analysis. Indeed, the reality was that conflicts rolled on in Asia while hard negotia- tions went on in Europe. The proposed establishment of the South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) proved to be critical in the development of China–US–Taiwan relations, as China was specifically concerned by the geopolitical implications of the organization and vehe- mently opposed its creation, particularly with US support. Besides the comparison with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the geopolitical implication of SEATO was clear. Together with Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, in the context of the Cold War, the US would have a line of containment that challenged the secur- ity of China. While Chiang Kai-shek’s forces in Taiwan might at best be an annoy- ance for China, and US–Taiwan relations seemed to be tenuous, the fact that Taiwan could potentially serve as a frontline bastille for stationing US forces and perhaps launching an attack against the mainland was a situation that China under Mao could not entertain. SEATO, if successfully set up, could potentially lean towards the US. A US-initiated two-pronged attack from South East Asia – through SEATO – and Taiwan would be the worst nightmare for China. While Pang hints at China’s reasons for opposing the establishment of SEATO, it is regrettable that he does not elaborate more. Beyond chapter five, the second half of the book moves on to address the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis and US–Taiwan relations, turning the focus away from South East Asia. While well written, this topic has been addressed extensively in Chinese and adds little to the stock of existing literature. Nonetheless, by combining develop- ments in South East Asia and the lead up to the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, Strait Ritual offers readers an alternative narrative that tells the story of China–US–Taiwan in one package, weaving together bits and pieces of related studies in Chinese and English. The volume adds to the limited number of available works that look at the history of the Taiwan Strait or cross-Strait relations in the critical years after 1949 and should be commended for that. Strait Ritual is also the only historical work featuring Taiwan among the list of works on China published by Hong Kong University Press over the years. This book adds greatly to the understanding of China–US–Taiwan relations of a semi-distant past and should be perused by ser- ious observers and historians of this triangular relationship. TONY LIU ttliu@dragon.nchu.edu.tw Improvised City: Architecture and Governance in Shanghai, 1843–1937 COLE ROSKAM Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019 viii + 293 pp. $65.00; £52.00 ISBN 978-0-295-74478-0 doi:10.1017/S030574102000020X Cole Roskam is not the first foreign observer to draw a direct link between architec- ture and political rule in China. Eighteenth-century Europeans explained Chinese imperial strength and stability with reference to its ordered and impressive architec- ture, while their successors linked Qing stasis and decay to an unchanging and flimsy building style. For Roskam, an architectural historian, late-Qing and republican Shanghai’s civic architecture reflected the uncertainties and competing influences of extraterritorial municipal governance. In Improvised City he provides the first 286 The China Quarterly, 241, March 2020, pp. 262–295 use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S030574102000020X Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 54.163.42.124, on 24 Jul 2020 at 07:22:48, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of