Reading history, reading literature, and even reading economic works, there is one word that always jumps before our eyes, that is, "concession".
Speaking of the concession, Chinese will not feel strange, it is like a sarcoma left in our body, sometimes painful, sometimes itchy, sometimes able to cover the wind and cold. However, the greatest value of this tumor is that it reminds us that Chinese tissue system has undergone abnormal changes, because a normal and healthy body never grows any tumor, even if it is benign.
Remnants of tianjin concession
Worldwide, the concession is not an isolated phenomenon, it has been prevalent on five continents, the most prevalent in East Asia. Before China, in Japan, opening up concessions even became a fashion. But in China, the history of the concession is full of blood, darkness and boundless humiliation, and the disgusting events such as "Chinese and dogs are not allowed to enter" occurred in the concession.
Outside, when hunger and cold are everywhere, the concession must be drunk and drunk, and the lights are red and green, living a full day and doing nothing.
Outside, when it is eerie and dangerous, the concession must be a beautiful scenery of singing and dancing, freedom and indulgence.
Outside, when the cannons rumble and the guns and bullets are covered, the concession must be full of men and women, hundreds of industries are prosperous, everything is orderly, and everyone is comfortable.
The "outside" here is China, in fact, the scene in the concession is also China, but the identity and level of people are different.
Map of the appearance of the concession
There are no men and women weaving in the concession, there are only transactions, threats, checks and balances, and fraud, so it is drawing on China's resources, it is destroying China's political rule.
The concession was not useless, it brought a different concept and way of life to China at that time, it changed China's education, trade, religion and medical care, and the impact on our traditional life was immeasurable.
Westerners were keen to set up concessions, which was inseparable from the actual needs and support of our Qing government officials. It comes directly from the Opium Wars.
In an Opium War, the Chinese lost inexplicably, a defeat treaty, and the Qing government opened many coastal ports. As a result, a large number of foreigners poured in from Guangzhou, the window of southern China, who either rented or bought land, and mixed with Guangzhou residents, whether it was trade or life, resulting in a large number of disputes and lawsuits. We are simple to almost ignorant local officials, from Daotai to Zhixian, will never try Chinese their own cases, once foreigners participate in it, Qing officials are always unclear, a lawsuit is judged, foreigners are not satisfied, Chinese are not satisfied, civil disputes often escalate into political events. Naturally, the people's government is not afraid, but foreigners will make trouble from the bottom to the top, and officials are afraid of pursuing responsibility, so they have to try not to provoke foreigners.
The government admits that the people may not necessarily buy it, and always stare at foreigners. According to relevant records, there have been repeated incidents of ordinary people besieging foreign merchants in Guangzhou, intercepting merchant ships, robbing goods, and even attacking their places of residence from time to time, and people have agreed not to rent or rent venues for foreigners.
The British know how to be flexible, Guangzhou's goods will eventually be sold to the mainland, why not make further plans in the interior? The Treaty of Nanjing stipulates that Shanghai is also one of the five ports of trade. So their ships continued to sail north, and Shanghai became the next destination for the British.
The local officials in Shanghai learned a lesson, since the imperial court cannot stop foreigners, it is better to have more than one thing, so why not set aside a place and let them toss and turn it around, the Bund is more barren, as long as it does not make a fuss under their own eyes, what extraterritorial jurisdiction, what consular agency, what trade, all have nothing to do with themselves.
Concession Boundary Monument
In 1845, far from the barren land north of the county seat of Shanghai, the first concession was born, the Shanghai British Concession. The British also helped the Qing Dynasty government formulate the "Provisions of the Shanghai Concession Charter", which formulated a legal basis for the formation of the concession. Since then, concessions have sprung up like mushrooms, and 14 countries have set up 27 foreign concessions in more than a dozen cities in China, of which the United Kingdom has the most, followed by Japan and France, and has approved the establishment of more independent residences for foreigners.
Most of the concessions choose coastal port cities, that is, in the interior, such as Hankou, Chongqing, Harbin and other places that also flow through large rivers, because foreign traffic into China is mainly freighters, always choose ports and waterways. As for urban land, it doesn't matter, usually local officials will assign what they think is inferior and desolate to foreigners. Foreigners are also happy to accept that they can spend the least amount of silver and rent the most land.
Concessions are generally built by foreigners themselves, and they value China's future market. At present, Chinese can still earn labor fees and material costs for foreigners, and the construction speed of the concession is beyond the norm.
During the Qing Dynasty, the concession was outside
The rise of the concession has led to the rapid development of the real estate industry. According to some records, the French Concession in Tianjin at first had only more than ten taels of silver per mu of land, and twenty years later, by 1928, the amount of land per mu had risen to 10,000 taels of silver. The more concession land, the more expensive it is, because in the war years, after all, the concession is safer.
The so-called public concession mainly refers to the concession jointly established by Britain and the United States. In September 1863, the British and American concessions established in Shanghai, after many frictions, were finally formally merged, called the Anglo-American Shanghai Public Concession, which was uniformly managed by the Ministry of Works (concession administrative agency).
The concession phenomenon is like a poisonous flower, which looks gorgeous, but in fact contains poison all over. It seriously violates the territorial and sovereign integrity of a country, which is no different from the nature of colonial rule, and it not only harms the governing and judicial power of a country, but also destroys the thoughts and will of the people in the host country, artificially sets up inequality between people and people, and is bound to hinder and affect the progress and development of society.
Concession buildings
Therefore, the abolition of the concession and the recapture of the right to govern have become a trend of historical development.
In 1917, at the end of World War I, the Beiyang government sent troops to participate in the Allied battles, and was the nominal victor, so it took back the German Concession in Hankou, the German Concession in Tianjin and the Austrian Concession (Austria-Hungary) according to law.
Since then, the National Government has either taken the initiative or passively gradually recovered the concessions of various countries in Hankou, Jiujiang, Zhenjiang, Xiamen, Tianjin and other places.
It was not until after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that the Nationalist Government officially announced the repossession of all concessions except Hong Kong and Macao, but it was necessary to truly sort out economic rights and interests, return the government to the people, and restore localization until after the founding of New China. Judging from the steps of recovery, the Shanghai Concession was the latest to return, and the history of the concession was the longest.