Concessions in China

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Concessions in China were a group of concession territories within China that were governed and occupied by foreign powers. They are frequently associated with colonialism. Most had extraterritoriality and were enclaves inside key cities that were treaty ports. Other than other minor extraterritorial regions, these concessions no longer exist. The last two European territories in China, Hong Kong and Macau, although not concessions but rather colonies, were returned to the government of the People's Republic of China in 1997 and 1999 respectively.

The majority of these concessions had been granted due to the Unequal Treaties. In each treaty, China was usually forced to open more treaty ports for trade and lease out more territory as concession territories, if not surrendered entirely. Concessions such as Macau which was administrated by the Portuguese which were settled centuries before the Unequal Treaties came about in the Ming Dynasty. There are several theories as to how the concession came about, but as China was considerably stronger militarily than the other European powers at the time, the concession was probably granted with less coercion; the Ming Dynasty was also more open to foreigners.

In each city, there might have been an entire host of concessions; there were eleven concessions within Tianjin at the height of the era. Generally the foreign powers controlling the concessions were Western powers or the Empire of Japan. However, each foreign power usually administrated their own concessions, although occasionally several powers might agree to form a single settlement. In the case of the Shanghai International Settlement in Shanghai, the United Kingdom and the United States agreed to merge their concessions together.

In these concessions, the citizens of each foreign power were given the right to freely inhabit, trade, convert and travel. They developed their own cultures distinct from the rest of China, because each administration would try to make their concession look "like home". Churches, public houses, and various other western commercial institutions sprung up in the concessions. In the case of Japanese concessions, its own traditions and language naturally flourished. Ironically, some of these concessions eventually had more advanced architecture of each originating culture than most cities back in the countries of the foreign powers.

Chinese were originally forbidden to live inside most of the concessions, but to improve commercial activity and services, most concessions eventually permitted Chinese by the 1860s, but treated them like second-class citizens. They were literally second-class citizens, however, since they were not citizens of the foreign state administering the concession. They eventually became the majority of the residents inside the concessions. Non-Chinese in the concessions were generally subject to consular law, and some of these laws applied to the Chinese residents.

Each concession also had its own police force, and had different legal jurisdictions and their own separate laws. Thus, an activity might be legal in one concession but illegal in another. Many of the concessions even maintained their own military garrison and standing army. Military and police forces of the Chinese government were sometimes present. Some police forces allowed Chinese; others did not. (At the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the standing army in Japanese concessions would be even used against the Chinese forces.)

In major cities like Shanghai and Tianjin, having so many jurisdictions in one area meant that criminals could commit a crime in one jurisdiction and easily escape to another. This especially became a problem in the period of Republican China during the early 20th century, with the rise of Chinese warlordism and the collapse of central authority. Crime often flourished, especially organised crime. Some efforts were made by the foreign powers to have the different police forces cooperate and work together, but not with huge success. The image of gangsters and triads conjured when the major cities and concessions of the era were mentioned is often precisely due to the extraterritoriality within the cities.