Space, Institution And Community:A Study On The British Concession In Modern Tianjin1860-1945

"Foreign Concessions" refer to the special residence and trade areas established by foreigners in some treaty ports in Modern China, which were adiministrated mainly by the local Municipal Council elected by foreign residents. Taking advantage of the sociological method of "concept operation","Foreign Concession" is defined as a three-dimensional system including "space","institutions" and "society". Therefore, the former British Concession in Tianjin was not only a geographical region, but also a whole system of rules and institutions, and a vivid cosmopolitan community characterized by rich sino-foreign social interactions.Through "deep description", this research aims to reveal the basic characteristics of Tianjin’s British Concession in spatial, institutional and community levels during the years between1860and1945. Although after the outbreak of the Pacific War in1941, Japan actually took over the dominion, taking into account the integrity of the historical context, the study still covers the entire period.In terms of regional spatial sense, the British Concession in Tianjin includes the original concession area delimited in1860, and the land obtained through three expansions (Municipal Extension, Southern Extension and the Extra-Mural Extension), which is the region of6149mu with four boundaries of Haihe to the east, the Racecourse R.oad and Tonglou to the south, Xikang Road to the west and Yingkou Road to the north, adjacent to the former French Concession. In1919, the four parts of the concessions were combined and the British Concession entered a new stage of development. The Municipal Council carried out the project of blowing mud and reclamation since1919, which took almost twenty years to complete, turning the ponds and swamps into urban areas. From1860to1930, the British Concession in Tianjin gradually formed different functional areas, including the Haihe dockland area, economic and financial area, industrial area, and upscale residential area.Besides the macro study of the municipal development and construction of the British Concession, placing it in the context of the urbanization process of the whole city, there are also attempts to study the microscopic concession space. For this part, a typical case study on the Astor House and the Gordon Hall is carried out, in order to consider the characteristics of the concrete and tangible physical public spaces in the British Concession.For the study of the institutional Concession, the British Concession in Tianjin is a full system of rules and regulations, including land regulations, as well as various ordinances established by the Municipal Council. This research combs the basic institutional system of the British Concession in Tianjin, from the fundamental land regulations, to the practical administrative regulations formulated during the process. In addition to the transverse study of the Concession institutional system, vertical exploration is also applied in order to reveal the evolution of different regulations.Social dimension of the British Concession mainly refers to the respective organization and structure of both foreign nationals and the Chinese residents, and the interaction and connection within and between the groups. In this paper, the alien social structure and the Chinese social structure of the British Concession are separately investigated. In addition to the general study of the foreign society in British Concession, the British and American groups are specially investigated through case studies in order to outline the cultural, psychological and community characteristics of foreign groups in modern China. For the Chinese part, social strata is analyzed, especially those who participated in the municipal affairs as electors and councilors after1928(due to the Concession reclamation storm in1927, the institutaional system of the British Concession underwent a major adjustment).In addition, elite societies were an important part of the British Concession society. Community organizations are always the social media and connecting link between individuals and the society. For those societies in the British Concession, they also assumed an important role as platforms for interaction between the foreign and Chinese groups, among which, the Rotary Club of Tianjin was a typical example.Undoubtedly, the existence and development of those foreign-operated regions represented by the British Cocession can never be neglected in the modernization process of Tianjin city. The old Tianjin, which was merely delineated by the River Mouth and the four-door Rampart, thus broke through the limitations of the traditional walls, extended southeast along the Haihe River, and gradually took on an urban space expansion mode. During the course, British Concession took the lead, initiated various modern urban construction, all kinds of trade and commerce began gathering, urban population immensely expanded. All in all, the social, economic, institutional and cultural changes of those foreign concessions used to play a significant role in the modernization process of Tianjin.