Shanghai Race Course, Shanghai, China, c. 1910.

Horse race, Shanghai Race Course, Shanghai, China, c. 1910 postcard published in Japan. As one of the colonial overseers of the Chinese “open city”, Japan enjoyed the same extraterritorial rights and privileges as did Great Britain, France and the U.S. This was the third incarnation of the race track, first opened in 1862, located in the heart of Shanghai.

Even though Japanese horse racing can be traced back to ca. 700 C.E., Emperor Meiji recognized the need to improve the quality of domestic horses in an effort to boost its cultural standing with Europe and the United States and was, himself, a frequent horse race attendee, increasing the public allure of racing and its attendant gambling. The government tolerated the gambling as a necessary evil that resulted when horse breeders pit their breeds against one another.

“Gambling on horse racing initially served as an amusement of the [Shanghai, China] foreign community.

Map: Shanghai, China, 1937. The Shanghai Race Club race track is highlighted in yellow; the Japanese-administered section of the city is highlighted in red. [Base map source: David Rumsey Collection.]

“Track meets at the Shanghai Race Club, which with its adjoining recreation grounds covered sixty-six acres of the choicest property in the city, were originally held twice a year, during the week in May and the first week in Noember.

“In the 1910-19 period,

‘Every Shanghai gentleman owned ponies (Jardine’s had the largest stable of course), and a good many of them participated in the races. It was a strictly sporting affair: no jockeys were used.

‘There were no bookmakers, and one-fourth of the totalizator’s income was used for the upkeep of the establishment.

‘The Great Shanghai Sweepstake was the climax of the season.'”

– Policing Shanghai 1927-1937, by Frederic Wakeman, Jr., 1995

Shanghai Race Course, Shanghai, China, c. 1935. The rebuilt race track and nearby Park Hotel. A new race course was constructed 1933-34, with a new grandstand (said at the time to be the largest in the world) and new out-buildings replacing the 70+ years old originals. The new Art Deco-inspired administration building remains today from that period as a museum.