A critical examination of the evolving changes in Chinese treaty ports over the past 150 years, this study illustrates, through essays and over 230 sketches, the imprints on modernizing cities of older urban spaces which have left physical traces through city plans, streets, and buildings.

Noted architect and urban planner Peter Cookson Smith was one of the first specialists involved in planning, urban design, and landscape consultancies in Southeast Asia. He is currently a visiting scholar at the Centre of Asian Studies, the University of Hong Kong, and is vice president of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners and the Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design.