Kwang-Chou-Wan
|
|
Kwang-Chou-Wan was a small enclave of France on the south coast of China. Situated in Guangdong Province in a bay on the east side of the Leizhou Peninsula, north of Hainan, Kwang-Chou-Wan was annexed by the French on 27 May 1898 to counter the growing power of Hong Kong and Macau.
Kwang-Chou-Wan consisted of a 300 square mile (780 km²) area surrounding the estuary of the Ma-Tse River, including the town of Lei Chow, which acted as the territory's capital, as well as a number of offshore islands.
Following the annexation, a 99 year lease agreed to by France and China and in January 1900 Kwang-Chou-Wan was placed under the authority of the governor general of French Indochina. Industries included shipping and coal mining.
After the fall of Paris in 1940, the Republic of China recognised the London exiled Free France as Kwang-Chou-Wan's sovereign rulers and established diplomatic relations with them. The Imperial Japanese Army, in collaboration with Vichy France, occupied the area in 1943 until their surrender on August, 1945, when de Gaulle's France returned the bay to the Republic of China. Zhanjiang City Government was established in 1946.