Foreign concessions in China

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Foreign concessions in China were a group of concessions that existed during late Imperial China and the Republic of China, which were governed and occupied by foreign powers, and are frequently associated with colonialism and imperialism.

The concessions had extraterritoriality and were enclaves inside key cities that became treaty ports. All the concessions have been dissolved in the present day.

The emergence of foreign concessions in Imperial China was an indirect^{[citation needed]} offshoot of the 19th century unequal treaties following China's defeat against Great Britain in the Opium Wars. The 1842 Treaty of Nanjing between China and Great Britain stated that "British Subjects, with their families and establishments, shall be allowed to reside, for the purpose of carrying on their mercantile pursuits, without molestation or restraint at the cities and towns of Canton, Amoy, Foochow-fu, Ningpo and Shanghai",^[1] but nothing was said, including in the supplementary treaty of the following year, about separate residential areas for foreigners in those ports, let alone their right to govern themselves.^[2][3] However, the imperial commissioner who had negotiated the supplementary treaty reported to the Qing emperor that by signing the treaty he had successfully arranged that in the treaty ports "the boundaries of an area should be designated which foreigners are not allowed to exceed" (yiding jiezhi, buxu yuyue), an intent however that was not clearly stated in the English-language version of the treaty.^[4] The Qing rulers, by wishing to confine the "barbarians" to an officially designated special zone, hoped to resurrect the old Canton system, that is, a system that strictly confined foreigners to a segregated zone that also was off-limit to Chinese subjects. At Shanghai, there was initially an attempt by imperial officials to keep the foreigners out as much as possible and the first British consul, Captain George Balfour, could not even find a house for the consulate upon his arrival in 1843. The British finally decided to locate themselves in the northern suburbs of the walled Chinese city and they asked the Daotai, Gong Muiju, to designate an area for their establishment there. This dovetailed with the Daotai's intentions, since following two violent incidents between local Chinese and foreigners, he had endeavored to limit contacts between Chinese and foreigners.^[5][6] This was formalized in 1845 with the delimitation of a segregated area north of Yangjingbang, a creek that ran north of the Chinese city. Later that year Gong Muiju and Balfour concluded an agreement called the Land Regulations (Shanghai zudi zhangcheng), which set forth the institutional basis for the British settlement.^[7]

Following the British example, Charles de Montigny, the French consul at Shanghai, and the Daotai Lin’gui agreed in 1849 that a French settlement be established on a strip of land between the Chinese city and the British settlement. The American consul George Seward was dissatisfied with the fact that the British and the French had obtained the best plots of land in the area, and after lengthy deliberations, the Americans established their own settlement in Hongkew northeast of Shanghai, although it was not to be delineated until 1863.^[8] In September of the same year, the British and American settlements were amalgamated into a single Foreign Settlement. A Municipal Council, officially known as "The Council for the Foreign Community of Shanghai", was established.^[9]

Local French representatives had agreed to amalgamate the French settlement with the other two but this was not accepted by the French Government and, as a consequence, a French concession was to exist alongside the International Settlement until World War II. The International Settlement began with the 138 acres of the British settlement, which was increased to 470 acres in 1848. The addition of the American area and a number of subsequent additions brought the total area to 5,584 acres. Including the 2,525 acres of French Concession, the total area was eventually to reach 12.66 square miles.^[10]

Additional foreign concessions were set up in other treaty ports especially following the 1858 and 1860 Anglo-Chinese treaties, and from the mid-1890s to 1902, following the Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901). While the settlements at Shanghai had been set up in cooperation with the local authorities and with the tacit, but not explicit, consent of the central Chinese government, the concessions that were established later had a more definitive treaty basis and their development as well as the extension of their boundaries has been regularized by agreements with the Chinese government.^[11]

An inventory of all the concessions along with a survey of their status done by W. C. Johnstone in 1937 shows that, aside from the two international settlements at Shanghai and Kulangsu (Amoy), there had been grants by the Chinese government of 23 national concessions to eight nations in 10 Chinese ports. In addition to the 23 formally established concessions, Great Britain, Japan, and the United States were granted rights to concessions in several treaty ports but these rights were never exercised.^[12] On the eve of World War II, four Powers still possessed concessions: Great Britain (two, at Canton and Tientsin); Japan (three, at Hangchow, Hankow, and Tientsin); France (four, at Canton, Hankow, Shanghai, and Tientsin); and Italy (one, at Tientsin).^[13] For his part, Kurt Bloch listed a total of 19 established national concessions.^[14]

In these concessions, the citizens of each foreign power were given the right to freely inhabit, trade, perform missionary evangelization, and travel. They developed their own sub-cultures, isolated and distinct from the intrinsic Chinese culture, and colonial administrations attempted to give their concessions "homeland" qualities. Churches, public houses, and various other western commercial institutions sprang up in the concessions. In the case of Japan, its own traditions and language naturally flourished. Some of these concessions eventually had a more advanced architecture of each originating culture than most cities back in the countries of the origin of the foreign powers. Over time, and without formal permission, Britain, France, Japan and the United States established their own postal systems within their concession and trade areas.^[15] Following Chinese complaints over the loss of postal revenue and the lack of customs inspections, all of them were abolished at the end of 1922.^[16]

The Shanghai International Settlement became a major place of refuge for European immigrants, notably from Slavic and Baltic regions, and American travelers and displaced persons.^[17]

Each concession also had its own police force and different legal jurisdictions with their own separate laws. Thus, an activity might be legal in one concession but illegal in another. Many of the concessions also maintained their own military garrison and a standing army. Military and police forces of the Chinese government were sometimes present. Some police forces allowed Chinese, others did not.

There were economic inequalities between the concessions and surrounding areas outside. European powers had citizens employed inside of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service. Despite the service being sovereign to China, Europeans often influenced taxes levied and tariffs imposed upon foreign concessions—often to their own benefit. Foreign entities also benefited from imposing their own local taxes inside of their nation's respected concession.

Several wars would lead to the creation of colonial concessions taken from Qing China. These included the First Opium War (1839–1842), Second Opium War (1856–1860), Sino-French War (1884–1885), First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), and Russian invasion of Manchuria (1900).^[18] The Eight Nation Alliance's suppression of the Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901) would lead to participants being rewarded with concessions taken from the Qing dynasty, in the years following the conflict. It also led the foreign powers to station barracks and troops in the existing concessions, especially Tianjin, and increased the immigration of entire families to the concessions.^{[19]: 98–100}

Wars that changed the ownership of existing concessions between the foreign powers included the Triple Intervention (1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905).

The foreign concessions continued to exist during the mainland period of the Republic of China.

The Asia and Pacific theatre of the First World War would be another major incident changing the ownership of concessions in China with Japanese expansion. Concessions were partially curtailed in the Washington Naval Treaty and the Nine Power Treaty attempting to reaffirm the sovereignty of China.^[20][21][22]

Many foreigners arrived in the cities aiming primarily to get rich. During the first phase of the Chinese Civil War in the 1920s, the concessions saw a sharp increase in immigration both from surrounding Chinese territory, and from the West and Japan. The population of Chinese residents eventually surpassed foreigners inside the concessions. With international travelers, culture took on an eclectic character of many influences—including both language and architecture. This effect was exemplified in the Shanghai International Settlement and the multi-concessions in Tianjin. Writings from the time period indicate that both the Prussians and Russians were seen as acting culturally British. The wealthy built opulent buildings with multiple European and Chinese inspirations. Some Chinese entrepreneurs became very wealthy and hired foreign designers and architects.^{[19]: 95–96}

In major cities like Shanghai and Tianjin, due to the existence of numerous jurisdictions, criminals could commit a crime in one jurisdiction and then easily escape to another. This became a major problem during the Republican period, with the rise of the post–Imperial Warlord era and the collapse of central authority in the 1920s and the 1930s. Crime often flourished, especially organized crime by different warlord groups.^[23]

Some efforts were made by the foreign powers to have the different police forces cooperate and work together, but not with significant success. The image of gangsters and Triad societies connected with the major cities and concessions of the period is often due to extraterritoriality within the cities.^[23] Underdeveloped economies under a foreign government led many laborers without opportunities to be recruited by triads, who developed a subculture inspired by other eras that China was under foreign domination. Secret societies controlled drug trade, gambling, and prostitution in Shanghai.^[24] Western outlaws also created organized crime groups, in one instance creating an "orientalist mini crime empire" in 1930s Shanghai.^[25][26]

From the 1919 Karakhan Manifesto to 1927, diplomats of the Soviet Union would promise to revoke concessions in China, but the Soviets secretly kept tsarist concessions such as the Chinese Eastern Railway, as well as consulates, barracks, and Orthodox churches. This led Chiang Kai-Shek—who pushed foreign powers such as Britain to return some of their concessions from 1925 to 1927—to turn against his former Soviet ally in 1927, seizing Soviet legations. The Soviets would later fight an armed conflict to keep control over the Chinese Eastern Railway in 1929.^[27]

At the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), the standing army in the Japanese concessions would be used against the Chinese forces.^{[note 1][citation needed]} However the inland concession of Chongqing was abandoned by the Japanese as they began the invasion.^[28]

World War II would spell the end for the concessions in Tianjin,^[29] as well as extraterritoriality as a whole.^[30] While Japanese forces avoided attacking foreign concessions prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, afterwards they invaded and occupied the Shanghai International Settlement and Hong Kong.^[17][31]

Shanghai's status as a safe haven ended, as Jews who sought refuge in the city from 1933 to 1941, were forced into the Shanghai Ghetto in 1943, most survived the war due to the deeply established community with Chinese residents before 1941.^[32][17]

In 1943 Italy surrendered its treaty rights in cooperation with the Japanese controlled puppet Nanjing government. Italy surrendered its special treaty rights, including its concession at Tientsin, and rights in the international settlements at Shanghai and Amoy (Xiamen) in its peace treaty with the Allies in 1945.^[33]

Additionally, there were more concessions were planned but never completed.^{[citation needed]}

• Unequal treaties
• List of Chinese treaty ports
• Chinese concession of Incheon
• Century of humiliation
• Scramble for China
• Sick man of Asia
• Chinese Maritime Customs Service
• Tangier International Zone

• Panikkar, K. M. (1953) Asia and Western dominance, 1498–1945, London: G. Allen and Unwin.
• Nield, Robert (2010). The China Coast: Trade and the First Treaty Ports. Hong Kong: Joint Publishing Company. ISBN 9789620429873.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Concessions in China.

Wikivoyage has a travel topic for treaty ports and concessions in China.

• Treaty ports and extraterritoriality in 1920s China