This street scene, likely photographed in Shanghai during the 1930s or 1940s, shows a uniformed traffic policeman directing the flow of pedestrians, carts, and vehicles at a busy downtown intersection. A laborer hauls a heavy wooden handcart through the crossing, a common sight in Chinese cities where human and animal power still moved much of the urban commerce. The surrounding Art Deco buildings and overhead tram lines reflect Shanghai's status as one of Asia's most cosmopolitan and rapidly modernizing cities in the years surrounding World War II. Project: 218357