4k Walking in Guangzhou’s former “concession”行走在廣州曾经的“租界”

沙麵島舊稱拾翠洲、中流沙，是中國廣東省廣州市荔灣區內的一座島嶼，位於西關六二三路的對岸，白鵝潭北部，是珠江上的一個人工小島，與廣州珠江北岸隔沙基湧相望，面積約0.3平方公里
1860年第二次鴉片戰爭前後，英法兩國在廣州河南首次選點建立租界。 1843年在廣州，英國原預想租用十三行對岸河南的數十畝田地，時清廷並無異議，而地方鄉紳「會齊四十八鄉，集約二千餘人」大肆反對徵地，英方同意放棄選擇。直到1859年7月，正式與法國共同由清廷政府處租獲沙面。
其改選這塊珠江中的小沙洲（距離清朝閉關鎖國時期中國唯一的外貿區「廣東十三行」相當近）作為租界地址後，填築成島，並於1861年簽訂租約。島上西部4/5劃為廣州英租界，約44英畝（264英畝），東部1/5劃為廣州法租界，約11英畝（66公畝）。每畝年繳地租1500制錢，中國政府放棄對沙面的一切權利。英法租界各有一橋與廣州河北（華界）相通。
在之後的大半個世紀裡，英法兩國取得了在沙麵島上的許多特權，政府相關機構與企業大量移入，主要的領事館和政治、金融組織都建立在此，並在相當長的時間內給予附近的中國人不公平的待遇，沙面島因此成為後來中國乃至附近國家民族解放運動人士抗議與攻擊的目標。如發生在1920年代的廣州市民多次反殖民遊行，以及越南革命者範鴻泰在沙面行刺法屬印度支那總督馬蘭等等。
1942年，大日本帝國將對英國宣戰後佔領的沙面英租界交給汪精衛政權。 1943年，法國維希政權退出法租界，交給汪精衛政權。同年，重慶國民政府另行與英國訂約收回英租界。二戰結束後，新成立的法國臨時政府正式宣布將沙面法租界交還中華民國政府。
1948年1月5日，港英政府強拆九龍城民宿。事件觸發了中英雙方圍繞九龍城主權問題的交涉，並引發中國內地民眾抗議港英政府的浪潮。廣州成立了“粵穗各界對九龍事件外交後援會”，舉行大規模的示威遊行。遊行最終失控，釀成了火燒英國領事館的「沙面事件」。
1996年，沙面的建築群被定為全國重點文物保護單位。 1997年，國務院將沙面列為國家級文物保護區。
Shamian Island, formerly known as Shicuizhou and Zhongliusha, is an island in Liwan District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China. It is located on the opposite bank of Xiguan 623 Road and the north of Baietan. It is an artificial island on the Pearl River, facing the northern bank of the Pearl River in Guangzhou across the Shaji River. The area is about 0.3 square kilometers.
Around the Second Opium War in 1860, Britain and France first selected a site in Henan, Guangzhou to establish a concession. In 1843 in Guangzhou, Britain originally intended to lease dozens of acres of land in Henan across from the Thirteen Factories. At that time, the Qing court had no objection, but the local gentry "gathered 48 villages and gathered more than 2,000 people" to strongly oppose the land acquisition, and the British side agreed to give up the choice. It was not until July 1859 that Shamian was officially leased by the Qing government together with France.
After choosing this small sandbar in the Pearl River (quite close to the "Guangdong Thirteen Factories", China's only foreign trade zone during the Qing Dynasty's closed-door policy) as the concession address, it was filled into an island and a lease was signed in 1861. The western 4/5 of the island was designated as the Guangzhou British Concession, about 44 acres (264 mu), and the eastern 1/5 was designated as the Guangzhou French Concession, about 11 acres (66 mu). The annual rent of 1,500 coins per mu was paid, and the Chinese government gave up all rights to Shamian. The British and French Concessions each had a bridge connecting to Hebei (Chinese area) in Guangzhou.
In the following half century, Britain and France obtained many privileges on Shamian Island, and a large number of government-related agencies and enterprises moved in. Major consulates and political and financial organizations were established here. For a long time, they gave unfair treatment to nearby Chinese. Shamian Island became the target of protests and attacks by national liberation movement activists in China and even nearby countries. For example, Guangzhou citizens held many anti-colonial demonstrations in the 1920s, and Vietnamese revolutionary Pham Hong Thai assassinated Malan, the governor-general of French Indochina, in Shamian.
In 1942, the Japanese Empire handed over the British Concession in Shamian, which it occupied after declaring war on Britain, to the Wang Jingwei regime. In 1943, the French Vichy regime withdrew from the French Concession and handed it over to the Wang Jingwei regime. In the same year, the Chongqing National Government signed a separate agreement with Britain to recover the British Concession. After the end of World War II, the newly established French Provisional Government officially announced that the Shamian French Concession would be returned to the Republic of China government.
On January 5, 1948, the Hong Kong British government forcibly demolished houses in Kowloon City. The incident triggered negotiations between China and Britain on the sovereignty of Kowloon City and triggered a wave of protests against the Hong Kong British government by the Chinese mainland people. Guangzhou established the "Guangdong-Guangzhou Diplomatic Support Association for the Kowloon Incident" and held a large-scale demonstration. The march eventually got out of control and led to the "Shamian Incident" in which the British Consulate was burned.
In 1996, the building complex on Shamian was designated as a national key cultural relic protection unit. In 1997, the State Council listed Shamian as a national cultural relic protection area.