Italian concession of Tientsin

The Italian concession of Tientsin (Chinese: 天津意租界; pinyin: Tiānjīn Yì Zūjiè) was a small territory (concession) in Tianjin, China, officially controlled by the Kingdom of Italy between 1901 and 1947.

On 7 September 1901, Italy was granted a concession of 46 hectares in Tientsin from the Chinese government. On 7 June 1902, the Italians took control of the concession, which was to be administered by an Italian consul.

After World War I Italy desired to add the former Austro-Hungarian concession which was adjacent to the Italian concession, and would have doubled its size. However, in 1917 China terminated the leases of Germany and Austria-Hungary's concessions. The districts were converted into "Special Areas" under Chinese control, with a separate administration from the rest of Tientsin.

Italy requested the Austrian concession after World War I: it was obtained only in June 1928 and soon returned to Chinese authorities, when the Second Special Area (the former Austrian concession) was in danger of war and occupation during the Chinese Civil War.

The Italian concession became the headquarters of the Italian Legione Redenta that had fought in 1919 Allied intervention against Soviet troops in Siberia and Manchuria. In 1935, the Italian concession had a population of about 6,261, including 110 Italian civilians and about 536 foreigners.

The Italian Royal Navy stationed some vessels at Tientsin, such as the river gunboats Carlotto and Caboto.

During the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, the Beijing Legation Quarter became the center of an international incident during the Siege of the International Legations by the Boxers for several months. 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 . In addition, Italy obtained the concession in Tientsin, southeast of Beijing.

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