Custom House, Shanghai

The Shanghai Custom House was first set up in the late 17th century, when the Qing dynasty Kangxi Emperor lifted the ban against sea trade after conquering Taiwan.

To facilitate trading along the east coast of China, the Qing government set up customs houses in the four coastal provinces of Jiangnan (now split into Jiangsu and Anhui), Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong.

The principal customs house, originally located at Lianyungang was later set up just outside the east gate of the walled city of Shanghai (then part of Jiangnan Province), by the Huangpu River.

With the development of overseas trade in Shanghai, the location of the customs house became increasingly inconvenient, with foreign merchants preferring to berth their ships further out to sea, near today's Bund.

Britain, France, and the United States each nominated one person to form a "Foreigners Tax Committee", which operated from the Custom House.

Subsequently, the Qing government agreed to appoint a Briton as an inspector general of the newly formed Chinese Maritime Customs Service.

In 1857, the Shanghai government spent 6800 taels of silver to rebuild the North Custom House.

A statue of Hart which had originally stood at the junction of Jiujiang road and the Bund was moved to a position in front of the Custom House in 1927.

Robert Hart chose a Gothic design, with a five-story rectangular clock tower in the center, and two three-story wings beside it, surrounding a quadrangle.

[3] The five bells (largest 6 tonnes) were cast by John Taylor Bellfounders and the clock mechanism was built by JB Joyce & Co in England before they were shipped to Shanghai in 1927.

The traditional tune (the Westminster Quarters) was restored in October 1986, when Queen Elizabeth II visited Shanghai.

In 1997, however, on the eve of Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, the municipal Communist Party branch ordered the music to be stopped, leaving only the hour strike.