The bund: Littoral space of empire in the treaty ports of East Asia

Abstract

This article is a preliminary study of a spatial form known as the bund, which developed in the treaty ports of East Asia from the mid-nineteenth century to the Second World War. Though now generally associated with that celebrated stretch of waterfront known as the Shanghai Bund, many treaty ports throughout the East Asian region once claimed their own bund. The generic space of the bund was unique in that it embodied many of the principles inherent in Victorian mercantile capitalism. It also reflected the unique situation of treaty port life, in which concepts such as extra-territoriality and laissez-faire capitalism shaped the spatial layout and development of port cities. Bunds played a central role in facilitating the commercial, military and recreational activities of European, North American and, in the twentieth century, Japanese residents of the treaty ports. They furthermore marked the site at which the segregation and violence that accompanied late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century imperialism made its presence felt in Asian ports. In addressing the historical development and post-war demise of bunds, this article also questions the meaning behind the contemporary trend for nostalgic restoration of treaty port era waterfronts in many East Asian cities today.