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 (Tientsin) with full colonial rights and some minor areas (fortifications, commercial areas, partial concessions in international settlement, etc.) in the defeated China.

Italy, in the first half of the 20th century, had concessions & possessions in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Amoy, and Hankou, as well as at two forts (Taku and the Shan Hai Guan). It is noteworthy to pinpoint that only in Tianjin, Beijing, and Shanhai Pass, was the Italian government in control (with colonial property rights). In the other locations, Italy was united (or affiliated) with other colonial powers - like with Great Britain in the Taku forts. There was even the Treaty Port in Beihai (southern China), that was allowed to have a small area for Italian commerce. The main concessions (after Tianjin) were in Shanghai and Beijing. The official real control of Italy in these colonial areas lasted from 1901 to 1943 (but nominally, it was for half a century, from 1898 until 1947)^[1]

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.^[2]

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 (that included Italy) at the end of the Battle of Peking (Beijing), 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.^[3][4]

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, it had a population of 14,879 Chinese and 739 Europeans (nearly all Italians).^[5] 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:^[6]

After a difficult start, the concession, with the new street layouts and European-style villas, progressively assumed ‘the role of showcase of Italian art, with the import of decorating and building materials from the motherland’, especially for ‘the most representative objects, like the public buildings and the monumental fountain located at the centre for Queen Elena Square’...The so-called ‘the aristocratic concession’ (as Borgnino wrote) attracted both other foreigners and high-ranking Chinese residents. Among them: political theorist Liang Qichao, Tianjin Mayors Zhang Tinge, Cheng Ke, and Zhou Longguang, journalist Liu Ranggong, playwright Cao Yu, calligrapher Hua Shikui, the infamous 1923-24 ‘bribing president’ Cao Kun, warlord general Tang Yulin, 1921 Minister of Interior Qi Yaoshan, military and civil governor of Heilongjiang Bao Guiqin, Wang Guangyuan, and wealthy silk businessman Meng Yangxuan, all resided in Italian buildings in the concession’s area.

In the Shanghai International Settlement, Italy was given a small area during World War I. The Shanghai Volunteer Corps (a multinational, mostly volunteer force controlled by the Shanghai Municipal Council) 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^[7]

The Italian concession in Tianjin became the headquarters of the Italian Legione Redenta (with 4357 Italians born in the Austrian empire) that fought in 1919 during the Allied intervention against Soviet troops in Siberia and Manchuria. In 1935, the Italian concession had a population of about 6,261, including 110 Italian civilians and about 536 foreigners.^[8]

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 (additionally, nearly 800 Italian soldiers and sailors protected the Europeans -British, Russians, Germans, and also US citizens, etc..- resident in Shanghai in 1937, when the UK & US troops withdrew from the city):

In 1937, in Tientsin and Shanghai, there were stationed 764 men with officers and soldiers of "Battaglione Granatieri di Sardegna" arrived by ships from Massaua (Eritrea). Part of these effectives supported the English (2,500 men) and the American (1,400 men) contingents, who were already in Beijing and particularly in Shanghai to protect the Anglo-Saxon citizens (in Shanghai, there were 308 American civilians, 971 English, 199 Germans, 654 Japanese, 182 Russians, and 42 Italians)......On September 27th and October 24th (1937), some Japanese bombers Mitsubishi attacked the Italian light cruiser Montecuccoli during a raid against Shanghai. During these two missions was the Italian vessel hit by splinters and had one dead and several injured (the accident compromised seriously the diplomatic relationship between Rome and Tokyo)......Between March 1941 and September 1943, the Italian concession of Tientsin and the consulates of Shanghai, Hankow, and Beijing lived a quite peaceful period, in spite of the not optimal relationships with the Japanese occupation military Command^[9]

All these concessions were lost by the Kingdom of Italy in the Peace Treaty of 1947, after Italy's defeat in WWII^[10]

The Italian concessions in China were ruled by "Consoli" (consuls), living in Tianjin:^{[citation needed]}

• Cesare Poma (1901–1903)
• Giuseppe Chiostri (1904–1906)
• Oreste Da Vella (1907–1911)
• Vincenzo Fileti (1912–1919)
• Marcello Roddolo (1920–1921)
• Luigi Gabrielli di Quercita (1921–1924)
• Guido Segre (1925–1927)
• Luigi Neyrone (1928–1932)
• Filippo Zappi (1933–1938)
• Ferruccio Stefenelli (1939–1943)

Some Italian industries and commercial companies created facilities in the concession of Tianjin (and a few also in Shanghai): 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.

In 1932...the Italian shipping company "Lloyd Triestino" opened a new service linking Italy to Shanghai by scheduling on that route two modern trans-atlantic vessels, the "Conte Biancamano" and "the Conte Rosso" (which immediately set a speed world record of only 23 days during the first voyage). With this new service, supported by those of other companies employed in the trade of various goods and products, the economic exchange between Italy and China reached such good levels to alarm Great Britain and France. Alberto Rosselli M.H.

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" (CIDEO) for the growing commerce between Italy and China.^{[citation needed]}

• Italian concession of Tianjin
• Concessions in China
• Italian Empire

• Mansor, Suffian (2009). Tientsin and its hinterland in Anglo-Chinese relations, 1925-1937 (PhD thesis). The University of Bristol.
• Bassetti, Sandro. "Colonia italiana in Cina". Editoriale Lampi di stampa. Roma, 2014 ISBN 8848816568 ([1])
• Marinelli, Maurizio (May 2010). "Internal and External Spaces: The emotional capital of Tianjin's Italian concession". Emotion, Space and Society. 3 (1): 62–70.
• Grasselli, Enrico. "L’esercito italiano in Francia e in Oriente Corbaccio". ed. M. Milano, 1934.
• Marinelli, Maurizio (2014). Italy’s Encounter with Modern China: Imperial Dreams, Strategic Ambitions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

• Astolfi, V. "Soldati italiani in Cina - prima parte: 1861-1918" (in Italian)
• Astolfi, V. "Soldati italiani in Cina" -seconda parte:1919 - 1945" (in Italian)
• Photos of restored Italian buildings in modern Tianjin