Jiaozhou

Jiaozhou, bay and former German territory, eastern China. Jiaozhou is located on the southern side of the Shandong Peninsula in the province of Shandong. Jiaozhou Bay, which has an area of 583 sq km (225 sq mi), is one of the best-protected harbours on the Chinese Yellow Sea coast. The bay’s entrance is less than 3 km (2 mi) in width, leaving it almost landlocked and ensuring the harbour is ice-free. The principal centre in the area is the industrial city of Qingdao, which lies at the entrance to the bay on its eastern arm, the Qingdao Peninsula.

In the 1890s, Germany, in an effort to counteract Russian control in the area, began to seek a suitable harbour on the Chinese coast and in 1897 chose Jiaozhou Bay. In November of that year members of a Chinese secret society assassinated two German Catholic missionaries on the Shandong Peninsula, prompting the German kaiser William II to order the commander of the German Eastern Asiatic Cruiser Squadron to seize Jiaozhou Bay. Qingdao surrendered to the Germans and, upon receiving no international support, China signed (in March 1898) a 99-year lease giving Germany control of Jiaozhou Bay, its shores, and a territory east of the bay of about 300 sq km (120 sq mi). The land leased was collectively known as Kiaochow (or Jiaozhou) Territory. Within seven years railways had been built, allowing access to the rich goldfields of the Shandong Peninsula, and the small fishing village of Qingdao was being developed into a major port.

At the onset of World War I, Japan demanded that Germany evacuate all its occupied territories in China and Japan. When the Germans refused, Japan entered the war on the side of the Allies. British and Japanese forces attacked and captured Jiaozhou Territory in November, 1914. At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (see Treaty of Versailles) China tried to regain Jiaozhou, but the territory was given instead to Japan. In 1922 at the Washington Conference (an attempt to limit naval armaments in the Pacific Ocean), Japan agreed to restore Jiaozhou to China, and the territory was incorporated into Shandong Province. The area was occupied by Japan again during the Sino-Japanese Conflict of 1937 to 1945. Qingdao was a United States marine and naval base from 1945 to 1949 and thereafter, under the control of the government of China, became a significant industrial port.