Concessions in Tianjin
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The Concessions in Tianjin were concession territories ceded by the Qing Dynasty to the imperial powers in Tianjin (then romanized in Postal map spelling as Tientsin), China.
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[edit] General context
By the mid nineteenth century Tianjin (known then as Tientsin) was opened up to foreign trade, and the importance of Tianjin was enhanced by the railways connecting it with Beijing on the one hand since 1897, and with Shanhai-kwan and Manchuria on the other.
The British and French concessions were the earliest to be created in Tientsin; between 1895 and 1900 they were joined by Japan, Germany, imperial Russia, and even by countries that did not yet hold concessions elsewhere in China: Austria-Hungary, Italy and Belgium in establishing self-contained concessions each with their own prisons, schools, barracks and hospitals. The European settlements covered five miles in all, the river front being governed by foreign powers.
Concessions in Tianjin dismantled in the early to mid-20th century, first with successful diplomacy under the Kuomintang and later when the new government under the Communist Party of China seized all foreign property in Mainland China - it could ideologically never allow any 'imperialist' intrusion on its sovereign and indivisible territory, so it denounced the unequal treaties as invalid extortions. The exception was Hong Kong, which was allowed to reach the expiration of the lease on part of its territory.[citation needed]
[edit] American concession
[edit] Austro-Hungarian concession
[edit] Belgian concession
[edit] British concession
The British concession, in which the trade centres, was situated on the right bank of the river Peiho below the native city, occupying some 200 acres. It was held on a lease in perpetuity granted by the Chinese government to the British Crown, which sublets plots to private owners in the same way as is done at Hankow. The local management was entrusted to a municipal council organized on lines similar to those which obtain at Shanghai.
[edit] French concession
[edit] German concession
[edit] Italian concession
On 7 September 1901, a concession in Tianjin was ceded to Italy by China, on 7 June 1902 taken into Italian possession, administered by the Italian consul. It had a population of 6,261 in 1935, including 536 foreigners.
Though it had a garrison of circa 600 Italian troops by 1943, on 10 September 1943 it was occupied by Japan, still in 1943 Mussolini's (virtually fictitious, fascist) Italian Social Republic relinquished the concession to the Japanese sponsored Chinese National Government (not recognized by the Kingdom of Italy, nor by the Republic of China). On 10 February 1947 it was formally ceded back to China by post-war Italy.
[edit] Japanese concession
[edit] Russian concession
[edit] Sources and references
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- WorldStatesmen: China
- Map of the concessions
