Foreign concessions and Western impact in the late Qing period: historiographical approaches and political interpretations

During the last few decades, the historians of the PRC have adopted different interpretative frameworks in analyzing the Chinese encounter/clash with the West: from the revolutionary paradigm to the modernization theory, from the “impact-response” model to the “China-centered approach”. This essay discusses how Chinese scholars have applied such frameworks in assessing the role of foreign concessions established in the treaty ports during the late Qing period: considered as a sign of the imperialist presence by the early generation of Marxist historians, international settlements have been later re-evaluated in a more positive light, in the context of a lively historiographical debate regarding their unique role in the modernization of the country. However, the liveliness of the Chinese academic discussion has recently been suppressed due to the campaign against “historical nihilism” launched by President Xi Jinping, which silenced any representation of modern Chinese history that does not adhere to the Party line.