The British Concession or Settlement was a foreign

enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...

(a " concession") in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

within the

Qing Empire The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

which existed from around 1845 until its unification with the American area, located directly north of it across Suzhou Creek to form the

Shanghai International Settlement The Shanghai International Settlement () originated from the 1863 merger of the British Concession (Shanghai), British and American Concession (Shanghai), American list of former foreign enclaves in China, enclaves in Shanghai, in which Brit ...

in 1863. The settlement was bordered to the north by the right bank of Suzhou Creek at its confluence with the

Huangpu River The Huangpu (), formerly romanized as Whangpoo, is a river flowing north through Shanghai. The Bund and Lujiazui are located along the Huangpu River. The Huangpu is the biggest river in central Shanghai, with the Suzhou Creek being its ...

, to the east by the Huangpu itself, and to south by the former Yangjing Creek, now Yan'an Road, which would be the future boundary with the French Concession. Shanghai 1884

History

The British occupied Shanghai during the

First Opium War The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...

and it was opened to foreign trade by the terms of the

Treaty of Nanking The Treaty of Nanking was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese ...

. The British settlement was established by the 1845 Land Regulations, undertaken on the initiative of the intendant Gong Mujiu.. On 20 November 1846, a formal concession was established; this was expanded on 27 November 1848. After a proposal to make Shanghai an independent "free city" was rejected in 1862, the British area agreed to merge with the American on 21 September 1863 as the

. This occurred in December of the same year.

References

{{Reflist Shanghai International Settlement Concessions in China

History

See also

References