Germany's concession in Qingdao
China has repeatedly fought against foreign aggression wars in modern times, but most of them ended with China's cede land and compensation. And fights gives China a huge opportunity. Although China participated in the war, at the subsequent Paris Peace Conference, China was still the target of slaughtering by the great powers, even though it was as good as losing. But as a country declaring war on Germany, China still achieved partial success in diplomacy with Germany. In 1924, Gu Weijun and Germany negotiated a compensation agreement. As a traditional power, Germany bowed to China for the first time, and China's diplomacy achieved the greatest victory in the 1920s.
1. Chinese workers participated in the war
1. World War I broke out in July 1914. On August 14, 1917, China officially declared war on Germany. After that, China sent more than 100,000 Chinese workers to Europe, and the specific figures were unknown. The British "World War I Dictionary" said 320,000; the United States said at the Paris Peace Conference that China sent 200,000; Gu Xingqing, who was sent to Europe as a translator of Chinese workers, said it was 175,000. Today, the commonly said that Chinese workers are around 140,000-150,000, and they are called the "Chinese Workers' Legion".
World War Chinese workers
Don’t think that these Chinese workers are simply doing logistics work in the safe rear. After they arrived in Europe, they have undergone brief military training. Europeans think that they have met the conditions to engage in battlefield operations. As a result, these Chinese workers began to appear frequently on the battlefield, repairing trenches, transporting ammunition, and bravely bombing to repair bridges and roads, and even directly join the war. But they are Easterners and are inferior people in the eyes of white people, so they do not enjoy basic rights.
Chinese workers in the First World War
At that time, The Beiyang government translated Chinese workers sent to Europe, Zhang Bangyong recalled: "We digging trenches is completely within the range of the enemy's shooting. We stood in front of the enemy's trenches, and the British army came in after the trenches were dug, so we were actually on the front line."
Chinese workers who participated in the First World War trenches. Yan Zhensheng recalled: "When the war was tight, the British hoarded supplies and did not give us food. Once, they did not give us supplies for seven consecutive days, so we could only dig wild vegetables to live." In the French Picard battlefield in 1917, the British army even forced Chinese workers who built trenches to attack the German battlefield with a shovel. As a result, most of the Chinese workers were killed and the battle was extremely tragic, so that during World War I, the commander of the French army, Foch , said embarrassedly, "Chinese workers are very good workers."
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In 2004, France released a documentary "For the Chinese in the War", which revealed that Chinese workers in the rear factories do not enjoy basic rights or even basic human rights: Chinese workers work 10 hours a day; at that time, the plane had just appeared in the battle, and Chinese workers did not know the horror of plane bombing. No one told them how to avoid bombing, and how to protect themselves under bombing; when hunger, cold, and disease attacked, no one would take care of Chinese workers; an old French lady in the war recalled the abuse of white foreman on Chinese workers, saying, "25 years later, Gestapo has no innovation compared to these British people."
From the end of the First World War in November 1918, 9,900 Chinese workers died in the war, and 20,000 of them were missing.
Huagong
2. Even if you win, it’s like losing?
It is true that the head-on decisiveness on the battlefield is the key to the victory or defeat of the war, but logistics resource support is also the key point that determines the victory or defeat of the war. Most of the Chinese workers who go to Europe and Europe are between 20 and 40 years old. They work 10 hours a day and do not rest for a week. It is because of their abundant human resources that Allied countries, , is free from worries. 150,000 Chinese workers are equivalent to 150,000 troops. In 1918, the British Far East Review said: "Chinese workers' war to Europe will have a far-reaching impact on world history and may become the most important aspect of the history of this European war." The American "Chinese Student Monthly" commented in the same year: "140,000 Chinese workers are soldiers." French Socialist Party Marriot said: "The aid provided by China is precious. Thousands of Chinese workers allow us to free up the same number or even more French workers to serve in the front line of the war."When Germany reflected on the reasons for the defeat, it also admitted: "There are only one Chinese worker, which means one new recruit. "
In the First World War, China paid a huge price and can proudly tell the world that China is a warring country and has a huge positive effect on the end of World War I. China should have a seat in the German peace talks. However, the white world colluded with Japan and slaughtered China at the Paris Peace Conference. China did not obtain the qualification to obtain German compensation at the Paris Peace Conference. Therefore, in order to resolve the Sino-German issue, China and Germany conducted direct negotiations.
Paris Peace Conference site
3. China-German negotiations
In August 1920, China and Germany began direct negotiations, which lasted for 8 months. By May 1921, the two sides signed the China-German Agreement. The contents are roughly: both sides engage in equal trade; cancel the German consular judgment in China; Germany is willing to "compensate China for war losses"; China needs to return German enterprises confiscated in the war. The China-German Agreement is just an outline, and the two sides also agreed to "debate the details in the future", which opened the first scene of the great powers' compensation for China.
But in actual operations, the Germans still dragged on the compensations again and again, After May 1921, Germany delayed the fulfillment of China's demand for compensation under the pretext of economic difficulties. At that time, China's life was not easy, domestic warlords fought endlessly, and the country had no unified regime, so it was said that they had the will to claim compensation but were not strong enough. It was not until 1924 that the environment of China and Germany changed, and Germany was forced to face up to the problem of compensation.
China, in 1924, China entered the most difficult period of economy after World War I and was very short of money. In " Xinchou Treaty ", the eight countries in China asked for compensation for China, which was not paid in one lump sum, and they had to pay it back every year. China joined the war in the first battle, and the great powers allowed China to stop payments between 1918 and 1924, but after it expired in 1924, China still had to continue to pay the great powers Boxer Indemnity . Where did the money come from? At that time, the Zhili government Cao Kun still needed to deal with the huge war expenses of the Zhili war . Where did this money come from? At that time, the Zhili warlords dominated the country and could represent China. In order to solve the financial problems, the Finance Minister of the Zhili government Wang Kemin proposed to use German compensation to supplement the finance. In this way, the financial embarrassment promoted China. Make every effort to claim compensation from Germany. Looking at Germany again, the German economy also recovered in 1924 and had the spare time to return to Asia. In order to compete for the Chinese market, it is necessary to leave a good impression on the Chinese people, so Germany also began to face up to the compensation issue.
German capital
1 June 6, 1924, after bargaining, Chinese Foreign Minister Gu Weijun and German Minister to China Bo Ye finally signed the "Solve Dehua Bank Affairs Exchange" and signed the "Solve Dehua Bank Affairs Exchange" on the 7th: China Returns Repay Germany's assets in China; Germany returns the bonds of Jinpu Railway and Huguang Railway as part of the compensation to China, and at the same time returns the coupons worth 9.16 million yuan held by Germany in the aftermath loan of in . The first compensation for the modern powers to China was considered to be considered as the first time.
4. How much compensation is?
Regarding the value of this German compensation for China? Tang Qihua in the "Beiyang Revision, which was obscured by the "Abolition of Inequality Treaty" According to various first-hand assets, statistics were made. According to the principles of the Sino-German Treaty, Germany compensated China for losses in the war. This kind of compensation was divided into two types: one was cash payment, and the other was railways and bonds.
According to the "Solve the Compensation and Debt Issues in Solving Sino-German War Compensation and Debt Issues", China returned Germany's property worth RMB 69-70 million in China, and Germany's compensation to China was as follows:
(1) 4 million in cash, which was paid in 1922.
(2) In 1908, the Tianjin-Pu Railway loan bond was 8016,792 yuan, the Tianjin-Pu Railway loan bond was 5279,967 yuan, and in 1911, the Huguang Railway loan bond was 1703,308.9 yuan. The total value of the above three types of railway bonds and interest was 348,39,977.35 yuan as of June 15, 1924, and returned to China.
(3) Germany returned the coupons for China's aftermath loan, about 9160,094.3 yuan.
Total, China obtained compensation worth about 44,000,071.65 yuan.If China should compensate German and overseas Chinese for property losses (repayment by the German government) 40 million, the total compensation obtained by China will reach 84 million yuan.
In addition, during the declaration of war, the German ships captured by China were not returned or compensated as spoils; China also took back Germany's concessions in Tianjin and Hankou , and the official German property in the concessions was taken to China; China stopped part of the compensation that Germany had occupied in the Boxer Indemnity; China obtained prisoners of war management fees. These total value is about 250 million yuan.
Dehua Bank located in Shanghai
Wenshijun said
China took the initiative in the issue of Germany's compensation for China because China occupied a large number of German assets in China at that time. The reason why Germany took the initiative to put down its stance and was willing to treat China with an equal attitude is, on the one hand, because Germany has demand for China. After World War I, Germany entered a post-war economic recovery period and needed the Chinese market. On the other hand, it also wanted to redeem German industries in China. The efforts of diplomats such as Gu Weijun, who have modern diplomatic vision, cannot be ignored. They are good at seizing opportunities and making negotiations develop in a favorable direction to China. This compensation, Germany returned the debts owed by China, which was conducive to the consolidation of China's foreign debts and obtained part of the cash, alleviating the financial crisis of the direct government. Germany's indemnity against China is the first and only war compensation obtained by modern China.
References
China's Second Historical Archives: "Historical Materials of Foreign Debt Archives of the Republic of China", Beijing Archives Publishing House, 1990.
Cai Xia: "Chinese workers who served military labour in France during World War I", "History Teaching" No. 08, 1963.
Xu Guoqi: "Research on China's "use of labor instead of soldiers" in the war during World War I", Chinese University of Hong Kong "Twenty-first Century" December 2000.
Chen Jianmin: "Liang Shiyi's planning for China to participate in the First World War", "Hebei Journal" No. 11, 2002.
(Author: Haoran Literature and History·Ziju)
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