Concessions of Italy in China


Concessions of Italy in China were territories that the Kingdom of Italy controlled in China during the first half of the 20th century. After participating with other colonial powers in the war against China in the second half of the 19th century, Italy obtained a concession in Tianjin with full colonial rights and some minor areas in the defeated China.
Italy, in the first half of the 20th century, had concessions & possessions in Beijing
, Tianjin, Shanghai, Amoy, and Hankou. Only in Tianjin, Beijing, and Shanhai Pass, was the Italian government in control. In the other locations, Italy was united with other colonial powers - like with Great Britain in the Taku forts. There was even the Treaty Port in Beihai, that was allowed to have a small area for Italian commerce. The main concessions were in Shanghai and Beijing.

History

Italy requested, in the last years of the 19th century, to have the Sanmen Islands in front of the Shanghai region, but the Qing Dynasty refused to grant the concession.
During the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, the Beijing Legation Quarter became the center of an international incident during the Siege of the International Legations by the Boxers for several months. After the siege had been broken by the Eight-Nation Alliance at the end of the Battle of Peking, the foreign powers obtained the right to station troops to protect their legations under the terms of the Boxer Protocol.
In addition, Italy obtained a concession in Tianjin, southeast of Beijing.

The Italian Concession of Tientsin

The Italian concession of Tianjin had an area of nearly one square mile and was initially located in a swamp area near the Hai River, with a few poor houses of Chinese farmers. The Italian government built infrastructure and a number of public buildings and by 1938, the area had a population of 14,879 Chinese and 739 Europeans. The Concession was called the "aristocratic quarter of Tianjin" because many rich Chinese families went to live there—creating nice mansions—in order to get refuge from the Japanese invasion of China:
In 1902, the consuls of Great Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden-Norway, Japan, and other eight countries signed the "Gulangyu delimitation charter" in the Gulangyu Japanese Consulate. Subsequently, in January 1903, the Gulangyu International Settlement Municipal Council was established: Italy had a "jointly-held concession" in Amoy since then.
Italy protected the Italian concessions and forts during the Japanese attack on China in the mid-1930s.

The Shanghai International Settlement

In the Shanghai International Settlement, Italy was given a small area during World War I. The Shanghai Volunteer Corps included a company of Italians from 1914 to 1920, when it was disbanded. Only a few dozen Italian soldiers & sailors—under direct orders of the Italian governors in Tianjin—remained in the city. However, during the Fascist period, the number of Italian troops increased in Shanghai, mainly because of the Japanese invasion of China in the mid-1930s
After WWI the Kingdom of Italy maintained troops in an area of Shanghai, that was used as commercial concession inside the Shanghai International Settlement. This settlement was wholly foreign-controlled, with staff of all nationalities, including British, Americans, Danes, Germans and Italians.
In reality, the British held the largest number of seats on the Council and headed all the Municipal departments. The only department not chaired by a Briton was the "Municipal Orchestra", which was controlled by an Italian.
The International Settlement maintained its own fire-service, police force, and even possessed its own military reserve in the Shanghai Volunteer Corps.
Following some disturbances at the British concession in Hankow in 1927, the defences at Shanghai were augmented by a permanent battalion of the British Army, which was referred to as the Shanghai Defence Force and a contingent of US Marines. Other armed forces would arrive in Shanghai: the French Concession had a defensive force of Annamite troops, the Italians also introduced their own marines, as did the Japanese.
In ‘Old Shanghai’, there were specific areas with a high concentration of Italian economic activities, areas with Italian residences, other suburban areas with Italians. Moreover, Italians were involved in specific economic sectors : as the textile sector was developed mainly in Lombardy at that time, most of the expatriate Italian managers and supervisors in Shanghai mills came from this Italian region, according to Stefano Piastra.
In the late 1930s was reinforced the military presence in the small area of Shanghai controlled by the Italians. The Italian Navy stationed in the Shanghai port periodically some ships like the cruisers Trento and Montecuccoli during the Japanese invasion of China. In 1947 the Peace Treaty forced Italy to renounce to it with article 26, that stated: " agrees to the reversion of the said Settlements to the Administration and control of the Chinese Government".

Forts in Shan Hai Kuan & in Ta-Ku

From 1900 until the late 1930s, the Italians even held small forts like the Forte di Shan Hai Kuan near the Great Wall of China in Manchuria and the Forte nordoccidentale in Ta-Ku. The one in Ta-Ku was held together with the British for a couple of years.

Commercial Concessions in Hankow and in Amoy

In Hankow since the 1900 was located an Italian consulate, that later was enlarged in order to have a small commercial concession.
Hankow was the center of catholic missions and had many Italian priests and nuns who were protected by Italian troops in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Another small commercial area under Italian control was in Amoy, after WWI. Amoy's european settlements were concentrated on the islet of Gulangyu off the main island of actual Xiamen in the region of Hong Kong. Today, Gulangyu is known for colonial architecture, with some examples of the Italian one.
In the early 1930s only the small consulate of Hankow remained under Italian control.
All these concessions and forts were lost by the Kingdom of Italy in the Peace Treaty of 1947, after Italy's defeat in WWII

Consuls

The Italian concessions in China were ruled by "Consoli", living in Tianjin:
  • Cesare Poma
  • Giuseppe Chiostri
  • Oreste Da Vella
  • Vincenzo Fileti
  • Marcello Roddolo
  • Luigi Gabrielli di Quercita
  • Guido Segre
  • Luigi Neyrone
  • Filippo Zappi
  • Ferruccio Stefenelli

Commerce

Some Italian industries and commercial companies created facilities in the concession of Tianjin : the commerce between Italy and China increased in a huge way. More than 60 Italian companies were present in 1938, many working in agricultural products.
The Italian possessions in China enjoyed a relatively good economic development, with huge Italian-Chinese commerce in the 1920s and in the 1930s. The main 4 banks of Italy opened agencies in Tianjin and Shanghai. In 1924, the Italian government created the "Italian Bank for China" and the "Compagnia Italiana d'Estremo Oriente" for the growing commerce between Italy and China.
Recently have been found writings that are related to a possible Italian pidgin in Shanghai. Indeed in 1940 there were nearly 600 Italian civilians living mainly in Tientsin and Shanghai: nearly all of them were forced to leave China by 1945/1946