foreign concessions in China

The emergence of foreign concessions in Imperial China was an indirect{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} 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",C. F. Fraser, The Status of the International Settlement at Shanghai,[https://www-jstor-org.res.banq.qc.ca/stable/754551?seq=1], Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law, Vol. 21, No 1 (1939), p. 39. 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."However, not a single word on concession was found in the treaties, not to mention its establishment and government." Wanshu Cong, Frédéric Mégret, International Shanghai (1863–1931): Imperialism and private authority in the Global City, Leiden Journal of International Law (2021, 34), p. 918."The treaties that followed the Opium Wars only gave foreigners the right to reside in the newly-opened ports and said nothing about separate foreign settlements as such." P. K. Cassel, Grounds for Judgment, Oxford University Press (2012), p. 64. 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."The Chinese version of the Bogue Treaty actually carried this wording, but the tone was not clearly reflected in the English version". Hanchao Hu, Beyond the Neon Lights - Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century, University of California Press (1999), p. 31. 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.Hanchao Hu (1999), p. 31.P. K. Cassel (2012), p. 64. 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.P. K. Cassel (2012), p. 64.

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.Cassel p. 65. 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.Fraser (1939), pp. 29, 42–43.

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.H. L., The Internal Status of Shanghai, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25639742] Bulletin of International News, Vol. 14, No. 12 (Dec. 11, 1937), Royal Institute of International Affairs, p. 5.

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.William C. Johnstone, The Status of Foreign Concessions and Settlements in the Treaty Ports of China, [https://www-jstor-org.res.banq.qc.ca/stable/1947920] The American Political Science Review, Vol. 31, No. 5 (Oct. 1937), p. 946).

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.William C. Johnstone (1937), p. 943–944. 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).William C. Johnstone (1937), p. 943). For his part, Kurt Bloch listed a total of 19 established national concessions."With the outbreak of the war, five concessions, two German, two Russian and one Austro-Hungarian – in Tientsin and Hankow – were liquidated and taken over by the Chinese government. Of the remaining fourteen developed concessions, the British held six, the French four, Japan two and Italy and Belgium one each. Between the outbreak of the Nationalist Revolution of 1925 and the beginning of the Sino-Japanese hostilities of 1931, another five concessions were taken over by the Chinese. Britain surrendered her areas in Hankow, Chinkiang, Kiukiang and Amoy, and Belgium in Tientsin. Of the remaining nine concessions – four in Tientsin, one in Shanghai, two in Hankow and two in Shameen (Canton) – four are French, two (in Tientsin and Shameen) are British, two (in Tientsin and Hankow) Japanese, and one (in Tientsin) Italian." Kurt Bloch, The Basic Conflict Over Foreign Concessions in China, [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3023092], Far Eastern Survey, Vol. 8, No. 10 (May 10, 1939), p. 113–114.

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.{{Cite web |url=http://www.stampnotes.com/Notes_from_the_Past/pastnote432.htm |title=U.S. Postal Agency in Shanghai |access-date=2020-01-02 |archive-date=2017-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629063205/http://www.stampnotes.com/Notes_from_the_Past/pastnote432.htm |url-status=dead }} 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.{{cite book |last1=Jianlang |first1=Wang |title=Unequal Treaties and China (Volume 1) |date=22 May 2015 |publisher=Enrich Professional Publishing (S) Private, Limited |isbn=978-1-62320-066-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ftjPDgAAQBAJ&dq=chinese+concession+postal+services&pg=PA85 |language=en}}

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.

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).{{Cite book |last=Zatsepine |first=Victor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MzZLDgAAQBAJ |title=Beyond the Amur: Frontier Encounters between China and Russia, 1850–1930 |date=2017-03-09 |publisher=UBC Press |isbn=978-0-7748-3412-4 |language=en}} 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.{{Cite book |last1=Victoir |first1=Laura |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V0N2sD_MrK0C |title=Harbin to Hanoi: The Colonial Built Environment in Asia, 1840 to 1940 |last2=Zatsepine |first2=Victor |date=2013-01-01 |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |isbn=978-988-8139-42-2 |pages=95–96, 98–100 |language=en}}{{Rp|pages=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).

File:The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, built in 1923 and The Customs House built in 1927.jpg

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.{{Cite book |last=Unoki |first=Ko |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hi3uCwAAQBAJ |title=International Relations and the Origins of the Pacific War |date=2016-04-08 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-137-57202-8 |pages=108 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Jianlang |first=Wang |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e5PRDgAAQBAJ |title=Unequal Treaties and China (2-Volume Set) |date=2015-11-27 |publisher=Enrich Professional Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-62320-119-7 |pages=139 |language=en}}

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.{{Rp|pages=95–96|page=}}

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.

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.{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Brian G. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1mMdlRHiT44C&pg=PA64 |title=The Shanghai Green Gang: Politics and Organized Crime, 1919–1937 |date=1996-04-15 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-91643-2 |language=en |chapter=The French Connection}} 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.{{Cite book |last1=Kelly |first1=Robert J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CWg1Efv5C5UC |title=Handbook of Organized Crime in the United States |last2=Chin |first2=Ko-lin |last3=Schatzberg |first3=Rufus |date=1994 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-28366-6 |pages=234 |language=en}} Western outlaws also created organized crime groups, in one instance creating an "orientalist mini crime empire" in 1930s Shanghai.{{Cite book |last=French |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a65YDwAAQBAJ |title=City of Devils: The Two Men Who Ruled the Underworld of Old Shanghai |date=2018-07-03 |publisher=Picador |isbn=978-1-250-17058-3 |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=These Rogue Gangsters Ruled the Streets of 1930s Shanghai |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/these-rogue-foreigners-ruled-the-streets-of-1930s-shanghai/ |access-date=2022-05-03 |website=Vice.com |date=21 June 2018 |language=en}}

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.{{Cite book |last=Elleman |first=Bruce A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sgRWWWNYZ1IC |title=Diplomacy and Deception: The Secret History of Sino-Soviet Diplomatic Relations, 1917–1927 |date=1997 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0-7656-0142-1 |pages=134, 165, 168, 174 |language=en}}

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.{{NoteTag|Battle of Beiping–Tianjin|name=}}{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}} However the inland concession of Chongqing was abandoned by the Japanese as they began the invasion.{{Cite book |last=Pletcher |first=Kenneth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfVN0Gwx67YC |title=The Geography of China: Sacred and Historic Places |date=2010 |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc |isbn=978-1-61530-134-8 |pages=247 |language=en}}

World War II would spell the end for the concessions in Tianjin,{{Cite web |last1=University |first1=© Stanford |last2=Stanford |last3=California 94305 |title=[Plan of Tianjin, China with Foreign Concessions] Tianjin di tu / Map of Tientsin |url=https://exhibits.stanford.edu/ruderman/catalog/vt775gn2391 |access-date=2022-05-03 |website=Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection – Spotlight at Stanford |language=en}} as well as extraterritoriality as a whole.{{Cite book |last=Cassel |first=Par Kristoffer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jDXWg1HhLsC |title=Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan |date=2012-01-11 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-979205-4 |pages=179 |language=en |quote=The circumstances surrounding the eventual abolition of extraterritoriality in China are full of ironies. The Japanese, who had given the treaty port system a "new lease on life" in the wake of the First Sino-Japanese War, would render the practice inoperative in large parts of the country following their full-scale invasion of China in 1937. Later, as the Japanese government and the Allies were clamoring to win the support of the Chinese, extraterritoriality was officially abolished in both the Nationalist and Japanese-occupied areas with great fanfare in early 1943.}} 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.{{Cite web |date=2016-08-15 |title=Visa Investigation Records of the Shanghai Diaspora Communities, 1946–1951 – About the Series |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/foreign-policy/shanghai-visas/background.html |access-date=2022-05-02 |website=National Archives |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Kao |first=Charles K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7VJBEAAAQBAJ |title=A Time and A Tide: Charles K. Kao ─ A Memoir |date=2010-12-20 |publisher=The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press |isbn=978-962-996-972-1 |pages=21 |language=en}}

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.{{Cite web |last=O'Connell |first=Ronan |title=How China saved more than 20,000 Jews during WW2 |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210405-how-china-saved-more-than-20000-jews-during-ww2 |access-date=2022-05-03 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en}}

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.[https://archive.today/20140421211756/http://www.chinapage.org/transportation/port/treatport1.html#selection-1731.0-1731.316 Treaty ports& extraterritoriality in China]

class="wikitable sortable"
Country ! Concession ! Location (modern name) ! Year established ! Year dissolved ! class="unsortable"|Note
rowspan="3" | International | Shanghai International Settlement | Shanghai | 1863 | 1945 | Formed from the British and American concessions. It was initially ruled by: Austria-Hungary, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden-Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Beijing Legation Quarter | Beijing | 1861 | 1945 | Covering some 3 acres and including 11 foreign embassies, the entire Legation Quarter was considered foreign sovereign ground and was off limits for Chinese citizens who were not allowed to take up residency within the legation grounds
Kulangsu International Settlement | Xiamen | 1903 | 1945 | On January 10, 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 Kulangyu Japanese Consulate. Subsequently, in January 1903, the Kulangsu International Settlement Municipal Council was established
Austria-Hungary | Austro-Hungarian concession of Tianjin | Tianjin | 1902 | 1917 |
Belgium | Belgian concession of Tianjin | Tianjin | 1902 | 1931 | {{cite book|author1=Anne-Marie Brady|author-link=Anne-Marie Brady|author2=Douglas Brown|title=Foreigners and Foreign Institutions in Republican China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WTKsm1ioEksC&pg=PA27|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-52865-8|pages=27}}
rowspan="6" | France | Kwang-Chou-Wan | Zhanjiang | 1898 | 1946 | {{cite book|author=Geoffrey C. Gunn|title=Wartime Macau: Under the Japanese Shadow|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Axq2DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA28|date=1 November 2016|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|isbn=978-988-8390-51-9|pages=28}}
French concession of Shanghai | Shanghai | 1849 | 1946 |
French concession of Shamian, Guangzhou | Guangzhou | 1861 | 1946 |
French concession of Hankou | Hankou | 1896 | 1946 |
French concession of Tianjin | Tianjin | 1861 | 1946 |
French Railway, Kunming | Kunming | 1904 | 1940 | After the French, WWII saw a significant influx of American troops.
rowspan="3" | Germany | Kiautschou Bay leased territory | Qingdao | 1898 | 1914 |
German concession of Hankou | Hankou | 1895 | 1917 |
German concession of Tianjin | Tianjin | 1895 | 1917 |
rowspan="3" | Italy | Italian concession of Tianjin | Tianjin | 1901 | 1947 |{{Cite journal |last=Marinelli |first=Maurizio |date=2010-09-01 |title=The genesis of the Italian concession in Tianjin: a combination of wishful thinking and realpolitik |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/1354571X.2010.501975 |journal=Journal of Modern Italian Studies |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=536–556 |doi=10.1080/1354571X.2010.501975 |s2cid=144357230 |issn=1354-571X|url-access=subscription }}
Italian Concession of Shanghai | Shanghai | 1902 | 1943 |The concession was commercial ([https://books.google.com/books?id=c5ZEAgAAQBAJ&dq=italians+in+china&pg=PA51 Italy’s Encounters with Modern China: Imperial Dreams, Strategic Ambitions]
Italian Concession of Amoy | Xiamen | 1902 | 1943 |The concession was commercial (M. Marinelli. "Italy’s Encounters with Modern China: Imperial Dreams, Strategic Ambitions")
rowspan="8" | Japan | Kwantung Leased Territory/South Manchuria Railway Zone | Dalian | 1905 | 1945 | Obtained from Russia.
Kiautschou Bay leased territory in Shandong Peninsula | Qingdao | 1914 | 1922 | Acquisition from Germany was acknowledged by China in 1915, concession was held until 1922,{{Cite web |last=Boissoneault |first=Lorraine |title=The Surprisingly Important Role China Played in WWI |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/surprisingly-important-role-china-played-world-war-i-180964532/ |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}} ceded to China in Washington Naval Treaty.{{Cite journal |last=Asada |first=Sadao |date=1961 |title=Japan's "Special Interests" and the Washington Conference |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1846262 |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=62–70 |doi=10.2307/1846262 |jstor=1846262 |issn=0002-8762|url-access=subscription }}
Japanese concession of Tianjin | Tianjin | 1898 | 1945 |Kept by Japan until WWII capitulation.
Japanese concession of Hankou | Hankou | 1898 | 1945 |Kept by Japan until WWII capitulation.
Japanese concession of Chongqing | Chongqing | 1897 | 1937 |Abandoned at outbreak of Second Sino-Japanese War.{{Cite web |title=Chongqing – History {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Chongqing/History |access-date=2022-05-02 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}
Japanese concession of Suzhou | Suzhou | 1897 | 1943 |{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i_V5DwAAQBAJ |title=Rethinking the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-5. Vol. 2, The Nichinan papers |date=2007 |publisher=Global Oriental |others=Chiharu Inaba, J. W. M. Chapman |isbn=978-90-04-21332-6 |location=Folkestone, UK |pages=187 |oclc=755068887 |quote=After the [First] Sino-Japanese War, Japan had won jurisdiction over concessions in ports such as Tianjin, Mukden, Hankou, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shashi, and Chongqing. [...] Those at Tianjin and Hankou were seen by the Japanese Government as 'developed' concessions, while those at Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Chongqing were called 'undeveloped'.}}
Japanese concession of Hangzhou | Hangzhou | 1897 | 1943 |
Japanese concession of Shashi | Shashi | 1898 | 1943 |
Portugal | Portuguese Macau | Macau | 1554 | 1999 |
rowspan="6" | Russia, Soviet Union | Russian Dalian | Dalian | 1898; 1945 | 1905; 1950 | {{Cite news |date=1898-03-28 |title=CHINA'S GRANTS TO RUSSIA; Leases of Port Arthur and Talien-wan and the Railway Concession Signed at Pekin. CONTROL TO BE GIVEN TO-DAY China to Retain Sovereign Rights, but Russia to Take the Forts and Collect the Customs – A New Treaty Port. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1898/03/28/archives/chinas-grants-to-russia-leases-of-port-arthur-and-talienwan-and-the.html |access-date=2022-05-02 |issn=0362-4331}} Re-occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945–1950.{{Cite journal |last=Hess |first=Christian |date=2018-01-01 |title=Sino-Soviet City: Dalian between Socialist Worlds, 1945–1955 |journal=Journal of Urban History |language=en |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=9–25 |doi=10.1177/0096144217710234 |s2cid=149414746 |issn=0096-1442|doi-access=free }}
Russian concession of Tianjin | Tianjin | 1900 | 1924 |
Russian concession of Hankou | Hankou | 1896 | 1924 |{{Cite journal |last=Crawford |first=Alan |title=Imagining the Russian Concession in Hankou |date=2018 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/abs/imagining-the-russian-concession-in-hankou/B05F01DBFA2130414CECC889D0A2052F |journal=The Historical Journal |language=en |volume=61 |issue=4 |pages=969–989 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X17000528 |s2cid=159946531 |issn=0018-246X|url-access=subscription }}
Chinese Eastern Railway, Harbin | Harbin | 1896 | 1952 | Re-occupied by the Soviet Union after the 1929 Sino-Soviet conflict.{{Cite book|last=Walker|first=Michael M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MO0iMQAACAAJ|title=The 1929 Sino-Soviet war : the war nobody knew|date=2017|isbn=978-0-7006-2375-4|location=Lawrence, Kansas|oclc=966274204}} Railway was returned in 1952.{{Cite journal|last=Elleman|first=Bruce A.|date=1994|title=The Soviet Union's Secret Diplomacy Concerning the Chinese Eastern Railway, 1924–1925|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2059842|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|volume=53|issue=2|pages=459–486|doi=10.2307/2059842|jstor=2059842|s2cid=162586404 |issn=0021-9118|url-access=subscription}}
Port Arthur |Lüshunkou District |1895 |1905 |Acquired from Japan in Triple Intervention, lost in Russo-Japanese War.
Russian concession of Liaodong Peninsula |Liaodong |1898 |1905 |Included Port Arthur
rowspan="12" | United Kingdom | New Territories,{{citation needed|date=October 2021|reason=Were the New Territories ever considered a concession?}} Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 1898 | 1997 |
Weihaiwei leased territory{{citation needed|reason=Was Wei Hai Wei ever considered a concession?|date=October 2021}} | Weihai | 1898 | 1930 | Liugong Island remained under British control as a separate territory until 1940
Liugong Island | Weihai | 1930 | 1940 | Formerly part of Weihaiwei leased territory since 1898{{cite book|author1=Fiona de Londras|author2=Siobhán Mullally|title=Irish Yearbook of International Law|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6rnCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT24|date=4 December 2014|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-84946-975-3|pages=24}}
British concession of Tianjin | Tianjin | 1860 | 1945 |
British concession of Hankou | Hankou | 1861 | 1927 |
British Concession of Jiujiang | Jiujiang | 1861 | 1929 |
British concession of Zhenjiang | Zhenjiang | 1861 | 1929 |
British concession of Shamian, Guangzhou | Guangzhou | 1861 | 1945 |
British concession of Amoy | Xiamen | 1852 | 1930 |
British concession of Dalian | Dalian | 1858 | 1860 |
British concession of Shanghai | Shanghai | 1846 | 1863 | Merged to form Shanghai International Settlement
Trading warehouses at Tengchong (Tengyue) | Yunnan | Late 19th/early 20th century. | | Still standing, with bullet holes. British diplomat Augustus Margary was murdered here in 1875. Consulate built 1921.
rowspan="2" | United States | American concession of Shanghai | Shanghai | 1848 | 1863 | Merged to form Shanghai International Settlement
American concession of Tianjin | Tianjin | 1860 | 1902 | Merged to form British concession in Tianjin

Additionally, there were more concessions were planned but never completed.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

class="wikitable sortable"
Country ! Planned concession ! Location (modern name)
rowspan="5" | United Kingdom | British concession of Yingkou | Yingkou
British concession of Jiangning | Nanjing
British concession of Yichang | Yichang
British concession of Wuhu |Wuhu
British concession of Wenzhou |Wenzhou
rowspan="3" | Japan |Japanese concession of Fuzhou |Fuzhou
Japanese concession of Xiamen |Xiamen
Japanese concession of Yingkou |Yingkou
rowspan="2" | France |French concession of Yantai |Yantai
French concession of Jiangning |Nanjing
United States |American concession of Wenzhou |Wenzhou
Italy |Italian concession in Sanmen islands[https://www.davidfeldman.com/2022/02/the-italian-affair-of-san-men-bay-china-a-significant-moment-in-history/ San Men bay and the start of Boxer rebellion] |Sanmen County

{{portal|China}}

• 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

{{Reflist}}

{{reflist|group=note}}

• Panikkar, K. M. (1953) Asia and Western dominance, 1498–1945, London: G. Allen and Unwin.
• {{ Cite book

| title = The China Coast: Trade and the First Treaty Ports

| last = Nield

| first = Robert

| isbn = 9789620429873

| location = Hong Kong

| publisher = Joint Publishing Company

| year =2010}}

{{Commons category|Concessions in China}}

{{Wikivoyage|Chinese_provinces_and_regions#Treaty_ports_and_concessions|treaty ports and concessions in China|a travel topic}}

• [https://archive.today/20140421211756/http://www.chinapage.org/transportation/port/treatport1.html Treaty ports and extraterritoriality in 1920s China]

{{Foreign concessions in China by country}}

{{Authority control}}

China

China

Category:Enclaves and exclaves

Category:Former enclaves

Category:Qing dynasty

Category:Republic of China (1912–1949)

Category:Foreign relations of the Republic of China (1912–1949)

Category:19th century in China

Category:20th century in China