The modernized death registration in Shanghai International Settlement officially started from 1870. By analysing the quality of the death records of the population

foreign residents have better quality of records than local Chinese people do

though the latter’s records are still available for analysis. Among all death records from 1874 to 1940

the proportion of death by infectious disease among foreign residents averaged 31.43%

which was approximately the same as the condition in the Jiangnan Area during the Republic of China era. The proportion of the Chinese was lower than that of the foreign residents

which is related to the omission of statistics. Though the death rates had large fluctuation around the average line in the long run

the Chinese had larger fluctuation than the foreign residents

particularly during the periods of wars. This indicates that social upheavals had a much smaller impact on foreign residents than on the Chinese people.