Treaties enforced on China during the mid-nieteenth century led to the establishmen of the Treaty Ports as beachheads of foreign influence around the coast of China, reflecting aperiod of Western expansionism and commercial ambition.

The Concession Areas within theses port cities became places of urban settlement and trade, both transforming attitudes to modernization and, almost inadvertently, fueling changing political attitudes. Foreign influence in city planning, architectural design and construction offered an alternative urbanism outside prevailing tradition and state control. Peter Cookson Smith discusses nieteenth century ideologies and the background leading to foreign incursions, the evolution of port cities, and China's changes and upheavals leading to its recent reemergence into the global market place through new trade-led development models.

By focusing on the twelve main Treaty Ports — Shanghai, Amoy (Xiamen), Canton (Guangzhou), Dalny (Dalian), Foochow (Fuzhou), Hankow (Hankou), Harbin, Nanking (Nanjing), Ningpo (Ningbo), Swatow (Shantou), Tientsin (Tianjin), and Tsingtao (Qiangdao), Peter Cookson Smith illustrates, through writing and sketches, these modernizing cities alongside the imprints of older places and spaces from an earlier time.