There’s no denying that contemporary Chinese cities have a reputation for being smog-choked urban labyrinths full of soulless communist architecture. While this is widely undisputed, many modern metropolises have corners of surprising contrast: the tree-lined boulevards of Shanghai’s French Concession, Macau’s Portuguese churches, Xiamen’s Victorian villas, and Qingdao’s German-style mansions to name just a few. These districts are the legacies of the political wrangling that leased many parts of coastal China to foreign powers from the mid-19th century onwards. The story of China’s treaty ports and concessions is mired in blackmail and corruption, and centers around two drug wars that stretched Sino-international relations to the limit.

Treaty ports were the coastal cities in China, Korea and Japan that were opened to foreign trade under the Unequal Treaties act. For various political reasons, China’s Qing Dynasty government, Korea’s late Joseon Dynasty, and Japan’s Togugawa shogunate were at that time unable to fight off the advances and unfair bargainings of foreign powers. In China’s case, the first Opium War (1839 – 1842) forced the Qing government to cede Hong Kong to the United Kingdom and open five treaty ports to foreign trade following the Treaty of Nanjing. These were Shanghai, Guangdong, Ningbo, Fuzhou and Xiamen.

The second Opium War of 1856 to 1860 saw eighty more treaty ports open up to international trade, including Chongqing, Harbin, Shenyang and Changsha. The terms of the deal greatly favored the British, with merchants from the UK exempt from certain transit duties. In the treaty ports’ foreign concessions, Chinese people were second class citizens and subject to different laws, leading to the rise of underworld gangster activity in many cities.

In Shanghai, the International Settlement stretched from Bubbling Well Road (modern Nanjing Xi Lu) up to Hongkou in the north and Caojiadu in the west, bordered by the Suzhou Creek. It was set up after the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 as the British Concession, and later came to include American and French territories to the north and south. The French part separated in 1862, and the International Settlement existed until December 1941 when Japan stormed Pearl Harbor.

Shanghai’s historic architecture reflects the various influences of the foreign concessions during the city’s time as a treaty port. The fifty two buildings on the old Bund display Romanesque, Gothic and Art Deco styles, such as the Shanghai Club, Customs House, Sassoon House and Peace Hotel. The European-style villas, apartment blocks and plane trees of the French Concession make the area one of the most picturesque and desirable areas of the city. The area was a center of Catholicism during colonial times, and the old street names honor great French leaders and diplomats: Route Gustave de Boissezon (Fuxing Xi Lu), Avenue Petain (Hengshan Lu), Avenue Joffre (Huaihai Lu), Boulevard de Montigny (Xizang Nan Lu).

Beijing’s foreign concession isn’t as famous as Shanghai’s, but the Legation Quarter has its fair share of attractive architecture. The area is located immediately to the east of Tian’anmen Square and was at the center of the Boxer Rebellion. It was established after the second Opium War as a base for Beijing’s foreign legations (lower-rank consulates), and was disbanded at the outbreak of the second Sino-Japanese war in 1937. Unfortunately, the HSBC building - one of the most impressive buildings in the Legation Quarter – was demolished in the 1980s, but the area still has many historic buildings including the Dongjiaomin Catholic Church dating from 1902.

Other notable foreign concessions include the original treaty port of Amoy – modern Xiamen. Of particular historic value is the island of Gulangyu, which was Xiamen’s international settlement between 1903 and 1942 and home to foreign consulates. Traffic-free and packed with beautiful tumbledown mansions, Gulangyu is now a popular tourist destination.

Thanks to its strategic location, Shandong Province was a popular target for foreign occupiers. The Weihai area was a British colony between 1898 and 1930, and was used as a naval sanatorium. Germany also had a presence in the region, leasing Qingdao in 1987. Back then Qingdao was a small fishing village, but after several decades of German rule it was a thriving port with a successful brewery, infrastructure and education system. Nowadays the former German residential area with its sprawling ivy and sandstone buildings is one of the city’s most picturesque areas. Good examples of concession era architecture are the Lutheran Church, the Postal Museum and the Governor’s mansion.

The southern treaty ports and concessions have links with the West that stretch further than the Opium Wars. Macau saw its first Portuguese visitors in the early 1500s, and by 1557 there was a permanent settlement. In 1887 the Qing government signed the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Amity and Commerce with Portugal, which was updated by the Kuomintang in 1928 to the Friendship and Trade Treaty. With the overthrow of the Salazar dictatorship in 1974, the new Portuguese government decided to give Macau back to China. In 1986 it became a Special Administrative Region, but retains a distinctly Iberian atmosphere thanks to the proliferation of Portuguese-style architecture and food. The façade of the ruined Jesuit Cathedral of St. Paul is one of the area’s most recognizable landmarks.

Probably the most famous of China’s treaty ports was Hong Kong. Despite returning to Chinese control in 1997, Hong Kong’s colonial legacy is writ large. When the British took it over in 1841, the architectural style they imposed matched English and European fashions. Hong Kong’s proliferation of Victorian and Edwardian buildings includes the Legislative Council Building, the Central Police Station and the former Hong Kong club. The fact that Hong Kong remained under foreign control for longer than any mainland city means that cultural differences are often pronounced.

Despite China’s foreign concessions’ role as a reminder of darker times in recent history and skewed international relations, they are an ineluctable part of the cities that contain them. Colonial throwbacks or historical treasures, the areas sum up the often uneasy relationship that China has had with the rest of the world.

Related links
Concession Life: Exploring Tianjin’s Famous Colonial Buildings
The Godfathers: Inside Old Shanghai's Underworld
Instant Expert: Important People in Chinese History

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Keywords: legacy of foreign concessions China treaty ports China China’s foreign concessions