Amcham Outing - Tour of Foreign Concessions

At the socially acceptable hour of 09:30 on 25th May, 24 intrepid adventurers, armed with cameras and good cheer, congregated at the theatre on the second floor of the Sheraton. One could feel an air of excitement, mixed with a tinge of anticipation as the group anxiously awaited the commencement of what promised to be one of those life enriching experiences - a peek into the past. A glimpse of yester-year. Yes, this was the "Great Amcham Foreign Concession Areas Tour 2002". The adventurers came from all parts of the globe, as had their forebears more than 100 years ago.

Phase I of the experience was a briefing by Mr Jin Pengyu (½ðÅíÓý), ably interpreted by Louie Liu (China Travel Service), on the history of the concession areas. We learned how the British and French were first to establish areas in 1861, and the questionable methods by which they were negotiated with the Qing government of the day. This was interspersed with anecdotes about some of the personalities of the time, and the influence they had on the development of Tianjin. Specifically, the impact of German turned Englishman George Detring and his achievements throughout his forty years tenure in China. We heard how in 1878, the Tianjin domiciled Detring was authorised to supervise the establishment of a postal system for China, and how in 1880 with the assistance of Viceroy Li Hongzhang he established the "Institute of Western Medicine of China" which is now the Peoples Hospital. Other notable former residents of Tianjin mentioned included Herbert Hoover, who was Manager of the Kaiping Coal Mine around the turn of the century before going on to be the 31st President of the United States (1929-1933). And of course there was the last Qing Emperor, Pu Yi, who resided in Tianjin from 1925-1931.

Mr Jin noted that whilst original buildings from other 'treaty ports' where still in evidence around the country, like the Russian architecture in Heilongjiang and German buildings in Qingdao, only Tianjin had such a mix of nationalities. In all there were nine concession areas, comprising the countries of the eight allied armies (baguo lianjun - British, French, German, Belgian, Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Italian and Japanese) and the USA. All of the concessions were based along the Hai River, with the USA concession being amalgamated with the British area in 1902.

Phase II involved boarding a huge coach and spending the next 2 hours touring roads both large and small, competing for space with parked bicycles, cars and hawkers. After soaking up the grandeur of Machang Dao (Race Course Rd), and still with Louie providing a blow-by-blow of the view, we arrived at our first stop. This, the first of our 'special treats' was a visit to Qing Wang Fu (ÇìÍõ¸®) in Chongqing Dao, now the Tianjin Municipal Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. As it is used as a government office, it is not generally open to the public. There, Secretary General Gong Tieying warmly welcomed us, and spent the next 40minutes detailing the amazing history of this perfectly preserved building. Built in 1922 at number 19 Cambridge Rd in the former British concession, it was originally the private residence of Zhang Delan, the chief eunuch of the Empress Dowager Long Yu. In 1925, Prince Qing Zaizhan, a fourth generation member of the Imperial family, bought it and the house was henceforth known as 'Prince Qing's Mansion'.

The next stop was at the former French Engineering Bureau on Guangdong Rd., now the office of the Tianjin Grain Bureau. This was the first time that foreign guests had been permitted to enter - yet another advantage of adventuring with Amcham!

From here, we made our way across to Jiefang Lu, known in the British, German and French concessions as Victoria Rd, Kaiser Willhelm Strasse and Rue de France respectively. Along Jiefang South Rd we witnessed excellent and endless examples of German architecture in the area of Qiongzhou Rd. The opposite side of the river had been the Belgian concession, however not much of this remains as it has been replaced with medium density housing estates. After passing through the eastern section of the British and French concessions, we crossed the French built Jiefang Bridge and entered the Italian concession. The elegant Italian architecture contrasted vividly with the styles we had viewed to this point, and once the cameras stopped clicking, we again headed south.

Our final stop before lunch was at an old German residential square. Here we could not only take in the spender of the design, but thanks to some quick talking by Mr Jin Pengyu, we had the opportunity to enter one of the residences. Inside, we chatted with Mr Yang Daxin, himself a man of no small literary acclaim, and listened as he explained the history of the square and how his family came to occupy one of the residences so many years ago.

For those whose thirst for knowledge had not been quenched, there followed a very pleasant meal at the Yue Wei Xian in Hubei Lu, itself a window to the past. This was followed by a visit to a very recently established museum focussing on the history of Tianjin's connection with the outside world.

The curator, Mme Hang Ying, had obviously gone to a lot of trouble to establish what will undoubtedly become a 'must see' location for any visitors to this amazing city. Although still in its early stages, Mme Hang intends to create nine rooms, each depicting one of the foreign concession areas. Photographs abound, from which it is clear that although many original buildings are still intact, they are just a hint of what had been.

From the museum, we went our separate ways - richer for the experience, and realising that Tianjin is much, much more than 'just another city'.

Note: Your Chamber is currently planning another tour of the concession areas. Please see the Members Only section of the Amcham web site for details as they come to hand.