Recent from talks
Guangzhouwan
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Guangzhouwan
The Leased Territory of Guangzhouwan, officially the Territoire de Kouang-Tchéou-Wan and historically known in English as Kwangchowan or Kwangchow Wan, was a coastal territory in the Guangdong province of China, leased to France and administered by French Indochina. The capital of the territory was Fort Bayard, now Zhanjiang.
The Empire of Japan occupied the territory in February 1943; following the surrender of Japan in 1945, France formally relinquished the territory to the Republic of China. The territory did not experience the rapid growth in population that other parts of coastal China experienced, rising from 189,000 in the early 20th century to just 209,000 in 1935.
The leased territory was situated on the east side of the Leizhou (Luichow) Peninsula (French: Péninsule de Leitcheou), near Guangzhou, around a bay then called Kwangchowan, now called the Port of Zhanjiang. The bay forms the estuary of the Ma-The River (French: Rivière Ma-The, Chinese: 麻斜河; pinyin: Máxié hé), now known as the Zhanjiang Waterway (Chinese: 湛江水道; pinyin: Zhànjiāng shuǐdào) which is navigable as far as 19 kilometers (12 mi) inland even by large warships.
The territory leased to France included the islands lying in the bay, which enclosed an area 29 km long by 10 km wide and a minimum water depth of 10 meters (5.5 fathoms). The islands were then renowned for their admirable natural defenses, the main island being Île de Tan-Hai. On the smaller Île Nau-Chau farther to the southeast, a lighthouse was constructed. Another island of significant size is Île des Aigrettes located to the northeast.
The limits of the territory inland were fixed in November 1899; on the left bank of the Ma-the, France gained from Gaozhou prefecture (Kow Chow Fu) a strip of territory 18 kilometers (11 mi) by 10 kilometers (6.2 mi), and on the right bank a strip 24 kilometers (15 mi) by 18 kilometers (11 mi) from Leizhou prefecture (Luichowfu). Its total land area consisted 1,300 km2 (500 sq mi).
Kwangchowan was leased to the French for 99 years according to the Treaty of May 29, 1898, ratified by China on January 5, 1900, during the "scramble for concessions". The colony was described as "commercially unimportant but strategically located"; most of France's energies went into their administration of the mainland of French Indochina, and their main concern in China was the protection of Roman Catholic missionaries, rather than the promotion of trade. Kwangchow Wan, while not a constituent part of Indochina, was effectively placed under the authority of the French Resident Superior in Tonkin (itself under the Governor-General of French Indochina, also in Hanoi); the French Resident was represented locally by Administrators. In addition to the territory acquired, France was given the right to connect the bay by rail with the city and harbor situated on the west side of the peninsula; however when they attempted to take possession of the land to build the railway, forces of the provincial government offered armed resistance. As a result, France demanded and obtained exclusive mining rights in the three adjoining prefectures. The return of the leased territory to China was promised after the First World War by the French at the Washington Naval Conference of 1921–1922, but that promise was not fulfilled until 1945, by which time the territory had already ceased to be under French rule.
By 1931, the population of Kwangchowan had reached 206,000, giving the colony a population density of 245 persons per km2 (630 per square mile); virtually all Chinese, and only 266 French citizens and four other Europeans were recorded as living there. Industries included shipping and coal mining. The port was also popular with smugglers; prior to the 1928 cancellation of the American ban on the export of commercial airplanes, Kwangchow Wan was also used as a stop for Cantonese smugglers transporting military aircraft purchased in Manila to China, and American records mention at least one drug smuggler who picked up opium and paper sons (Chinese American emigrants circumventing the Chinese Exclusion Act) to smuggle into the United States.
As an adjunct of French Indochina, Kwangchow Wan generally endured the same fate as the rest of the Indochina colony during World War II. Even before the signing of the August 30, 1940 accord with Japan in which France recognized the “privileged status of Japanese interests in the Far East” and which constituted the first step of the Japanese military occupation of Indochina, a small detachment of Japanese marines had landed at Fort Bayard without opposition in early July and set up a control and observation post in the harbor. However, as in the rest of French Indochina, the civilian administration of the territory was to remain in the hands of officials of Vichy France following the Fall of France; in November 1941, Governor-General Jean Decoux, newly appointed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, made an official visit to Kwangchow Wan.
Hub AI
Guangzhouwan AI simulator
(@Guangzhouwan_simulator)
Guangzhouwan
The Leased Territory of Guangzhouwan, officially the Territoire de Kouang-Tchéou-Wan and historically known in English as Kwangchowan or Kwangchow Wan, was a coastal territory in the Guangdong province of China, leased to France and administered by French Indochina. The capital of the territory was Fort Bayard, now Zhanjiang.
The Empire of Japan occupied the territory in February 1943; following the surrender of Japan in 1945, France formally relinquished the territory to the Republic of China. The territory did not experience the rapid growth in population that other parts of coastal China experienced, rising from 189,000 in the early 20th century to just 209,000 in 1935.
The leased territory was situated on the east side of the Leizhou (Luichow) Peninsula (French: Péninsule de Leitcheou), near Guangzhou, around a bay then called Kwangchowan, now called the Port of Zhanjiang. The bay forms the estuary of the Ma-The River (French: Rivière Ma-The, Chinese: 麻斜河; pinyin: Máxié hé), now known as the Zhanjiang Waterway (Chinese: 湛江水道; pinyin: Zhànjiāng shuǐdào) which is navigable as far as 19 kilometers (12 mi) inland even by large warships.
The territory leased to France included the islands lying in the bay, which enclosed an area 29 km long by 10 km wide and a minimum water depth of 10 meters (5.5 fathoms). The islands were then renowned for their admirable natural defenses, the main island being Île de Tan-Hai. On the smaller Île Nau-Chau farther to the southeast, a lighthouse was constructed. Another island of significant size is Île des Aigrettes located to the northeast.
The limits of the territory inland were fixed in November 1899; on the left bank of the Ma-the, France gained from Gaozhou prefecture (Kow Chow Fu) a strip of territory 18 kilometers (11 mi) by 10 kilometers (6.2 mi), and on the right bank a strip 24 kilometers (15 mi) by 18 kilometers (11 mi) from Leizhou prefecture (Luichowfu). Its total land area consisted 1,300 km2 (500 sq mi).
Kwangchowan was leased to the French for 99 years according to the Treaty of May 29, 1898, ratified by China on January 5, 1900, during the "scramble for concessions". The colony was described as "commercially unimportant but strategically located"; most of France's energies went into their administration of the mainland of French Indochina, and their main concern in China was the protection of Roman Catholic missionaries, rather than the promotion of trade. Kwangchow Wan, while not a constituent part of Indochina, was effectively placed under the authority of the French Resident Superior in Tonkin (itself under the Governor-General of French Indochina, also in Hanoi); the French Resident was represented locally by Administrators. In addition to the territory acquired, France was given the right to connect the bay by rail with the city and harbor situated on the west side of the peninsula; however when they attempted to take possession of the land to build the railway, forces of the provincial government offered armed resistance. As a result, France demanded and obtained exclusive mining rights in the three adjoining prefectures. The return of the leased territory to China was promised after the First World War by the French at the Washington Naval Conference of 1921–1922, but that promise was not fulfilled until 1945, by which time the territory had already ceased to be under French rule.
By 1931, the population of Kwangchowan had reached 206,000, giving the colony a population density of 245 persons per km2 (630 per square mile); virtually all Chinese, and only 266 French citizens and four other Europeans were recorded as living there. Industries included shipping and coal mining. The port was also popular with smugglers; prior to the 1928 cancellation of the American ban on the export of commercial airplanes, Kwangchow Wan was also used as a stop for Cantonese smugglers transporting military aircraft purchased in Manila to China, and American records mention at least one drug smuggler who picked up opium and paper sons (Chinese American emigrants circumventing the Chinese Exclusion Act) to smuggle into the United States.
As an adjunct of French Indochina, Kwangchow Wan generally endured the same fate as the rest of the Indochina colony during World War II. Even before the signing of the August 30, 1940 accord with Japan in which France recognized the “privileged status of Japanese interests in the Far East” and which constituted the first step of the Japanese military occupation of Indochina, a small detachment of Japanese marines had landed at Fort Bayard without opposition in early July and set up a control and observation post in the harbor. However, as in the rest of French Indochina, the civilian administration of the territory was to remain in the hands of officials of Vichy France following the Fall of France; in November 1941, Governor-General Jean Decoux, newly appointed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, made an official visit to Kwangchow Wan.
Recent media