Kiaochow

   Kiaochow includes the bay and the port of Tsingtao, present-day Qindao, in northeastern China. The port was seized by the German navy, ostensibly in response to attacks on missionaries and then to claim mining and railway rights in the adjoining territory, and was subsequently leased for 99 years by Germany in 1897–1888. It then became the core of Germany’s sphere of influence in Shandong. The occupation set off the “scramble” for other territorial, mining, and railway concessions and contributed to public outrage culminating in the Boxer Insurrection. Kiaochow never became the important naval base and “model colony” surrounded by profitable railway and mining ventures it had been planned to be. Seized by Japanese troops in 1914, Kiaochow was returned to China in 1922.

   See also <>; <>.

   FURTHER READING:

    Schrecker, John. Imperialism and Chinese Nationalism: Germany in Shantung. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971.

   NIELS P. PETERSSON