For decades it was assumed that a sign at the entrance of Huangpu Park in Shangai read "No dogs and Chinese allowed" at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, when European interests dominated China. This sign was attributed to the British, to the American or to the French. However, a study by a Chinese journalist recently showed that this sign never existed. No photographs and no testimonies
from that period are available. Apparently, there was a long list of restrictions at the entrance; one of them excluded the Chinese and another one excluded dogs, but without putting them at the same level.
Although the sign probably did not exist literally, China did suffer a lot from Western domination. Huangpu Park was really forbidden to the Chinese. That's why the sign became a symbol of foreign oppression. In Nov. 2000, the author of a French theatrical play named "Interdit aux Chinois et aux chiens" (No Chinese and Dogs Allowed) was sued par a Chinese association in Paris because the title was offensive. Of course, the play itself condemned anti-Chinese racism, but it shows how vivid the memory of
Western oppression still is in China.