As we all know, during the Yuan Dynasty, China's territory reached the largest in history, after the three western expeditions of the Mongol Khans, the territory stretched from the Sea of Japan in the east to the Mediterranean region in the west, and even Siberia and the Persian Gulf were once the territory of our country. However, in the late Qing Dynasty, the huge territory was coveted by the Western powers, and the Long-weakened Qing court signed one unequal treaty after another, exchanging the act of "cutting off land" for false peace.
The British colonists are notorious in history, and they have taken advantage of the convenience of sea navigation to continuously develop colonies overseas, leaving their mark on Africa, the Americas, Asia and other places. China's Hong Kong also became a British colony after the defeat of the Sino-British Opium War, and it was not until 1997 that China resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong. In fact, before the return of Hong Kong, China had asked Britain to return a city, and that city was Weihaiwei.
Weihaiwei is located at the eastern end of the Shandong Peninsula, adjacent to the Bohai Sea on three sides, because the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago across the sea, is the gateway to the sea in the Beijing-Tianjin region. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Weihaiwei was only a remote small village, named "Shiluo Village", which was later changed to "Luoci Village". In the Yuan Dynasty, according to its natural geographical conditions, it was renamed "Qingquan Jiao". During the Ming Dynasty, the sea disaster became more and more serious, and the Wokou often disturbed the coastal areas of our country, and the imperial court set this place as "Weihaiwei", taking the meaning of "Weizhen Sea Frontier and Guarding the Border".
As mentioned above, Weihaiwei is China's maritime gateway, and the significance of its existence will be directly related to the security of the Beijing-Tianjin area. At that time, the Foreign Affairs Movement arose, and Li Hongzhang led the establishment of the Beiyang Marine Division, and the place of training was set in Weihaiwei. Unfortunately, the Sino-Japanese War ended with the total annihilation of the Beiyang Fleet, and Weihaiwei was once again exposed to the ambitious Western powers. It is worth mentioning that before the start of the naval battle, the name of Weihaiwei deterred Japan from attacking head-on, and in the end, the Japanese side still adopted a detour strategy to be effective.
After the defeat of the Qing court, Weihaiwei was besieged by 25 warships of the Japanese side, and 25,000 troops landed from Longsu Island, attacking on both sides, and finally Weihaiwei fell. However, Weihaiwei was not a target of Japan, and after Li Hongzhang went to Japan to sign the Treaty of Maguan, compensated 200 million taels of silver, and ceded the island, Weihaiwei escaped from the clutches of the devil. However, in 1898, Weihaiwei was forcibly occupied by the British, and the Qing court at this time had no intention of resisting, and Weihaiwei easily became a British colony.
After the British occupied Weihaiwei, they used a mature "colonial management system" to comprehensively control it, and established Weihaiwei as a training base and recuperation base for the British Navy. Over time, Weihaiwei, because of its unique climatic conditions, coupled with the rise of commerce, soon became the "back garden" of the British Far East Fleet. After the fall of the Qing court, China began to negotiate with britain for 8 years since 1921, and after China's continuous efforts, Weihaiwei, which had been forcibly leased for 32 years, was finally reclaimed by China on October 1, 1931.
Today, Weihaiwei has been renamed "Weihai City", as a coastal open city, Weihai City will continue to develop and prosper, becoming a booster and stabilizer of China's economic growth.