The Austro-Hungarian Conssession in Tianjin/China (1901-1917)

As a scientific reflection of today`s "globalisation", current Global History Studies deal with the worldwide influence of former Empire Nations such as Great Britain or France. This is where the present publication from a viewpoint of Global Architectural History comes in, as in the classical studies about the Habsburg era the global impact of the late Austro-Hungarian monarchy has so far been largely ignored. A veritable blind spot here is the participation in the "International Settlement" of Tientsin (today Tianjin/China), where Austria-Hungary planned its own trading settlement ("concession") from 1900 among a total of nine nations, before the First World War brought this episode to an abrupt end. When China entered the war in 1917 and declared war to Germany and Austria, their concessions were handed over immediately, while the others lasted until the Second World War. The present book pursues the approach of tracing the historical motivation, emergence and shaping of the Austro-Hungarian concession with original primary sources, and combining these findings with contemporary relevant questions about the afterlife of the concession until today: Following this agenda, the main part of the publication, written by architectural historian and heritage expert Michael Falser, deals with the spatial conception and urban-architectural realisation of the Austro- Hungarian Concession in Tientsin (1901-1917). With more than 200 historical maps, sketches, plans and photographs, it brings to light previously unknown material from the Austrian State Archives and the Austrian National Library, before examining the strategies of today`s Tianjin city government to market the architectural relics of the former imperialist era as both Chinese and international cultural heritage and even to `rebuild` the former city quarters in the historical style. In addition, a separate introduction (by historian and sinologist Georg Lehner) sheds light on the historical process of rapprochement between Austria (-Hungary) and the so-called Middle Kingdom over the 19th century. An extensive appendix provides further valuable image sources and references to literature, including a photo album from 1911 that was unknown until today with a total of 115 revealing black-and-white photographs of the Austro-Hungarian concession.