THE POLITICS OF CHAOS

Troops of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps (SVC) on Nanjing Road, Shanghai’s main thoroughfare, during the 1911 Revolution. Founded in April 1853 by the British, American, and French consuls in Shanghai to protect the foreign settlements from the Small Swords, a local rebellion against the imperial government, the SVC was a paramilitary organization. After the revolution broke out in Wuchang, Shanghai—with the exception of the foreign concessions—was occupied by revolutionary troops in early November. The revolutionary govern ment in Shanghai declared independence from Beijing while the Western powers claimed neutrality and sent SVC troops to patrol Shanghai’s main streets.