Foreign-controlled territories in China

Foreign-controlled territories in China were areas governed or administered by foreign powers through sovereignty claims, leases, or treaty-port concessions, especially from the nineteenth century to the Second World War.

Connect

Shanghai International Settlement: A foreign-administered district in Shanghai governed by an international municipal council from 1863 to 1943. It combined foreign municipal authority with Chinese sovereignty claims in the most prominent treaty port.
Unequal treaties: Agreements imposed on China and other states that granted foreign powers privileges and weakened local sovereignty. They supplied the legal framework for concessions, leased territories, and other foreign privileges.
First Opium War: The 1839–1842 war between Qing China and Britain that ended with China's defeat and the Treaty of Nanking. Its outcome opened treaty ports and began the era of expanding foreign privileges in China.
May Fourth Movement: A Chinese cultural and political movement that began with student protests in Beijing on 4 May 1919. Anger over the transfer of German rights in Shandong helped trigger the protests.
Spheres of influence in China: Regions where foreign powers sought predominant economic or political influence without formal territorial sovereignty. Influence over a region differed from direct administration of a concession or leased territory.
Shanghai French Concession: A French-administered concession in Shanghai, established in 1849 and expanded before its return to China in 1943. It shows how one treaty port could contain a separate national concession beside an international settlement.
Treaty ports: Ports opened to foreign trade and residence under treaties, often with foreign privileges but not necessarily foreign territorial sovereignty. They were the broader setting in which many concessions operated.
Treaty of Nanking: The 1842 treaty that ended the First Opium War and ceded Hong Kong to Britain while opening five Chinese ports. It established an early precedent for territorial cession alongside treaty-port access.
Twenty-One Demands: A set of demands Japan presented to China in 1915 seeking expanded political and economic privileges. They intensified fears that foreign privileges would deepen into broader control over China.
Open Door Policy: A United States policy advocating equal commercial access to China and preservation of its territorial integrity. It opposed exclusive foreign privileges while stopping short of ending existing enclaves.