Historical records from the last half of the nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth were delivered from the UK to Tianjin Municipal Archives on Sunday, and the next day's Tianjin Daily included an interview with the experts involved about their contents and significance.
A group jointly organized by Tianjin Municipal Archives and Tianjin Municipal Social Science Federation collected the materials from organizations in the UK including the National Archives, British Museum, London University's School of Oriental and African Studies and Oxford University.
The experts said the original records were important additions to Tianjin Municipal Archives, precious first-hand materials for the study and reevaluation of the city's modern history.
They include records from the time of the British Concession in Tianjin and from when the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded China, and comprise over 300 photos, 50 maps, 4,800 papers and 20,000 micro-fiches.
The records were categorized by Chinese academics as follows:
- Archives of the British Consulate in Tianjin, including all correspondence from 1860 to 1952 and files on the return of the British Concession in 1928;
- Archives of the British Consulate in Dagu, including the correspondence from 1862 to 1875;
- Correspondence and confidential records of how Tianjin was forced to set up and expand foreign concessions in 1860;
- Records of the expansion of the British Concession in 1895;
- Materials about the Eight-Power Allied Forces' invasion and occupation of Tianjin in 1900, including the British War Department's records of the occupation of Tianjin and attack of Beijing, the plan to enter Tianjin, a topographical map of Tianjin, suggestions of withdrawal times for the allied forces, and the reconstruction plan for the Haihe River between Tianjin and Tanggu; and
- Tianjin church records from 1870 to 1871, including British accounts of the Tianjin Church Incident in which the French-built Wanghailou Church was burned down.
The photos include those of scenes after two Dagukou Fort battles in 1859 and 1860, of Wanghailou Church before and after the burning, and of the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacking Tianjin.
The maps include a hand-drawn one of the British-French United Army's invasion of Tianjin in 1860, one of the Haihe River basin in 1860, of the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacking Tianjin in 1900, a map of the Eight-Power Allied Forces' departure of Tianjin to attack Beijing in 1900, a Tianjin map from 1900, a map of the concession in 1903, a map of Tianjin and adjacent areas in 1908, and Tianjin suburban maps from 1927 and 1949.
(China.org.cn by Xu Lin December 1, 2005)
