The Belgian concession of Tianjin (; ; ) was a 120 acre
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
concession
Concession may refer to:
General
* Concession (contract) (sometimes called a concession agreement), a contractual right to carry on a certain kind of business or activity in an area, such as to explore or develop its natural resources or to opera ...
in the
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
city of
Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...
between 1902 and 1931, the only Belgian concession in China. Although its own concession had not been developed, Belgium had been very active in the infrastructure construction of Tianjin Huajie and other concessions, and can be called the “engineering captain” in the concessions of various other countries including the old city of Tianjin.
History
Despite not sending in troops to fight during the
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...
, Belgium was able to claim the parcel of land east of the
Hai River
The Hai River (海河, lit. "Sea River"), also known as the Peiho, ("White River"), or Hai Ho, is a Chinese river connecting Beijing to Tianjin and the Bohai Sea.
The Hai River at Tianjin is formed by the confluence of five watercourses: the S ...
in negotiations under consul
Maurice Joostens
Baron Adolphe Marie Maurice Joostens (23 September 1862 – 21 July 1910), was a Belgian diplomat. As a signatory of the Boxer Protocol, the final act at the Algeciras Conference and the Colonial Charter in which Congo Free State was ceded t ...
, even though
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
had claimed the land previously. After claiming that Belgium will build factories in the area, Russia relented.
On February 6, 1902,
Zhang Lianfen Zhang may refer to:
Chinese culture, etc.
* Zhang (surname) (張/张), common Chinese surname
** Zhang (surname 章), a rarer Chinese surname
* Zhang County (漳县), of Dingxi, Gansu
* Zhang River (漳河), a river flowing mainly in Henan
* ''Z ...
of the Qing government signed the Tianjin Belgian Concession Contract with
Henri Ketels
Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry.
People with this given name
; French noblemen
:'' See the 'List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.''
* Henri I de Montm ...
, acting consul of Belgium in Tianjin. Soon after the concessions were demarcated, wooden stakes were nailed next to the Russian concession to delimit the Belgian concession.
With an impending financial crisis looming over the concession, the Belgian consul to China announced it will give back the concession to China as a gesture of friendship. On August 31, 1929, China and Belgium signed a charter for the return of the Tianjin-Belgium Concession, stipulating that the administrative power of the concession and all the public properties of the concession should be transferred to the Chinese government; on the other hand, the 93,000 taels in debt (with interest) shall be repaid by the Chinese government.
Gallery
File:Belgian Consulate in Tianjin.png, Belgian consulate in the British concession
File:Belgian Tram Company in Tianjin.jpg, Tianjin trams, owned by the Belgian Tientsin Tramway and Lighting Company
File:Belgian concession in Tianjin 1907.jpg, Main road of the Belgian Tianjin concession
See also
*
Concessions in Tianjin
The foreign concessions in Tianjin (formerly romanized as Tientsin) were concession territories ceded by Qing China to a number of European countries, the United States and Japan within the city of Tianjin. There were altogether nine foreign ...
*
Concessions of China
*
Map of concessions in Tianjin
*
Belgian colonial empire
Belgium controlled several territories and concessions during the colonial era, principally the Belgian Congo (modern DRC) from 1908 to 1960 and Ruanda-Urundi (modern Rwanda and Burundi) from 1922 to 1962. It also had small concessions in Gua ...
*
List of former foreign enclaves in China
Concessions in China were a group of concessions that existed during the late Imperial China and the Republic of China, which were governed and occupied by foreign powers, and are frequently associated with colonialism and imperialism.
The con ...
References
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Concessions in China
Former Belgian colonies
20th century in Tianjin
History of Tianjin
Former colonies in Asia
European colonisation in Asia