The Sassoons: First Major Drug Dealers in Shanghai

Shanghai Triad. When looking up the yesteryear of this cosmopolitan city, one will often find a deeply rooted history of gangsterism for this city of the East. They take it so seriously that filmmakers even made a movie on the subject. So it came as a surprise to find that the first real gangstas here weren't Chinese, but those that rock the Star of David.

Took a sidetrip last week with Carolyn to Garden Books on Changle Road to get a bit more edumacated about the city I dwell in. Amongst the books I grabbed was one titled "Jews in Shanghai" by Pan Guang. The most interesting subject to note is a Jewish family that settled in Shanghai by way of Baghdad and Bombay, who were synonymously known as "the Rothschilds of the East." Their claim to fame, besides building an expansive empire in trade via the Silk Route, was their notoriety for trafficking shipping opium from the West. The Sassoons leave behind a lasting legacy that still stands in a number of historical buildings here in Shanghai, including the famous Peace Hotel. Now that's gangster. A brief article on the subject here.