Italian concession of Tianjin

The Italian concession of Tianjin (Chinese: 天津意租界; pinyin: Tiānjīn Yì Zūjiè, Italian: Concessione italiana di Tientsin) was a small territory (concession) in central Tianjin (formerly romanized as Tientsin), China, controlled by the Kingdom of Italy between 1901 and 1943, officially ceded to China in 1947.

The Italian Regia Marina ("Royal Navy") stationed vessels at Tientsin such as the river gunboats Ermanno Carlotto and Sebastiano Caboto.

After the siege had been broken by the Eight-Nation Alliance (that included Italy) at the end of the Battle of Peking, the foreign powers obtained the right to station troops to protect their legations under the terms of the Boxer Protocol.

In 1925, Benito Mussolini created the Battaglione italiano in Cina and quartered it with soldiers of the San Marco Regiment in the new Caserma Ermanno Carlotto.

[8] In July 1944, the Italian Social Republic formally relinquished the concession to Wang Jingwei's Japanese-sponsored Reorganized National Government of China which, like the RSI in Axis-held northern Italy, was not recognized by the Kingdom of Italy, the Republic of China, or most other nations.

At the same time, the Italian commercial concessions in the Shanghai International Settlement, Hankou, and Beijing were ceded to the Republic of China.

The Italian World War I monument and the Piazza Regina Elena in the Italian Concession of Tientsin (ca. 1935)
Italian postage stamp for Tientsin
A map of the foreign concessions in Tientsin in 1912 showing the Italian concession . The adjacent Austro-Hungarian concession of Tianjin was added to the Italian concession after World War I.
Map showing the Italian concessions & forts in China. Additionally, there were, together with other colonial powers: Taku (fort with Great Britain) and Beihai (only port commerce rights). However, the one with full and sole colonial control by Italy was Tientsin)
Map of the Italian concession
The Italian empire before WWII is shown in red. Pink areas were annexed/occupied for various periods between 1940 and 1943. Italian concessions and forts in China are not shown.