Concessions of Italy in China

Italy in the first half of the 20th century has had concessions in Peking, Tientsin, Shanghai, Amoy and Hankow with two forts ( Shan Hai Kuan and TaKu).

It is noteworhy to pinpoint that only in Tientsin, Peking and Shan Hai kuan, the italian government was 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.

Map of the Italian colonies in 1914, showing with a red point those in China

There was even the Treaty Port in Beihai (southern China), that was allowed to have a small area for Italian commerce.[2]

1900 Map showing the Italian colonial presence in Peking

Italy requested in the last years of the XIX century to have some islands (San-Men[3]) in front of the Shanghai region, but the china government denied the concession. A year later there was the rebellion of Chinese nationalists against the growing presence of colonial powers (Great Britain, France, Japan, Russia, USA, etc..) in the territory of the China empire: Italy "used" this crisis (called "Boxer insurrection") to enter in a western alliance and get territories in China.

So, 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[4]) 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 the concession in Tientsin, southeast of Beijing.

In 1915, when Italy entered WW1 against Austria & Germany, the colony of Tientsin counted about 10,000 inhabitants (Chinese) and 350 to 400 Italians, most of whom were traders. At that time the defence of the settlement was entrusted to only 200 soldiers and officers (mostly "Bersaglieri") supported by a special battalion (composed by Austro-Hungarian POWs of Italian origin captured in Galizien by the Imperial Russian troops and then released and transferred by train to Far East to reinforce the Italian garrison in China) and by some fifty Chinese militiamen. A few years later, when the war ended, the government of Rome finally decided to strengthen the garrison with a well-armed and trained intervention force. On 5th March 1925 the "Battaglione Italiano in Cina" was ready to be shipped to China. It was a very skilled unit, mostly composed of soldiers of the elite "Reggimento San Marco". The battalion was quartered in the new barracks named Ermanno Carlotto and consisted of three companies of 100 men each: the San Marco Company, the Libia Company and the San Giorgio Company.

The Italian concession of Tientsin had an area of nearly one square mile and was initially located in a swamp area near the river Hai Ho, with a few poor houses of Chinese farmers. The Italian government made huge improvements (making hospitals, schools, theaters, gardens, sewage, utilities, etc..) and by 1938 it had a population of 14879 Chinese and 739 Europeans (nearly all Italians)[5]: the concession was called the "aristocratic quarter of Tientsin" because many rich chinese families went to live there -creating nice mansions- in order to get refuge from the Japan invasion of China.

After a difficult start, the concession, with the new streets layout 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.[6]

1940 photo of the Marco Polo square in the Italian concession of Tientsin

In the "International Settlement of Shanghai"[7] was given to Italy a small area of control during WW1. A military Italian Company in the Shanghai Volunteer Corps (a multinational, mostly volunteer force controlled by the Shanghai Municipal Council) was founded in 1914, but was later disbanded in 1920. Only a few dozens Italian soldiers & sailors -under direct orders of the Italian governors in Tientsin- remained in the city.

However during the fascism years the number of italian troops was increased in Shanghái, mainly when Japan invaded China in the mid 1930s.[8]

The main concessions (after the important colonial city-area in Tientsin) were in Shanghai and Peking. 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).

The Italian concession in Tientsin 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.[9]

Italy protected the Italian concessions and forts during the Japan 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[10]

All these concessions were lost by the Kingdom of Italy in the Peace Treaty of 1947, after Italy's defeat in WW2.

In yellow the Italian concession in Shangai

The italian concessions in China were ruled by "Consoli" (consuls), living in Tientsin:

• 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 Tientsin (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 -like oil, bread, pasta, fruits, etc...

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 Tientsin and Shaghai. 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.

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

• Bassetti, Sandro. "Colonia italiana in Cina". Editoriale Lampi di stampa. Roma, 2014 ISBN 8848816568 ()
• Borgnino, Rinaldo. ‘La “Concessione” Italiana in Cina’ In Augustea, 1936, pag. 363-366.
• Grasselli, Enrico. "L’esercito italiano in Francia e in Oriente Corbaccio". ed. M. Milano, 1934.
• Maurizio Marinelli, Giovanni. "Italy’s Encounter with Modern China: Imperial dreams, strategic ambitions". Palgrave Macmillan. New York, 2014. ISBN 1137290935 ()

• 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 Tientsin