Tsingtau
Tsingtau was an Imperial German new city and administrative centre in their Kiautschou Bay Territory which had been leased from Imperial China for 99 years in 1898. The territory itself covered an area of 552 km2 (213 sq mi), centering on Kiautschou Bay on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula (German: Schantung Halbinsel).
Administration
Because of its importance to the German navy, it was not placed under the supervision of the Imperial Colonial Office (Reichskolonialamt) but instead under that of the Imperial Naval Office (the Reichsmarineamt or RMA). Head of the territory's administration was the Governor (all five office holders were senior navy officers), who was directly subordinated to the Secretary of State of the RMA, Alfred von Tirpitz (de). The Governor was head of both the military administration (run by the Deputy Governor and Chief-of-Staff), and the civil administration (managed by the Zivilkommissar).
Further important functionaries of the whole Kiautschou territory were the official for the construction of the harbor, and after 1900 the Chief Justice and the Commissioner for Chinese Affairs. The Gouvernementsrat (Government Council of the territory), and after 1902 the Chinese Committee also advised the Governor. The departments of finance, construction, education and medical services were directly subordinated to the Governor, because these were crucial with regard to the idea of a model colony.
The New City
The tiny impoverished fishing village of Tsingtau was demolished and a new city was laid out with wide streets, solid housing areas, government buildings, electrification throughout, a sewer system and a safe drinking water supply, a rarity in large parts of Asia at that time and later. There was the European city and the Chinese quarter. The area had the highest density of schools and highest per capita student enrollment in all of China, with primary, secondary and vocational schools funded by the Berlin treasury and Protestant and Roman Catholic missions.[3] Germany initially invested upwards of $100 million.[4]
With the expansion of economic activity and public works, German banks opened branch offices, the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank being the most prominent. An important asset to the new city was the establishment of the brewery which made Tsingtau beer, still produced there today and the most popular beer in east Asia. The completion of the Shantung Railway in 1910 provided a connection to the Trans-Siberian Railway and thus allowed travel by train from Tsingtau to Berlin.
Kiautschou Bay was ideal for shipping and it became the base for the German East Asiatic Squadron, as well as a base for Austro-Hungarian warships on the China Station. A new general harbour was constructed with a mole, a coaling station, and a floating dock which was brought out from Germany in sections and assembled at Tsingtau. The port quickly became extremely busy and a new much larger docking facility was built.
Revolution
After the 1911 Revolution in China, as with Hong Kong and Macau many wealthy Chinese and politically connected ex-officials settled in the territory because of the safe and orderly environment it offered. Sun Yat-sen visited Tsingtau in 1912 and stated: “... I am impressed. The city is a true model for China’s future.”
The Great War
The Boxer Rebellion (de), at the beginning of the century, had led Germany to consider the defence of Tsingtao. The port and the town were divided from the rest of the peninsula by steep hills. The main line of defense lay along three hills, Mount Moltke, Mount Bismarck, and Mount Iltis, from the Kaiserstuhl to Litsuner Heights. Guarding the left wing was Fort Moltke, on the hill of the same name, with two 9.4 inch (240 mm) guns. The heaviest firepower was concentrated in the four 11 inch (280 mm) howitzers of Fort Bismarck. On the right wing, Fort Iltis contained two 9.4 inch guns at the hill's summit.[5] A second 17 km line of defense was set up along a closer line of steep hills. The final line of defense was along hills 200 m above the town. A network of trenches, batteries, and other fortifications had been built in preparation for the coming siege. Germany had strengthened the defenses from the sea by laying mines in the approaches to the harbor and building four batteries and five redoubts. The fortifications were well equipped (though some with old Chinese artillery) and were well manned.
On 15 August 1914, at the outbreak of World War I in Europe, Japan delivered an ultimatum to Germany demanding that it relinquish its control of Kiautschou.[6] Nearly all the ships of the German East Asia Squadron were at the time dispersed at various German island colonies on routine missions; the armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau were at anchor at Ponape in the Caroline islands. Upon rejection of the ultimatum, the Japanese Empire declared war on the German Empire on August 23, and the same day its navy arrived off Kiautschou Bay, attacked the guard-ships, including the old Austro-Hungarian cruiser SMS Elisabeth (as it was on the China Station), and bombarded the German territory.
The Germans however put up a bitter resistance under Captain Alfred Meyer-Waldeck (1864–1928), the last Governor of Tsingtau (since 1911; he was promoted to a Rear-Admiral [1915] and Vice-Admiral [1918]). He organised the famous gallant defence of the colony in 1914 against the Japanese, who took him as a POW after further fighting was impossible. Not until November 7 was the bay and territory finally occupied by Japanese forces. The four small (1,048 tons) gunboats SMS Iltis, Jaguar, Tiger, Luchs with their 3.5 inch guns, and the torpedo boats SMS Taku and S90 of the East Asia Squadron that had been left at Tsingtao were scuttled by their crews just prior to the capture of the base by Japan. Four small river gunboats and some two dozen merchantmen and small vessels evaded Allied capture in inland waters of China until 1917, when China seized most of them save for two river gunboats, which were destroyed by their crews
Japan returned the occupied territory to the now Republic of China on 10 December 1922. Japan again occupied the area from 1937 to 1945 during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Gallery
Tsingtau in relation to the peninsular.
Tsingtau:the beginnings of the new settlement.
Arrival of the new Governor at Tsingtau aboard SMS Itlis, 1899.
Tsingtau, the new settlement 1900.
Prince Heinrich Hotel, Tsingtau, c1900.
The German-Asiatic Bank, Tsingtau, 1906.
Business House, Tsingtau 1908
Tsingtau's Kaiser Wilhelm Bank (waterfront).
Tsingtau Cathedral and streets.
Tsingtau Mole no.1 with shipping activity.
Tsingtau with original Mole on left and Mole no.2, right, 1910.
Tsingtau arrival of troopship SS Patricia 20 May 1912.
Tsingtau in 1912, a bustling port.
Tsingtau, coaling a warship, with the floating dock in the background.
Tsingtau, the new enlarged Mole no.2 awaits a new ship.
Part of Tsingtau in October 1913.
Tsingtau's famous Brewery.
Tsingtau Hauptbahnhof (main railway station).
Tsingtau's German-built railway station today.
Alfred Meyer-Waldeck (1864-1928), last Governor of Tsingtau.
Armoured cruiser SMS Gneisenau (commissioned on 6 March 1908) in Tsingtau's floating dock.
German warships at Tsingtau. SMS Itlis, left, with SMS Gneisenau in distance.
The survey ship SMS Möwe (launched 1906) leaving Tsingtau mole.
The old Austro-Hungarian cruiser SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth guarding the entrance to Kiautschou Bay, under fire from the Japanese.
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References
- ↑ The German Minister, Clemens von Ketteler, and German soldiers captured a Boxer, a wannabe assassin, and inexplicably executed him. In response, thousands of Boxers burst into the walled city of Beijing that afternoon and burned many of the Christian churches and cathedrals in the city, burning some victims alive. The soldiers at the British Embassy and German Legations shot and killed several Boxers, Clemens August Freiherr von Ketteler was murdered on 20 June 1900, being shot at point blank range.
- ↑ Guido von Usedom, The Prussian Machine
- ↑ (1985) Unter Kaisers Flagge: Deutschlands Schutzgebiete im Pazifik und in China einst und heute (in de). Universitas, 183. ISBN 978-3-8004-1094-1.
- ↑ Toyokichi Iyenaga (Oct 26, 1914). "What is Kiaochou worth?". The Independent. https://archive.org/stream/independen79v80newy#page/128/mode/1up.
- ↑ Trainor, Joseph, in War Monthly – Issue 37, 1976: "Tsingtao 1914", p.9. Template:ISSN.
- ↑ Primary Documents - Count Okuma on the Japanese Capture of Tsingtao, 15 August 1914 (22 August 2009).
