Shanghai Shanghai was a city on the east coast ( TV : " The End of Time " ) of China . ( TV : " The Middle Men " ) A river ran through the city . ( TV : " The End of Time " ) It was also known as the Paris of the East and the Whore of China . ( PROSE : " The Shadow of Weng - Chiang " ) 19th century . According to Ian Chesterton , Shanghai , along with Peking and Nanking were the " juiciest targets " for rebel groups in the east of China in 1865 . ( PROSE : " The Eleventh Tiger " ) 20th century . By 4 June 1926 , John Andrews has sailed to Shanghai " fifty times " . ( TV : " Carnival of Monsters " ) In 1932 , Japan ese troops were deployed onto the streets Shanghai where they briefly clashed with the Chinese . Some areas were destroyed in air raids launched from the Japanese aircraft carrier " Hosho " situated off the coast . The city was briefly occupied and numerous Chinese inhabitants interrogated . Western powers , seeking to protect their own trading centres located in Shanghai , intervened and defused the crisis . Ryuji Matsu promised Sung - Chi Li that Shanghai would one day fall to Japan . Seeking alliance s with the Western powers , Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai - shek allowed nations with trade concessions in Shanghai to police their own areas of influence with their own troops . The British used Sikh s to patrol the International Settlement and the French used Vietnam ese troops in the French Concession . British , American and Japanese troops all patrolled their own concession as well as the docklands . Chinese people were forbidden from entering the British Public Gardens . After a military revolt in Tokyo in February 1936 , Ishiguro Takashi fled from Japan and eventually came to Shanghai , where he operated as the vigilante , Yan Cheh , while under the guise of Woo , the owner of Club Do - San . Woo sought to crack down on crime in order to create a united front in Shanghai against the Japanese military after war began between Japan and China in July 1937 . Hsien - Ko and the Tong of the Black Scorpion were operating in Shanghai in August 1937 . The Fourth Doctor , Romana I and K9 became entangled in their plot to prevent the death of Magnus Greel . When the war started , Shanghai was nearly 400 miles away from the front lines between Manchukuo and Shangdong province . The city periodically suffered air raids by the Japanese " just to prove that they can , " according to the Doctor . The Japanese eventually entered Shanghai at some point after August 1937 . In 1941 , the Doctor landed in Shanghai , " a couple of centuries " before his arrival in 1937 , and encountered some stranded Alpha Centauran s who had come into contact with human s . ( PROSE : " The Shadow of Weng - Chiang " ) 21st century . In 2008 , Coldfire Construction put up a reactor in Peking . This was causing a massive loss of power in Peking which was spreading south towards Kunming and Shanghai . ( TV : " Revenge of the Slitheen " ) Zheng Yibao investigated the Miracle Day phenomenon in Shanghai in 2011 . ( TV : " The Middle Men " ) The Blessing was located there , along with its antipode , Buenos Aires . ( TV : " The Gathering " ) The average life expectancy of those living within a two mile radius from the site of the Blessing was always exactly equal to the current average life expectancy of Earth . In 1998 , for example , when the average lifespan of Earth humans was 66 years , 5 months and 33 days , it was exactly the same in Shanghai . In 1898 , Earth ' s average lifespan was 49 years , 9 months and 5 days , as was Shanghai ' s . ( TV : " The Blood Line " ) A map showing the location of Shanghai appeared on a screen a UNIT HQ in Geneva . ( TV : " The End of Time " )