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Preface
Hong Kong and Macao were forcibly "leased" by foreign countries in China's modern history, and they were leased for 99 years until the 90s of the 20th century.
In the eyes of the Chinese people, this is a humiliating past.
However, few people know that in addition to Hong Kong and Macau, there are two other places in the mainland that have the same experience, so where are these two places?
By which country were they forcibly leased, and how did the mainland take them back?
1. The lost Jiaozhou Bay of Qingdao
The first place was Jiaozhou Bay in Qingdao, which was forcibly leased by Germany under the Lend-Lease Treaty between Jiaozhou and Macao.
This story begins in the second half of the 19th century.
At that time, Germany was in a period of rapid development, in order to seek a greater voice, but also in order to achieve expansion, the Germans turned their attention to the East Asian region-
They wanted a "permanent colony" in China.
After turning their eyes from Zhoushan, Xiamen and Penghu to other important coastal defense areas, they finally chose Jiaozhou Bay.
As for "whether you can rent it", this is not a problem.
The weak and incompetent Qing government was accustomed to bending its knees to the foreign powers, and Britain, the United States, Russia, France, and other countries were all "satisfied," and Germany naturally felt that it could also get a piece of the pie.
As a result, Germany entered into negotiations with the Qing government in 1897.
It used the excuse of the "Juye Teaching Case" to demand a huge amount of compensation from the Qing government, and if the Qing government did not give it, then they would sail the warship into Jiaozhou Bay.
The news that "two German missionaries were killed in Juye, Shandong" came out on November 1, 1897, and five days later, the German Foreign Office responded;
In less than two weeks, German warships had already occupied Jiaozhou Bay, and judging from this "speed of reaction" alone, Germany was clearly "prepared".
Although the Germans were outsiders, they assumed the attitude of masters and demanded that the Qing army withdraw within 48 hours.
At first, the Qing government still harbored illusions and ordered that "no one should go to war without the dictation of the commander-in-chief."
However, the Germans had no intention of negotiating, and the Qing army was eventually forced to withdraw from Jiaozhou Bay.
Seeing that Germany's attitude was too tough, the Qing government began to count on Russia to mediate.
Li Hongzhang personally ran to the Russian consulate, and the Russian consul Pavlov assured Li Hongzhang at first "patting his chest":
"We have 16 big ships, and the Germans have only three, and they don't dare to oppose us. ”
However, it didn't take long for Pavlov to change his mind, and he turned to Li Hongzhang and said:
"Russia and Germany are talking, we have canceled the military intervention, you have to ...... this matter on your own"
The Qing government, represented by Li Hongzhang, was "caught off guard" by Russia's changes, so the next pace of negotiations completely fell into the hands of the Germans.
They hurriedly put forward six demands, one of the more important of which was that they demanded the right to build the Jiaozhou Railway and the right to mine minerals along the road.
At this time, the Qing government was completely panicked, saying that everything could be discussed, but Germany must withdraw its troops first, and the German negotiators' answer was very simple:
"That's the only thing we can't say yes to. ”
In the end, seeing that Russia and Germany were in collusion, and the other powers also acquiesced in this matter, the Qing government humiliated and signed the "Lend-Lease Treaty" with Germany in March of the following year, leasing Qingdao to Germany for 99 years.
Since then, Germany has begun to "take root" in the Shandong region of the mainland.
2. Recover Qingdao and drive out the foreign invaders
Although the treaty stated "Lend-Lease 99", the Germans did not stay in Qingdao for as long, because the Japanese also coveted Qingdao and the entire Shandong region.
Taking advantage of the beginning of World War I, Japan was able to intervene and successfully replaced Germany as the "new hegemon" of Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay.
After gaining the de facto control of Jiaozhou Bay in Qingdao, the Japanese put forward the 21 Articles in a frenzy, and the Beiyang government was powerless to resist and almost completely accepted the harsh conditions of the Japanese.
This made the Chinese people extremely angry, and the famous slogan "Take back Qingdao, oppose the 21st Article" also came from this.
In World War I, China was a member of the Entente and had the status of a victorious power, so it was reasonable to participate in the distribution of the fruits of victory.
But no one expected that in order to safeguard their own interests, the great powers not only rejected the mainland's reasonable demands, but even put China at that time on the "dining table".
How absurd was it that the Great Powers had transferred the illegal rights and interests occupied by Germany on the mainland to Japan?
The oppression and humiliation of the past erupted at this moment, and a mighty "May Fourth Movement" directly stirred up waves on the mainland.
Seeing that the situation was somewhat out of control, Japan had no choice but to negotiate, and in the end China paid a large sum of money to redeem the sovereignty of the Qingdao and Jiaoji railways.
This result is somewhat unacceptable today, because Qingdao is a mainland territory, so why should we use a huge amount of money to "redeem" it from the Japanese?
However, in the context of the wolves at that time, this result was already good.
Even after receiving a huge amount of reparations, Japan was still haunted by the fact that it had "suffered a loss" in this matter, and its aggressive spirit was even greater than before.
The "limited capacity" of the Beiyang government led to the fact that Shandong was not able to completely shake off the shackles of colonialism at that time, and Japan still retained many privileges in the region.
This laid a hidden danger for the Japanese to make a comeback and occupy Shandong again, and Qingdao fell again in early 1938, and Shandong was full of scorched earth in less than half a year.
It was not until the defeat of Japan in 1945 that the people of Qingdao and Shandong saw hope, but it didn't take long for this hope to turn into even greater disappointment-
As soon as the Japanese left, the forces of the United States and Chiang began to ride on the heads of the local people to make a fortune.
Chiang Kai-shek's government implemented a policy of flattering foreign countries, and Qingdao and even Shandong were deeply influenced by foreign forces.
It was not until 1949, when Qingdao was liberated, that the shackles on the people were smashed, and the land finally changed substantially and embarked on the road of prosperity.
Although Qingdao has been interfered with by foreign powers for a long time, it was redeemed in 1922 in a strict sense.
Therefore, when Mr. Wen Yiduo composed "Song of the Seven Sons" in 1925, Qingdao was not included.
Compared to the other place to be talked about next, Qingdao is already considered "lucky".
In addition to Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay, another place was also forcibly "leased" in 1898.
The lease was from France, and the place was called "Guangzhou Bay", which is what we now call Zhanjiang City.
2. France covets Guangzhou Bay
The defeat of the Qing government in the Sino-Japanese War in 1895 directly triggered the first frenzy of carving up China.
At that time, the three most active countries were Russia, France, and Germany, because they felt that they had made meritorious contributions to "intervening in Liao" and that the Qing government should give them "satisfactory remuneration."
The gains of Russia, France, and Germany have made Britain, the United States, and Japan particularly blush.
As a result, several countries proposed to the Qing government that they should also be compensated accordingly, and in the end, the Qing government was forced to make loans, release sovereignty, and sell land.
In 1897, Germany's seizure of Jiaozhou Bay set off another round of "carve-up frenzy".
The following month after the Qing government signed the "Lend-Lease Treaty" with Germany, France began to "demand" Guangzhou Bay from the Qing government.
Of course, nominally it was still leased, starting in 1899 and on lease for 99 years.
At that time, it was not only France that "took advantage of the fire" to rob?
Britain also came forward at this time to say that the interests were equal, so the Qing government was forced to sign the "Treaty on the Extension of the Boundary of Hong Kong" with the British, and leased out the New Territories.
Speaking of Guangzhou Bay, in fact, as early as the 18th century, France set its sights on this place, when a French ship encountered a typhoon during its voyage and temporarily stopped in Guangzhou Bay.
After the people on board the ship, they surveyed the area and found that the geographical and hydrological conditions were very good.
The crew then mapped the local situation and handed it over to the French king upon their return, sowing the seeds of trouble for the subsequent French invasion of the region.
Although the Qing government signed a treaty with France at that time, the position of Guangzhou Bay was still relatively vague.
It is neither a French colony, nor a national concession, and even France does not define it clearly.
On the one hand, they want to "benchmark" Hong Kong, but on the other hand, they are unwilling to invest, and in the end, the more they manage, the more chaotic they become.
There are two main reasons why France believes that Guangzhou Bay has the "qualifications" to develop into Hong Kong:
First, Guangzhou Bay itself is an excellent port, and its geographical location is also very good.
Just like Calicut in India, Malacca in Southeast Asia, and the coastal areas of Guangdong can also serve as "strategic fulcrums" for trade hotspots.
Whoever masters this fulcrum will master the gateway to China's foreign trade, so Britain chose Hong Kong, and France chose Guangzhou Bay.
Guangzhou Bay has a flat terrain and is suitable for use as a transit point for trade;
Moreover, it had a large deep-water bay for large ships to moor, and in the French plan it could be made into an forward base for confrontation with the British.
Second, the UK has already made Hong Kong a success story, and France just needs to follow suit.
Guangzhou Bay has similar conditions to Hong Kong, and France will definitely be able to get twice the result with half the effort by referring to the British experience.
This seems to be the case, but as we said earlier, Guangzhou Bay did not become a second Hong Kong due to the "wavering" attitude of France.
What is the matter with the bubble that bursts at the moment of poke, leaving behind nothing but devastation and chaos? Why did the French choose to give up and evacuate?
Fourth, the return of Guangzhou Bay
In fact, the reason is very simple, Hong Kong is an "important piece of the business map" for the British;
For the French, Guangzhou Bay can only be regarded as a chicken rib at most "tasteless food and a pity to discard".
As a British direct colony, Hong Kong has access to vertical transportation of British administrative and financial resources.
And the UK's closest big point outside of Hong Kong is Singapore, which is nearly 3,000 kilometres apart, which is not only free from commercial competition, but also forms a corner to help each other.
But what about Guangzhou Bay?
As we said earlier, it is neither a colony nor a concession, and its own positioning is controversial.
In addition, it is located at the very end of the French colonial system, let alone in the French global strategic layout, and even in French Indochina, it has no presence, at best it can only serve as a base for advancement.
On top of that, Hong Kong is surrounded by thriving commercial routes, while Guangzhou Bay is far away from traditional business areas, so the two are not the same in terms of commercial value.
If the French were willing to invest a lot of money in construction, Guangzhou Bay could also rise, but the French were not willing to do so.
In the end, the French gave up their plan to run the local area, and instead made "quick money" at the expense of the long-term development of the local area.
Take the tax rate as an example, those who signed a trade agreement with France were charged at the lowest tax rate, and those who did not sign a trade agreement were charged at the highest tax rate, which led to a lot of embarrassing situations at that time.
In addition, the monetary management policy implemented by the French in Guangzhou Bay has also produced a chaotic situation, with various currencies circulating at will in the market.
Coupled with problems such as smuggling and pillarless industries, this led to the abrupt end of the "abnormal prosperity" of Guangzhou Bay, and in the end only "chicken feathers remained".
In 1943, the Japanese army invaded Guangzhou Bay, and the local area entered the so-called "Japanese-French co-administration" period.
Later, the Japanese army became more and more rampant, and France basically had no military strength in the Far East, so in order to win the support of the Nationalist Government, France offered to "return Guangzhou Bay".
In December 1945, when the French colonial rule in Guangzhou Bay came to an end, the local people were finally freed when the last "minister" left on a warship.
Later, the mainland set up "Zhanjiang City" in that area, so that Guangdong had another provincial municipality in addition to Guangzhou and Shantou, and the local development was getting better and better.
Overall, the return of Guangzhou Bay is something to celebrate, and it is actually the result of the hard work of the local people.
When France "leased" Guangzhou Bay to the Qing government, and the Qing government compromised with it, the local people have been waging an anti-French struggle, and they have written a patriotic and magnificent poem with their lives!
Whenever this period of history is reviewed, future generations will be indignant at the weakness and incompetence of the Qing government.
Some people say that the reason why those "Lend-Lease" treaties were only 99 years old was the result of the Qing government's arguments, but in fact this is simply a whitewash.
The reason why the 99-year lease is signed is just because the 99-year lease system is popular in Western countries.
Since 1999, when the mainland took back Macao, there has been no so-called leased land.
We should all remember this history, remember the lessons from the humiliations of the past, strive for development, and strive for self-improvement.
I hope you can learn something from this story, work hard, forge ahead, and create a better future.
Resources
"Hidden Guangzhou Bay", Xinhuanet
"The Beginning and End of the Signing of the Lend-Lease Treaty between Jiao and Macao", Qingdao Net
"France forcibly leased Zhanjiang for 99 years, why it was returned to China 53 years ahead of schedule" Observer.com
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