The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China

An epic, multigenerational account of two rival Jewish dynasties—the Sassoons and the Kadoories—who flourished in Shanghai and Hong Kong as twentieth-century China modernized. Both families originally from Baghdad, they dominated Chinese business and politics for more than 175 years, profiting from the Opium Wars, surviving Japanese occupation, and courting Chiang Kai-shek before losing nearly everything as the Communists rose to power. Jonathan Kaufman traces their remarkable history from Baghdad through Hong Kong, Shanghai, and London, examining how these ambitious families participated in an economic boom that opened China to the world while remaining blind to deep inequality and political upheaval. The narrative encompasses opium smuggling, family rivalry, political intrigue, and survival, revealing both moral compromises and exceptional foresight, success, and generosity. During World War II, the Sassoons and Kadoories joined together to rescue and protect eighteen thousand Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism. Though their presence in China began as business opportunity, the country became a reluctant home they were slow to leave before revolution. The buildings they constructed and businesses they established continue to shape Shanghai and Hong Kong today.