Introduction: Treaty Ports in Modern China: Law, land and power

A generic account of the growth and history of a Chinese port city opened to foreign trade and residence is presented to highlight some of the essential factors that need to be understood if the significance of the treaty port phenomenon for the understanding of modern Chinese history is to be grasped. A narrative presentation of the rise and fall of a fictional ‘representative’ example demonstrates how contingency over time shaped the way treaty ports developed, and explores the multiple local, national and international factors involved in these processes. This provides a context for a survey of the existing literatures on treaty ports, and an outline of the contribution of this volume to those debates, and the new agenda it sets.