THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE KIAOCHOU LEASEHOLD (SHANTUNG, CHINA) UNDER GERMAN ADMINISTRATION, 1897-1914.

摘要

The Kiaochou Leasehold has been considered to have been part of German imperialist endeavours prior to the First World War. It was established on 14 November, 1897, about half a century after the take-over of Hong Kong. The pretext for the occupation was the murder of two German Roman Catholic missionaries in Shantung province.;The German Naval Administration (Reichsmarineamt, RMA) was given control of the new base in China to develop it as a naval station and a trade entrepot. This assignment of the Leasehold to the German navy soured relations between itself and the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Auswartiges Amt, A.A.), in control of all of German's extra-European possessions through the Colonial Office (Kolonialamt).;Until 1901, due to the problems posed by the Boxer Rebellion, the RMA was able to deal directly with the Shantung provincial government. Thereafter the A.A. asserted its control over all official relations between the Leasehold government and the province of Shantung. This put the naval administration into "political quarantine".;The navy had definite ideas regarding development in China in general, and in the Leasehold in particular. Unlike the A.A. the RMA did not concern itself solely with the "treaty-system" and trade, but on making an impression on the Chinese ruling elites through the build-up of the Kiaochou Leasehold into a persuasive argument in favour of German methods, systems, and equipments. In addition the navy hoped to prove in this way its own capability of creating trade, while also aspiring to help China find her own way to development.;This thesis evaluates the work of the RMA in developing the Leasehold. The conclusions are that the RMA succeeded in its aim of constructing a show-case of development for the Chinese, who initiated development of their own in a few cases. The war with Japan and the Entente powers, begun in 1914, swept away the RMA's alternative to the treaty-system.