Kiukiang Land Regulations, 1902

Kiukiang (Jiujiang) was once a small and rather remote treaty port overseen by the British. The port of Kiukiang was one treaty port that, in retrospect, the British rather wished they’d never gained control of. It was never to enjoy the high level of prosperity that Amoy (Xiamen) or Foochow (Fuzhou) did nor was it to rise as a great metropolis the way that Tientsin (Tianjin), and to a far greater extent, Shanghai did. It was inevitably a back water, a somewhat forgotten treaty port even among those foreigners resident in China. The port barely warranted a mention back home in England and most people there would have been fairly hard pressed to tell you anything about or point to it on a map.

Still His Majesty’s Minister to China did introduce Land Regulations in 1902 for the municipal government of the British Concession at Kiukiang and approved by, no less, His Majesty the King.

By the way, as you can see I picked this up for four quid at a second hand book shop in Hay-on-Wye while there for the literary festival earlier this year – bargain!!