Amidst the current dramatic protests and events in HK, one of the sympathizer groups
spotted are the internet weirdos of the
Shanghai National Party, who are partly inspired/linked to this
other Chinese internet weirdo.
Never mind them specifically, but the concept of another HK type situation is fascinating, and makes me wonder what if Shanghai had
gone hyper-growth like the other East Asian tigers, under lingering post-WWII colonial rule,. Would it develop its own even more distinct identity around the Wu language, whatever colonizer(s) rule them until 199X or 200X, and see themselves as self-superior to the other Chinese? Geographically could they even remain unabsorbed by the PRC. In any case it's just interesting to speculate if
another major city in China (unlike far-flung peripheral regions full of non-Han like Tibet/Xinjiang/Inner Mongolia) had problems with being part of China.
If not Shanghai, how about another city occupied by outsiders? Kwantung? Impossible, given how WWII went... unless the Soviets or some White Russian enclave took over? Weihai? Qingdao? Sadly not
Guangzhouwan, unfortunately. Any of the other
legation cities of Kaiserreich fame? What if several of these cities remained under non-PRC control at the same time, similar to Hong Kong and Macau both existing?
Somewhat related threads:
More East/SE Asian City-States
Other Singapore style City States