Different from the ceded territory, the concession territory is still a concession in name and does not have the attribute of extraterritorial jurisdiction. However, in history, countries that used concessions all obtained citizens' consular jurisdiction through their own unequal treaties. The administrative autonomy of concession limits the exercise of administrative power by concession countries in their regions, and some concessions even have legislative power (Chapter 1, Section 5 of China Human Rights Development Record). The territorial sovereign state of the concession regards the concession as a foreign territory and dares not interfere in the internal affairs of the concession easily, let alone the garrison and the police. Therefore, it is difficult to carry out judicial activities on acts in the concession, and it is generally difficult to extradite citizens of non-concession-using countries who commit crimes in the concession. This feature often makes the concession a refuge for some dissidents or civilians in wartime.
Concessions are generally distributed in coastal areas, rivers and other trading ports or cities that are convenient for trade activities, in other words, places where foreign capitalism can carry out economic activities. Due to the characteristics of the concession, foreigners are more willing to invest and set up factories or engage in trade activities in the concession. In addition, they also set up church missions, schools, hospitals, cemeteries and other ancillary facilities with their own characteristics. Therefore, the economic and cultural prosperity of the concession is often much higher than its surrounding areas. According to the way of urban development, it naturally became the commercial center of the city, and slowly expanded outward with the concession as the center, leaving the city with rich exotic characteristics different from traditional culture. And it has become an opportunity to promote the development of some related industries in the city. For a considerable number of cities that used to be trading ports, the geometric center of their cities generally has the shadow of concessions, which shows the influence of concessions on the location factors of some cities.
Different from the diplomatic circle of Dongjiaominxiang established by modern countries in Beijing, the concession allows foreigners (not just diplomats) to carry out any activities that do not violate the country of nationality. In other words, activities in the concession area may violate the laws of the country where the concession area is located. There is also a "residence" of the same nature.
In 1930s, most members of the patrol team of the French Concession came from Annan, and many of them came from China. However, Fei, a researcher at the Institute of Law of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that concession refers to the legal residence and trade area of foreigners with local administrative rights in one of the two countries after negotiating lease or concession terms. These powers are generally exercised by the consul of the pioneering country or the municipal institutions such as the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of overseas Chinese organizations, forming a country within a country that is not managed by the government of the host country.
There are two kinds of preferences, one is a single preference with only one user country, commonly known as "one country preference", which is a widely distributed form. However, several countries share the administrative power of a concession, such as Kowloon City in Hong Kong, Shamian in Guangzhou and Gulangyu in Xiamen. These areas are called "public concession areas". Because the administrative power in the public concession belongs to the concession country, it is often inefficient and becomes a place for some people to engage in improper or even illegal activities.
In China, in modern history, there also appeared a civil servant with police significance in the public concession-"patrolling". The composition of the patrol includes not only the citizens of the concession-using countries, but also Indians, Annan people and China people. Based on the laws of the concession countries and the abuse of power by some patrols based in China, they are often called "traitors" and "running dogs" by local nationalists.
In all concession treaties related to China before 1876, foreigners only have the right of land lease, but not the right of land occupation. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Li Xiucheng led troops to attack the suburbs of Shanghai. Because Yang, an earlier political leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, publicly asked foreign countries not to interfere in the activities of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which was interpreted by foreigners as not supporting the existence of domestic forces in China, he organized a "foreign gun team" in the concession to cooperate with patrols and maintain public order in the concession. At first, there were no China people in the concession. As wealthy businessmen fled into the country, the concession authority expanded its territory under the pretext of overcrowding. After the phenomenon of Chinese and foreigners living together, police and courts were set up under the pretext of maintaining public order; These administrative institutions, which originally belonged to state organs, developed continuously, and finally formed "ministries and bureaus" (Chinese translation of the Communist Committee).
Later, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology became the administrative organization of the concession with the army, police, prisons and courts, and also had various powers such as taxation, adjudication, municipal facilities management, education and health, and became the de facto government of the concession. After this system was perfected in Shanghai, it was extended to other ports. 1876 The Sino-British Yantai Treaty legalized it.
history
Nowadays, due to its position and role in history, the concession is considered by most historians to be unique to colonial and semi-colonial countries. Historically, before the middle of19th century, Japan, India and Iran all had concessions. China and Shanghai also made their first concession in June 1845+065438+ 10/5.
The concession is in China.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Bund, a public concession in Shanghai, was much more prosperous than the average city in China at that time. In the history of Chinese Concession, commercial activities played a great role in stimulating the economic development of trading port cities, stimulating the emergence of Chinese national capitalism, spreading modern democracy, science and culture, providing religious beliefs and political propaganda. Some concessions have perfect public facilities and relatively stable public security, providing shelter for some political exiles. For example, Lu Xun once lived in the concession, which influenced his political ideas. The word "cutting street" in "essays on cutting street pavilion" comes from the word "concession" The prosperous economic development of the Concession attracted a considerable number of upper reaches of China to settle and spend here. Shanghai was called "Shili Yangchang" by people at that time because of its prosperous concession, and soon became synonymous with Chinese concession.
At the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century, the Concession has always been the most striking place in China. As the concession is not controlled by China laws, a lot of things that are inconsistent with the traditional thinking of China people, such as cigarette houses and brothels, can be seen everywhere in the concession. Especially the Opium Museum, in the eyes of many people in China at that time, the concession made the cancer that destroyed China people's consciousness appear publicly in the concession, which was the best portrayal of foreigners' contempt and hostility towards China. As a result, conflicts broke out from time to time outside the concession.
1860 After the signing of the Beijing Treaty, China people were allowed to work abroad, and a large number of foreigners illegally took China people abroad to work as coolies through concessions. In the West, the slave trade has long been prohibited by law, but in fact, China laborers are bought and sold by these foreigners in order to develop overseas colonies.
For the labor agreement, ordinary workers in China simply don't know its meaning. When looking for China workers to go abroad, foreigners even used force in Guangdong and Fujian to force China people to sign overseas contracts, which led to people's silence about China workers going abroad for a period of time. Peter parker, the former US special envoy to China, once pointed out: "The coolie trade (in China) is exactly the same as the slave trade." With the phenomenon that China workers go abroad, these workers are nicknamed "pigs".
Number of concessions in China by countries
According to statistics, China obtained its first concession from the Shanghai Concession Charter in 1845, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire established the Tianjin Concession in 1902. There were 27 concessions before and after, of which 25 were exclusively managed by the concession countries and 2 were public concessions.
Distribution of foreign preferences: (19 1 1 year)
6 places in the UK:
Tianjin British Concession
Hankou British Concession
Guangzhou British Concession
Jiujiang British Concession
Xiamen British Concession
Zhenjiang British Concession
5 places in Japan:
Tianjin Japanese Concession
Hankou Japanese Concession
Suzhou Japanese Concession
Hangzhou Japanese Concession
Chongqing Japanese Concession
Four places in France:
shanghai french concession
Tianjin French Concession
Hankou French Concession
Guangzhou French Concession
Two places in Germany:
Tianjin German Concession
Hankou German Concession
2 places in Russia:
Tianjin Russian Concession
Hankou Russian Concession
Italy 1:
concessione italiana di tientsin
Austria-Hungary 1:
Tianjin Austrian Concession
Belgium 1:
Tianjin Concession
193 1 year, China recovered the Tianjin Concession.
2 public concessions:
Shanghai Public Concession (formed by the merger of British and American Concessions)
Gulangyu Public Concession (UK, USA, Germany, France, Spain, Japan, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden-Norway)
Shanghai concession
Shanghai Public Concession and Shanghai International Concession
Shanghai French Concession, La Concession fran? How are you?
Tianjin Concession
At the peak of Tianjin, nine countries set up concessions (Tianjin American concession was merged into British concession on 1902).
Hankou concession
The number of concessions in Hankou is second only to Tianjin (5 concessions).
Xiamen concession
Guangzhou concession
Zhenjiang concession
Jiujiang concession
Recovery of concession
During the Northern Expedition, the recovery of the British Concession in Hankou by the National Government was one of the factors that influenced the political situation in China in China's modern history. Foreign interference in China's internal affairs was mostly planned in the concession. For example, during the Revolution of 1911, the negotiations between the Hubei military government and the Qing government were conducted in the British Concession in Shanghai under the internal pressure and the interference of foreign forces. In addition, the first congress of China * * * was also held in secret in the French Concession (later transferred to Jiaxing). A large number of demonstration routes, including the May 30th Movement, also passed through the concession to show their dissatisfaction with foreign forces. Concession is a symbol of China's loss of sovereignty, and successive governments in China have been negotiating with leasing countries to recover the concession. Since 1927, the concessions in various places have been taken back by the government of China.
The following is the timetable for restoring some concessions:
With China's accession to the Allies in World War I, after China declared war on Germany and Austria in 19 17, the concession between Austria-Hungary and Germany in Tianjin was recovered.
1924 the Soviet union announced the abandonment of the former Russian concession in China.
1927 65438+1On October 3rd, the National Government recovered the British Concession in Hankou.
1927 65438+1October 10 The National Government reclaimed the British Concession in Jiujiang.
1929165438+1October 1 1 The National Government reclaimed the British Concession in Zhenjiang.
193 1 year 1 month 15, the national government recovered the Belgian concession in Tianjin.
1On March 30th, 943, Japan returned the four Japanese concessions of Hangzhou, Suzhou, Hankou and Tianjin to Nanjing National Government (Wang Jingwei).
After War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's victory, China 1945, the National Government announced that it would recover all concessions and concessions in China. Since then, the history of the Concession has come to an end in China.