The International Settlement range covers the International Settlement in Shanghai, and its inhabitants, during the 1920s and 30s.
The International Settlement was established between 1844 and 1854 as a result of American efforts to ensure that China would not become, in the words of President Tyler, a "British monopoly." Although the politics are rather complex, it essentially united the British and American concessions in Shanghai, along with the concessions and embassies of a wide variety of European powers with interests in Shanghai - including most of the Great Powers of the time.
Although dominated by the Americans and the British, the International Settlement was governed by the Shanghai Municipal Council, whose members were drawn from each of the international powers recognized within the Settlement. These represented most of the major European powers (indeed, even the Ottoman Turks had a presence on the Council for a time), and several of the "minor powers." Even after many of these powers lost their colonial holdings as a result of the Great War (1914-1918), their presence could still be felt in architecture, culture, and politics.
Initially, the International Settlement was settled by foreigners, but as the decades went on, an increasing number of Chinese citizens immigrated to the International Settlement. By 1930, these individuals make up a very healthy proportion of the population, but the majority of the inhabitants of the International Settlement are still not ethnically Chinese. Women and minorities fair somewhat better in the Settlement than they might in their own home countries, but the situation is not as liberal as it is in, say, the French Concession.
Police protection is provided by the Shanghai Municipal Police, and military defense is provided by local volunteers, supported by formal military forces of Britain, the United States, and the other powers, who are rotated in and out of the Settlement on a regular basis. Most of these are little more than reinforced companies intended to protect property and diplomatic staff; the British force, however, is perhaps the best equipped and most notable foreign military detachment in the International Settlement. The number of British troops is still far inadequate for protection, however, in the event of a major foreign incursion or invasion.
