomat who experienced the fall of Shanghai during the communist

Shanghai Campaign The Shanghai Campaign was a series of battles fought between the nationalists and the communists for the control of Shanghai, the largest city in China in the latter stage of the Chinese Civil War, and resulted in the city being taken over by ...

and authored ''The Communist Conquest of Shanghai: A Warning to the West''.

Early life

Rossi was born in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1887. His father, Egisto, was a Tuscan scholar of

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

and his mother was American, whose uncle was

Laurenus Clark Seelye Laurenus Clark Seelye (September 30, 1837 – October 12, 1924), known as L. Clark Seelye, was the first president of Smith College, serving from 1873 to 1910. He graduated from Union College (NY) in 1857 with Phi Beta Kappa honors and membership ...

, the first president of

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

. After high school graduation in

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

, New York, in 1912 Rossi received a law degree from the University of Rome.

Career

Rossi served in the Italian Army as an infantry officer in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was wounded in the Karst region in southwestern

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. After a brief legal practice in Rome, in 1920 he was nominated and assigned to serve as Italian Vice Consul of New York and then Italian Consul General of Pittsburgh and New Orleans. In the 1930s Rossi served in the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome and the consulates of

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

, Smirne and

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

. In 1947 he reopened the Consulate General's office in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

Service in Shanghai

Between 1948 and 1952 Rossi was the

Plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word ...

Minister of the Italian Consulate of

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. He witnessed the fall of Shanghai by the

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...

led by

Mao Tse-tung Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (P ...

. In 1970, Rossi published a book about it: “''The Communist Conquest of Shanghai;: A Warning to the West''”. In Shanghai, Rossi was known to be a "very cultured man, that spoke english splendidly". He participated in the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China, hosted at the

Broadway Mansions Broadway Mansions (, Shanghainese: ''Pahlowe Dusa'') is a nineteen-floor Art Deco five-star hotel in Shanghai, China.Dmitri Kessel, ''On Assignment: Dmitri Kessel, Life photographer'' (Abrams, 1985):149. and was for over five decades one of the ...

Hotel.Pegge Parker Hlavacek, ''Alias Pegge Parker'' (iUniverse, 2003):62. At the conclusion of his diplomatic career, Rossi opened a law practice in New York to serve Italian immigrants.

Personal life

Rossi married Giacinta Porfilio, sister of Italian American entrepreneur

Almerindo Portfolio Almerindo Portfolio (23 May 1878 – 23 January 1966) was an Italian-born American banker and financier. He was treasurer of New York City under Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.

and had three sons. Rossi wrote a biography in Italian about his brother in law, titled '
La Vita di Almerindo Portfolio, (1966)
''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rossi, Paolo 1887 births Sapienza University of Rome alumni 1969 deaths Ambassadors of Italy to China Politicians from Rome Italian military personnel of World War I 20th-century Italian non-fiction writers Italian political writers 20th-century Italian male writers Italian male non-fiction writers