Opium sales, gambling, prostitution were all trades that were flourished with foreign presence, but when the Nationalist Chinese government took control of the city this began to change. They removed all the freedom of the foreigners, meaning that foreigners would have to follow Chinese law. Naturally, many foreigners began to leave and the Chinese Nationalist government took over the businesses that had been left behind. During the Cultural Revolution, from 1966 to 1076, Deng Xiaopeng created an open door policy that allowed for international trade to begin again in Shanghai.

Today, Shanghai is a modern cosmopolitan city that has retained, to some degree, a western influence that can still be seen especially in its French Concession and in the Old Chinese City.