Tianjin is a municipality and metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. As such, it is not part of a province of China. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the 2020 Chinese census. Its metropolitan area, which is made up of 12 central districts, was home to 11,165,706 inhabitants and is also the world's 29th-largest agglomeration and 11th-most populous city proper.
The Burlingame Treaty, also known as the Burlingame–Seward Treaty of 1868, was a landmark treaty between the United States and Qing China, amending the Treaty of Tientsin, to establish formal friendly relations between the two nations, with the United States granting China the status of most favored nation with regards to trade. It was signed in the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C. in 1868 and ratified in Peking in 1869. The most significant result of the treaty was that it effectively lifted any former restrictions in regards to emigration to the United States from China; with large-scale immigration to the United States beginning in earnest by Chinese immigrants.
The Treaty of Tientsin, also known as the Treaty of Tianjin, is a collective name for several documents signed at Tianjin in June 1858. The Qing dynasty, Russian Empire, Second French Empire, United Kingdom, and the United States were the parties involved. These treaties, counted by the Chinese among the so-called unequal treaties, opened more Chinese ports to foreign trade, permitted foreign legations in the Chinese capital Beijing, allowed Christian missionary activity, and effectively legalized the import of opium. They ended the first phase of the Second Opium War, which had begun in 1856 and were ratified by the Emperor of China in the Convention of Peking in 1860, after the end of the war.
Tianjin University, previously Peiyang University (北洋大學), is a national public research university in Tianjin, China. Established in 1895 by a royal charter from Guangxu Emperor, Tianjin University is the oldest university in China, leading the country's significant shift towards modernization and development. The university is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. It is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction.
In international relations, a concession is a "synallagmatic act by which a State transfers the exercise of rights or functions proper to itself to a foreign private test which, in turn, participates in the performance of public functions and thus gains a privileged position vis-a-vis other private law subjects within the jurisdiction of the State concerned." International concessions are not defined in international law and do not generally fall under it. Rather, they are governed by the municipal law of the conceding state. There may, however, be a law of succession for such concessions, whereby the concession is continued even when the conceding state ceases to exist.
The foreign concessions in Tianjin were concession territories ceded by Qing China to a number of European countries, the United States and Japan within the city of Tianjin. There were altogether nine foreign concessions in old Tianjin on the eve of World War II. These concessions also contributed to the rapid development of Tianjin from the early to mid-20th century. The first foreign concessions in Tianjin were granted in 1860. By 1943, all the foreign concessions, except the Japanese concession, had ceased to exist de facto.
The Tientsin Massacre, was an attack on Christian missionaries and converts in the late 19th century during the late Qing dynasty. 60 people died in attacks on French Catholic priests and nuns. There was intense belligerence from French diplomats, and armed foreign intervention in Tianjin (Tientsin) in 1870. The incident nearly precipitated a war and marked an end to relative cooperation between foreign powers and the Tongzhi court, and adversely affected the ongoing renegotiation of the Treaties of Tientsin, first signed in 1858. French Catholic missionaries were active in China; they were funded by appeals in French churches. The Holy Childhood Association was a Catholic charity founded in 1843 to rescue Chinese children from infanticide. It was a target of Chinese anti-Christian protests led by the local gentry who saw the need to defend Confucianism. Rioting sparked by false rumors of the killing of babies led to the death of a French consul and provoked a diplomatic crisis.
National Peiyang University (北洋大学堂), originally Imperial Tientsin University, was established in Tianjin in October 1895 by Sheng Xuanhuai, the official of the Tianjin Customs, with the approval of the Guangxu Emperor of Qing dynasty. It was the first government-run university in modern China where western science & technology was its main focus. The school motto was "Seeking truth from facts" (实事求是). In 1951, by Chinese government's order, the university was renamed as Tianjin University.
The Gaselee Expedition was a successful relief by a multi-national military force to march to Beijing and protect the diplomatic legations and foreign nationals in the city from attacks in 1900. The expedition was part of the war of the Boxer Rebellion.
The Italian concession of Tianjin was a small territory (concession) in central Tianjin, China, controlled by the Kingdom of Italy between 1901 and 1943, officially ceded to China in 1947.
The Tianjin Provisional Government was a government formed by the Eight-Nation Alliance during the Boxer Rebellion in China, which controlled the major city Tianjin and its surrounding areas from 1900 to 1902.
The city of Tianjin considers itself the original home or birthplace of Chinese industrial revolution. Modern industry started there with Tianjin Machine Factory which was established by the Qing government during the Self-Strengthening Movement. Afterwards, Yuan Shikai promoted new policies in Tianjin. Numerous modern industrial enterprises mushroomed in Hebei New District in the northern bank of the Hai River. Including Zhou Xuexi, many industrialists established large enterprise groups that were managed by merchant and supervised by the government. By the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese private enterprises were booming. Among them is the most representative Yongli Alkali Factory which won the gold award and certificate in Philadelphia, the U.S. in 1926 by the sodium carbonate it produced. The factory was praised as "the symbol of developing important chemical industry of the Republic China". The development of Tianjin's modern industrial and the establishment of the Concessions in Tianjin contributed to the rapid expansion of modern Tianjin to become the biggest city and center of industry and commerce in northern China, as well as the second biggest city of industry, finance and trade in China. The development of Tianjin modern industry mainly went through four stages: initial period, evolution period, booming period and occupied period. Because of the industrial boom of Tianjin modern industry, the government of Tianjin built The Tianjin Museum of Modern Industry in Divergence estuary for commemoration.
Peking–Mukden Railway was a 19th-century steam powered trunkline connecting Peking (Beijing) and Mukden through Tianjin, northeastern Hebei, and southwestern Liaoning; it was a crucial railway in North China and Northeast China.
The Austro-Hungarian concession of Tianjin was a territory (concession) in the Chinese city of Tientsin occupied by Austria-Hungary between 1902 and 1920. It had been obtained by Austria-Hungary after the signing of the Boxer Protocol at the conclusion of the conflict between China and the Alliance of Eight Nations, which had sent an international expeditionary force to quell the Boxer Rebellion of 1901. Although the Austro-Hungarian occupation corps had been present from the previous year, the concession formally began on 27 December 1902. It is the shortest lived concession, having existed for only 14 years.
The Belgian concession of Tianjin was a 120-acre Belgian colonial concession in the Chinese city of Tianjin between 1902 and 1931, the only Belgian concession in China. Although its own concession had not been developed, Belgium had been very active in the infrastructure construction of Tianjin Huajie and other concessions, and can be called the “engineering captain” in the concessions of various other countries including the old city of Tianjin.
The British concession of Tianjin was one of seven total British concessions in China. It was one of nine foreign concessions in Tianjin, and was the earliest established and most successful out of all of the concessions. The concession bordered the French and Germans to the northwest and southeast, respectively, and faced the Russian concession across the Hai river. The settlement prospered economically, and many legacies of the British influence over Tianjin can be seen today.
The Russian concession of Tianjin was a territory (concession) in the Chinese city of Tientsin occupied colonially by the Russian Empire between 1900 and 1924, and one of the Russian concessions in the late Qing dynasty. The concession is second to the British concession of Tianjin by size, stretching from the coast of the Hai River to the farmlands south of Dazhigu district.
China and the West, 1858-1861: The Origins of the Tsungli Yamen is a 1964 nonfiction English language book by Masataka Banno, published by Harvard University Press. It describes the start of the Zongli Yamen and the political developments that resulted in the establishment of the "unequal treaties."
The German concession of Tianjin was a territory (concession) in central Tianjin, existing from 1895 to 1917.
