Hongkou, Shanghai
district of Shanghai, China
Hongkou (; formerly spelled Hongkew) is a district of Shanghai, forming part of the northern urban core. It has a land area of 23.48 km2 (9.07 sq mi) and a population of 757,498 as of 2020. The district borders Yangpu to the east, Pudong to the southeast, Huangpu to the southwest, Jing'an to the west and Baoshan to the north.
It is the location of the Astor House Hotel, Broadway Mansions, Lu Xun Park, and Hongkou Football Stadium. It was once known as Shanghai's "Little Tokyo." Hongkou is home to the Shanghai International Studies University, the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and the 1933 Old Millfun.
History
During the Tang dynasty, the area in modern Hongkou District may have been a beach included in a seawall (捍海塘) near the East China Sea. In the early Ming dynasty, it became known as 黃埔口 (Huangpukou) or 洪口 (Hongkou), as there is a river mouth debouched into the Huangpu River, in the early Qing dynasty, it was renamed as 虹口 (Hongkou).
In 1845, an American bishop W. J. Boone bought an area of land there, and it later evolved into the American Concession in Shanghai in 1848 and merged into the International Concession in 1863, it was in large part reduced to rubble during the Second World war when Shanghai was occupied by the Japanese. 20,000 Ashkenazi Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe lived in an overcrowded square-mile section known to as the Shanghai Ghetto, in the Tilanqiao neighborhood of Hongkew.
In 1947, it was renamed as Hongkou District.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Hongkou, Shanghai” as district of Shanghai, China. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as district of Shanghai, China. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q661364. VIAF identifies the subject as 145875095. The Library of Congress control number is nr2001046736. Authority coordinates are 31.266, 121.480. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1933, 1845 and 1848.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Hongkou, Shanghai”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Hongkou, Shanghai primary sources, Hongkou, Shanghai archive and Hongkou research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Hongkou, Shanghai”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Hongkou, Shanghai” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.