Wusong, formerly romanized as Woosung, is a

subdistrict A subdistrict or sub-district is an administrative division that is generally smaller than a district. Equivalents * Administrative posts of East Timor, formerly Portuguese-language * Kelurahan, in Indonesia * Mukim, a township in Brunei, In ...

of Baoshan in northern Shanghai. Prior to the city's expansion, it was a separate port town located down the

Huangpu River The Huangpu (), formerly romanized as Whangpoo, is a river flowing north through Shanghai. The Bund and Lujiazui are located along the Huangpu River. The Huangpu is the biggest river in central Shanghai, with the Suzhou Creek being its maj ...

from Shanghai's urban core.

Name

Wusong is named for the Wusong River, a former name for Shanghai's

Suzhou Creek Suzhou Creek (or Soochow Creek), also called the Wusong (Woosung) River, is a river that passes through the Shanghai city center. It is named after the neighboring city of Suzhou (Soochow), Jiangsu, the predominant settlement in this area prior ...

. Suzhou Creek is now a tributary to the

, emptying into it in Puxi across from Lujiazui and just north of the Bund. The Huangpu had previously been a tributary to the Wusong, but the two reversed their importance when a flood caused it to gain a number of the Wusong's former tributaries. The location where the Huangpu and Wusong meet was generally known as ''Wusongkou'' ("mouth of the Wusong").

History

Wusong housed a

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

fortress protecting the entrance to Shanghai. It was captured by the British during the Battle of Woosung on 16 June 1842, amid the

First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...

. During the steamship era, it was the point of departure for large steamers bound for Shanghai. This position caused it to be the site of China's first telegraph wires and first railroad, both running to Shanghai along what is today the route of the

Shanghai Metro The Shanghai Metro (; Shanghainese: ''Zaon6he5 Di6thiq7'') is a rapid transit system in Shanghai, operating urban and suburban transit services to 14 of its 16 municipal districts and to Kunshan, Jiangsu Province. Served as a part of Shangha ...

's elevated Line 3. By 1900, it boasted a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

and a "skeleton" teahouse, as well as a small squadron of war-

junks A junk (Chinese: 船, ''chuán'') is a type of Chinese sailing ship with fully battened sails. There are two types of junk in China: northern junk, which developed from Chinese river boats, and southern junk, which developed from Austronesian ...

(''ty-mung'') of the Imperial Chinese Navy. Tongji University was founded here in 1909. The Battle of Shanghai represented the outbreak of World War II in Asia, and Wusongkou was the scene of an all-out land, sea and air battle, as Imperial Japanese Marines landed here on 23 August 1937, and were attacked by Chinese Air Force

Hawk III The Curtiss BF2C Goshawk (Model 67) was a United States 1930s naval biplane aircraft that saw limited success and was part of a long line of Hawk Series airplanes made by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company for the American military, and f ...

fighter-attack planes escorted by P-26/281 Peashooters; the intense dogfight between the Chinese fighters and IJN fighters from aircraft carriers '' Hōshō'' and '' Ryūjō'' resulted in several Chinese fighters shot down, while the Japanese lost two A4N fighters, each claimed by Capt. Liu Cuigang and Lt. John Huang, although Capt. Liu's victim managed to nurse his crippled A4N back to ''Ryūjō''. Wusong was later the site of an internment camp for marines captured on Wake Island after the attack on Pearl Harbor over four years later. Wusong became a district of Shanghai, before it was abolished in 1988 and incorporated into Baoshan District.

Landmarks

The Wusung Radio Tower is a 321 metres tall guyed mast situated at Wusong near Shanghai. The Wusung Radio Mast was built in the 1930s and was at the time of inauguration the world's second-tallest architectural structure after the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

.*Book: "Ein Riese unter Riesen" ( Page 33), Aufstieg und Fall des Deutschlandsenders III in Herzberg/Elster, Helmut Knuppe, Leipziger Verlagsgesellschaft,

Name

History

Landmarks

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See also