In 1815, after the British Empire defeated Napoleon's First Empire of France, it became the world's first power, and while the Industrial Revolution made Britain an indisputable economic power, the Royal Navy also colonized and expanded around the world, and at the peak of Queen Victoria, Britain's territory reached 33.67 million square kilometers, a quarter of the world's total land area.
The British Empire celebrates itself with this sentence: the plains of North America and Russia are our barns; Chicago and Odessa are our mining areas; Canada and the Nordic peninsulas plant trees for us; South Africa pays tribute to gold; Indians and Chinese grow tea for us; the Mediterranean is our orchard...
Although this is a bit "exaggerated", it has to be said that Britain dominated the 19th century under the impetus of the Industrial Revolution, and since the outbreak of the First Opium War in 1840, China has begun a century of resistance history, but in the first half of the century, land-cutting indemnities have been the norm.
Since the British established the first concession in modern history in Shanghai in 1845, countries have also added concessions to the compensation clause, and the concessions are generally distributed along the coast, along the river and other treaty ports or cities that facilitate trade, on the one hand, to open the Chinese market, on the other hand, to develop colonization, such as opening schools, churches, hospitals, etc.
"Weihaiwei Concession" signed the concession clause on July 1, 1898, Weihaiwei, located at the eastern end of the Shandong Peninsula, north, east and south on the Yellow Sea, north and Liaodong Peninsula opposite, east and the Korean Peninsula across the sea, west with Yantai border, it is this geographical advantage, Britain wants to occupy Weihaiwei.
Weihaiwei has a very long history, as early as the Neolithic period has been inhabited, the earliest documentary records can also be found in the "History of Xia Benji": Haidai Wei Qingzhou, Shengyi is both omitted. Western Han Dynasty Kong'an Guo yue: The land of the eastern table is called Shengyi. From these, it can also be seen that during the Xia Shang Dynasty, Weihaiwei already had Laiyi living.
At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Weihai was still a remote small village, called "Shiluo Village", and there was also a name of "Qingquan Yuan", which was recorded in the "Weihai Weizhi": Yiren Xian took the brew, the number "Xiaohui Spring", probably this name may come from a spring in Weihai.
Weihaiwei is in 1398 (Ming Hongwu thirty-one years) Ming Dynasty in order to prevent the invasion of Weihaiwei, only here to establish Weihaiwei, taken from the meaning of Weizhen Haijiang, although the Ming Dynasty defended the Wukou, but the Qing Dynasty did not defend britain, in 1901 the British established the Weihai Administrative Office in Weihaiwei, the office administrator was appointed by the Emperor.
During the British Lease period, the British successively sent 7 administrators to Weihai, and at the same time, the British used Liugong Island and the mainland coast to exercise military facilities, and also opened a summer recuperation place, every year in the summer, overcrowded, the business of the business is also developed, under the construction of the British, even Weihaiwei into the British Far East Fleet "back garden" and transit station.
Weihaiwei and Lushun were occupied by Britain and Russia, which is the north and south entrances of Bohai Bay, across the sea, these two roads are the gateway to Beijing and North China, this danger, the Republic of China government naturally can not sit idly by, since the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China began to negotiate with britain, until 1930, it was not re-reclaimed.
However, Weihai has a good port advantage, and South Korea's economic and trade exchanges are frequent, known as the "Korean goods trading bridgehead", in recent years, many Koreans have come to Weihai to live, many areas are with some "Korean culture", Weihai seems to be a bit "occupied" by South Korea.