In China's territory, Weihaiwei is located in the easternmost part of the Shandong Peninsula, surrounded by the sea on three sides, on one side by land, backed by the mountains that stretch across the country, and is a strategic place in eastern China. Liugong Island, known as the "East Corner Ping Domain", bursts out of the sea and crosses the mouth of Wei Bay, becoming a major military port with a dangerous situation. For our country, the geographical location is very important, and such an important place was once assigned to the British by the Qing government.
After the Sino-Japanese War, the great powers caused a "Far East crisis" in the Far East with the "occupation of naval bases" as the main form of expression, and the situation of Britain's dominance in China was broken. In the face of the advent of the era of great power competition and the Anglo-Russian great game extending to the Far East, how to safeguard the benefits gained in the monopoly era has become the key to the British government's diplomacy in China, but its diplomatic decisions have been slow and inefficient. In order to change this situation, the British must actively change their strategy in China, and it needs a place to serve as a base for confrontation with Russia.
In 1898, by forcibly leasing Lushunkou and Dalian Bay, Tsarist Russia reduced the northeast to its sphere of influence, and its influence in China was greatly expanded, causing strong dissatisfaction in Britain. When China and Russia negotiated the issue of the Brigade Lease, Britain strongly opposed it. Seeing that it was inevitable for the Tsarist Russia to lease the brigade, the British government decided to seize Weihaiwei as "compensation" to compete with Tsarist Russia. On July 1, 1898, Prince Qing of the Qing government, Yi Xi, and the British minister in China, Dou Nale, signed the "Sino-British Lease on Weihaiwei Special Article" for mourning and humiliating countries, "leasing" more than 700 square kilometers of Weihai to Britain.
Thus began the 32-year-long shameful history of "British Rent Weihaiwei" in China's modern history. The British occupied Weihai for 32 years, but during these 32 years, the Weihai people lived a very humiliating life. The British renamed Weihaiwei to Edward City, and now this history has passed nearly a hundred years, but Weihai City is still very famous in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom and France and the Vatican area of Italy, and when asked you about the Chinese city of Weihai on the streets of London in Europe, most passers-by are more willing to tell you that Weihai City is also called "PortEdward "Edward City".
But no matter how famous Weihai is in Europe, the city has long been taken back by China. After the overthrow of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, during the reign of the Beiyang warlords, our country won a victory in the First World War, as a victorious country, our country naturally wanted to lease back to his Weihaiwei with the British, and the British reluctantly agreed to negotiate weihaiwei matters, but after asking for its return, the British ships could also berthed in Weihaiwei, and britain could participate in Weihai's administrative decision-making and enjoy "special interests" in Weihai. For such unreasonable demands of the British, many negotiations have not reached an agreement.
It was not until January 9, 1929, that Wang Zhengting, the foreign minister of the Nationalist government in Nanjing, and the British ambassador Lampson began talks to discuss China's recovery of Weihaiwei. In view of the international situation, on April 18, 1930, the Sino-British Treaty on the Exchange of Weihaiwei was officially signed, and the British transferred all the rights of Weihaiwei to China, and the British army withdrew from Weihaiwei. On October 1, 1931, Wang Jiazhen, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister and Commissioner for Receiving Weihaiwei, and Johnston, british governor in Weihaiwei, held a ceremony for the sino-British transfer of Weihaiwei in Weihaiwei. Weihaiwei, a Chinese seaport that was forcibly leased by the British for 32 years, finally returned to the embrace of the motherland. This was one of the first cities returned to China by the British, and another Hong Kong, which was only returned to China in the 1990s.