Concessions of Italy in China were territories that the Kingdom of Italy controlled in China during the first half of the 20th century. After participating with other colonial powers in the war against China in the second half of the 19th century, Italy obtained a concession in Tianjin (Tientsin) with full colonial rights and some minor areas (fortifications, commercial areas, partial concessions in international settlement, etc.) in the defeated China.
Italy, in the first half of the 20th century, had concessions & possessions in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Amoy, and Hankou, as well as at two forts (Taku and the Shan Hai Guan). It is noteworthy to pinpoint that only in Tianjin, Beijing, and Shanhai Pass, was the Italian government in control (with colonial property rights). In the other locations, Italy was united (or affiliated) with other colonial powers - like with Great Britain in the Taku forts. There was even the Treaty Port in Beihai (southern China), that was allowed to have a small area for Italian commerce. The main concessions (after Tianjin) were in Shanghai and Beijing. The official real control of Italy in these colonial areas lasted from 1901 to 1943 (but nominally, it was for half a century, from 1898 until 1947) [1]
Italy requested, in the last years of the 19th century, to have the Sanmen Islands in front of the Shanghai region, but the Qing Dynasty refused to grant the concession. [2]
During the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, the Beijing Legation Quarter became the center of an international incident during the Siege of the International Legations by the Boxers for several months. After the siege had been broken by the Eight-Nation Alliance (that included Italy) at the end of the Battle of Peking (Beijing), the foreign powers obtained the right to station troops to protect their legations under the terms of the Boxer Protocol. In addition, Italy obtained a concession in Tianjin, southeast of Beijing. [3] [4]
The Italian concession of Tianjin had an area of nearly one square mile and was initially located in a swamp area near the Hai River, with a few poor houses of Chinese farmers. The Italian government built infrastructure and a number of public buildings and by 1938, it had a population of 14,879 Chinese and 739 Europeans (nearly all Italians). [5] The concession was called the "aristocratic quarter of Tianjin" because many rich Chinese families went to live there—creating nice mansions—in order to get refuge from the Japanese invasion of China: [6]
After a difficult start, the concession, with the new street layouts and European-style villas, progressively assumed ‘the role of showcase of Italian art, with the import of decorating and building materials from the motherland’, especially for ‘the most representative objects, like the public buildings and the monumental fountain located at the centre for Queen Elena Square’...The so-called ‘the aristocratic concession’ (as Borgnino wrote) attracted both other foreigners and high-ranking Chinese residents. Among them: political theorist Liang Qichao, Tianjin Mayors Zhang Tinge, Cheng Ke, and Zhou Longguang, journalist Liu Ranggong, playwright Cao Yu, calligrapher Hua Shikui, the infamous 1923-24 ‘bribing president’ Cao Kun, warlord general Tang Yulin, 1921 Minister of Interior Qi Yaoshan, military and civil governor of Heilongjiang Bao Guiqin, Wang Guangyuan, and wealthy silk businessman Meng Yangxuan, all resided in Italian buildings in the concession’s area.
In the Shanghai International Settlement, Italy was given a small area during World War I. The Shanghai Volunteer Corps (a multinational, mostly volunteer force controlled by the Shanghai Municipal Council) included a company of Italians from 1914 to 1920, when it was disbanded. Only a few dozen Italian soldiers & sailors—under direct orders of the Italian governors in Tianjin—remained in the city. However, during the Fascist period, the number of Italian troops increased in Shanghai, mainly because of the Japanese invasion of China in the mid 1930s [7]
The Italian concession in Tianjin became the headquarters of the Italian Legione Redenta (with 4357 Italians born in the Austrian empire) that fought in 1919 during the Allied intervention against Soviet troops in Siberia and Manchuria. In 1935, the Italian concession had a population of about 6,261, including 110 Italian civilians and about 536 foreigners. [8]
In 1902, the consuls of Great Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden-Norway, Japan, and other eight countries signed the "Gulangyu delimitation charter" in the Gulangyu Japanese Consulate. Subsequently, in January 1903, the Gulangyu International Settlement Municipal Council was established: Italy had a "jointly-held concession" in Amoy since then.
Italy protected the Italian concessions and forts during the Japanese attack on China in the mid 1930s (additionally, nearly 800 Italian soldiers and sailors protected the Europeans -British, Russians, Germans, and also US citizens, etc..- resident in Shanghai in 1937, when the UK & US troops withdrew from the city):
In 1937, in Tientsin and Shanghai, there were stationed 764 men with officers and soldiers of "Battaglione Granatieri di Sardegna" arrived by ships from Massaua (Eritrea). Part of these effectives supported the English (2,500 men) and the American (1,400 men) contingents, who were already in Beijing and particularly in Shanghai to protect the Anglo-Saxon citizens (in Shanghai, there were 308 American civilians, 971 English, 199 Germans, 654 Japanese, 182 Russians, and 42 Italians)......On September 27th and October 24th (1937), some Japanese bombers Mitsubishi attacked the Italian light cruiser Montecuccoli during a raid against Shanghai. During these two missions was the Italian vessel hit by splinters and had one dead and several injured (the accident compromised seriously the diplomatic relationship between Rome and Tokyo)......Between March 1941 and September 1943, the Italian concession of Tientsin and the consulates of Shanghai, Hankow, and Beijing lived a quite peaceful period, in spite of the not optimal relationships with the Japanese occupation military Command [9]
All these concessions were lost by the Kingdom of Italy in the Peace Treaty of 1947, after Italy's defeat in WWII [10]
The Italian concessions in China were ruled by "Consoli" (consuls), living in Tianjin:[ citation needed ]
Some Italian industries and commercial companies created facilities in the concession of Tianjin (and a few also in Shanghai): the commerce between Italy and China increased in a huge way. More than 60 Italian companies were present in 1938, many working in agricultural products.
In 1932...the Italian shipping company "Lloyd Triestino" opened a new service linking Italy to Shanghai by scheduling on that route two modern trans-atlantic vessels, the "Conte Biancamano" and "the Conte Rosso" (which immediately set a speed world record of only 23 days during the first voyage). With this new service, supported by those of other companies employed in the trade of various goods and products, the economic exchange between Italy and China reached such good levels to alarm Great Britain and France. Alberto Rosselli M.H.
The Italian possessions in China enjoyed a relatively good economic development, with huge Italian-Chinese commerce in the 1920s and in the 1930s. The main 4 banks of Italy opened agencies in Tianjin and Shanghai. In 1924, the Italian government created the "Italian Bank for China" and the "Compagnia Italiana d'Estremo Oriente" (CIDEO) for the growing commerce between Italy and China.[ citation needed ]
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 Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, a group known as the "Boxers" in English due to many of its members having practised Chinese martial arts, which at the time were referred to as "Chinese boxing". It was defeated by the Eight-Nation Alliance of foreign powers.
The Treaty of Tientsin, also known as the Treaty of Tianjin, is a collective name for several unequal treaties 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.
The Eight-Nation Alliance was a multinational military coalition that invaded northern China in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, with the stated aim of relieving the foreign legations in Beijing, which was being besieged by the popular Boxer militiamen, who were determined to remove foreign imperialism in China. The allied forces consisted of about 45,000 troops from the eight nations of Germany, Japan, Russia, Britain, France, the United States, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. Neither the Chinese nor the quasi-concerted foreign allies issued a formal declaration of war.
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.
Foreign concessions in China were a group of concessions that existed during the 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 Peking Legation Quarter was the area in Beijing (Peking), China where a number of foreign legations were located between 1861 and 1959. In the Chinese language, the area is known as Dong Jiaomin Xiang, which is the name of the hutong through the area. It is located in the Dongcheng District, immediately to the east of Tiananmen Square.
Yongdingmen, was the former front gate of the outer city of Beijing's old city wall. Originally built in 1553 during Ming Dynasty, it was torn down in the 1950s to make way for the new road system in Beijing. In 2005, the Yongdingmen was reconstructed at the site of the old city gate. This new gate is disconnected from the original road leading towards the gate and into the city.
The Battle of Tientsin, or the Relief of Tientsin, occurred on 13–14 July 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion in Northern China. A multinational military force, representing the Eight-Nation Alliance, rescued a besieged population of foreign nationals in the city of Tianjin by defeating the Chinese Imperial army and Boxers. The capture of Tianjin gave the Eight-Nation Alliance a base to launch a rescue mission for the foreign nationals besieged in the Legation Quarter of Beijing and to capture Beijing.
The Gansu Braves or Gansu Army was a unit of 10,000 Chinese Muslim troops from the northwestern province of Kansu (Gansu) in the last decades of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Loyal to the Qing, the Braves were recruited in 1895 to suppress a Muslim revolt in Gansu. Under the command of General Dong Fuxiang (1839–1908), they were transferred to the Beijing metropolitan area in 1898, where they officially became the Rear Division of the Wuwei Corps, a modern army that protected the imperial capital. The Gansu Army included Hui Muslims, Salar Muslims, Dongxiang Muslims, and Bonan Muslims.
The Sino-British Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China, or the Sino-British New Equal Treaty, was a bilateral treaty concluded between the British and the Chinese government in Chongqing on 11 January 1943. The formal name of the treaty was Treaty Between His Majesty in Respect of the United Kingdom and India and His Excellency the President of the National Government of the Republic of China for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China and the Regulation of Related Matters.
The Seymour Expedition was an attempt by a multi-national military force to march to Beijing and relieve the Siege of the Legations and foreign nationals from attacks by Qing China's government troops and the Boxers in 1900. The Chinese army and Boxer fighters defeated the Seymour armies and forced them to return to Tianjin (Tientsin). It was followed later in the summer by the successful Gaselee Expedition.
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.
Zhang Xueming was a Chinese soldier and politician. He served as the mayor of Tianjin in 1931, during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, before being forced into exile. After the Second World War, Zhang defected from the Kuomintang and joined the Communist forces during the Chinese Civil War.
The Banca Italo-Cinese established in 1919, later dissolved and renamed Banca Italiana per la Cina in 1925, was the most important Italian financial intermediary in Asia until the outbreak of World War Two. The history of the bank is significantly intertwined with the development of the Sino-Italian political relations during the interwar period.
The Kulangsu International Settlement was an international settlement in China on the Kulangsu or Gulangyu Island of Xiamen, Fujian province. During the Opium Wars, the British army occupied Gulangyu Island for four years and did not withdraw until 1845. After 1843, Xiamen was opened as a treaty port in accordance with the Sino-British Nanjing Treaty. The United Kingdom also acquired a beach on the coast of Xiamen's main island to build a British concession, while Gulangyu retained its original features. Over time, more nations established embassies as the settlement prospered.
The American concession of Tianjin was a territory (concession) in the Chinese city of Tientsin de facto occupied by the United States between the 1860s and 1901 in present-day Xiaobailou Subdistrict. American administration of the settlement existed in a legal gray area where no material paperwork ever existed to demarcate the concession, and its existence was only made possible by acknowledgement by all sides: the United States, the Qing dynasty, and other local concession municipal governments, including the German, Russian, and British concessions.
The Italian Expeditionary Corps in China was an expeditionary force the Kingdom of Italy sent to China in the summer of 1900 to assist in the efforts of the Eight-Nation Alliance to put down the Boxer Rebellion. It began to return to Italy in 1901, but some of its elements operated in China until 1905. The Italian participation in the campaign against the Boxers allowed Italy to obtain the Italian concession of Tientsin in 1901.
