British Weihaiwei or Wei-hai-wei, on the northeastern coast of China, was a leased territory of the United Kingdom from 1898 until 1930. The capital was Port Edward, which lay in what is now the centre of Huancui District in the city of Weihai in the province of Shandong. The leased territory covered and included the walled city of Weihaiwei, Port Edward just to the north, Weihaiwei Bay, Liu-kung Island and a mainland area of of coastline running to a depth of inland, an area roughly coterminous with the Huancui District of modern Weihai City. Together with Lüshunkou (Port Arthur) it controlled the entrance to the Bohai Sea and, thus, the seaward approaches to Beijing.
Background to the British lease
The port of Weihaiwei served as the base for the Chinese Beiyang Fleet (Northern Seas Fleet), founded in 1871 during the later years of the Qing dynasty in China. In 1895, Japanese land and sea forces captured the port in the Battle of Weihaiwei, the last major battle of the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895. The Japanese withdrew in 1898.
After Russia leased Port Arthur from China for 25 years in March 1898, the United Kingdom pressured the Chinese government into leasing Weihaiwei, with the terms of the treaty stating that it would remain in force for as long as the Russians were allowed to occupy Port Arthur. The British fleet took possession and raised its flag on 24 May 1898.
The British used the port primarily as a summer anchorage for the Royal Navy's China Station and as a health resort. It also served as an occasional port of call for Royal Navy vessels in the Far East (very much secondary to using Hong Kong in southern China). Other than for military matters, local administration remained under Chinese control, and the port itself remained a free port until 1923.
At the start of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, the commander of the Royal Navy's China Station was initially ordered to withdraw his ships from Weihaiwei to avoid Britain being drawn into the conflict. However, fearing that the Imperial Russian Navy might use Weihaiwei as a safe haven, the Japanese government successfully pressured the British to return their fleet. During the war, correspondents covering the conflict used the port as a telegraph- and radio-transmission station; it also served as a source of contraband shipping for blockade-runners bringing supplies into Port Arthur.
After the Japanese victory over Russia in 1905, Japan took possession of Port Arthur. Britain extended its lease over Weihaiwei until 1930; the Japanese occupied Port Arthur from 1905 to 1945.
British rule in Weihaiwei
The War Office were responsible for the territory as it was envisaged that it would become a naval base similar to British Hong Kong. As such, the first Commissioners of Weihaiwei were appointed from the British Army and based themselves in Liu-kung Island. At the beginning of the lease, the territory was administered by a Senior Naval Officer of the Royal Navy, Sir Edward Hobart Seymour. However a survey led by the Royal Engineers deemed that Weihaiwei was unsuitable for a major naval base or trading port. In 1899, administration was transferred to a military and civil commissioner, firstly Arthur Dorward (1899–1901), then John Dodson Daintree (1901–1902), appointed by the War Office in London. The territorial garrison consisted of 200 British troops and a specially constituted Weihaiwei Regiment, officially the 1st Chinese Regiment, with British officers. In 1901, it was decided that this base should not be fortified and administration was transferred from the War Office to the Colonial Office which allowed for civilians to be appointed as the Commissioner.
In 1909, the then Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Frederick Lugard, proposed that Britain return Weihaiwei to Chinese rule in return for perpetual rule of the New Territories of Hong Kong which had also been leased in 1898. This proposal was never adopted.
Weihaiwei was not developed in the way that Hong Kong and other British colonies in the region were. This was because Shantung Province, of which Weihaiwei was part, was inside Germany's (and after World War I, Japan's) sphere of influence. It was normal practice for British colonies to be administered under the provisions of the British Settlements Act 1887. However, Weihaiwei was actually administered under the Foreign Jurisdiction Act 1890 which was the law which granted extraterritorial powers over British subjects in China and other countries in which Britain had extraterritorial rights. The reason for this was that as a leased territory, subject to rendition at any time, it was not considered appropriate to treat Weihaiwei as if it was a full colony.