看英國駐重慶使領(lǐng)館變遷1891年英國正式在重慶建立總領(lǐng)事館，距今有123年

□ 文/四川外國語大學(xué)國際關(guān)系學(xué)院課題組

看英國駐重慶使領(lǐng)館變遷
1891年英國正式在重慶建立總領(lǐng)事館，距今有123年

□ 文/四川外國語大學(xué)國際關(guān)系學(xué)院課題組

首位開辟川江航道的英國人-立德樂（Archibald John Little）

在歷史上，重慶是英國在中國西部地區(qū)最早設(shè)立使領(lǐng)館的城市，各個時期的使領(lǐng)館也都在中英雙邊關(guān)系中扮演著重要的角色。研究這一課題即是以英國駐渝使領(lǐng)館的變遷為主線，通過對中國近代以來中英關(guān)系的階段式考察，闡明英國駐渝使領(lǐng)館在促進中英關(guān)系、尤其是英國與重慶地方關(guān)系發(fā)展進程中的地位和作用。

19世紀(jì)晚期，國勢日衰的英國為了應(yīng)對后起資本主義國家的強勁挑戰(zhàn)，鞏固其在中國的優(yōu)勢地位，對華政策調(diào)整為以保持中華帝國的完整為前提，重點發(fā)展和鞏固長江流域的勢力范圍。英國選擇西南內(nèi)陸城市重慶作為設(shè)領(lǐng)地點，是商業(yè)貿(mào)易、交通運輸、宗教滲透等多重因素作用的結(jié)果。為促成重慶開埠，英國頻頻派員實地考察川江航線和四川市場，借助“立德樂事件”最終迫使中國開埠重慶。1891年4月1日，英國在重慶正式建立總領(lǐng)事館，并任命祿福禮為首任總領(lǐng)事，因此成為最早在渝設(shè)立領(lǐng)事館的國家。英國駐重慶總領(lǐng)事館設(shè)立之后，隨即在政治、經(jīng)濟、社會、文化諸方面開展了多種形式的活動，對重慶乃至西南地區(qū)的對外開放和近代化進程產(chǎn)生了巨大的影響。

1938年遷至重慶領(lǐng)事巷15號的英國大使館

1943年1月11日，中英在重慶簽訂《中英新約》

二戰(zhàn)時期，隨著國際形勢的發(fā)展，中英關(guān)系和英國駐渝使領(lǐng)館也經(jīng)歷了較大變化。太平洋戰(zhàn)爭爆發(fā)前，由于英國在中國有著巨額的投資，且面臨歐洲日益動蕩的局勢，因而總體上對日本采取了較為妥協(xié)的政策。1941年12月太平洋戰(zhàn)爭爆發(fā)后，英國對華政策出現(xiàn)重要轉(zhuǎn)變，開始與中國成為反法西斯統(tǒng)一戰(zhàn)線的盟友，這使得兩國在政治、經(jīng)濟和軍事等領(lǐng)域有了全面合作的可能性，但雙方在九龍租借地、西藏問題上仍存在諸多爭議。而伴隨著抗戰(zhàn)時期中英關(guān)系的起伏，作為兩國關(guān)系見證的使領(lǐng)館也發(fā)生了變化。1937年11月，國民政府作出西遷重慶的決議，隨即英國駐華大使館人員離開南京轉(zhuǎn)赴武漢，最終又遷往重慶。雖然在1938-1943年日軍對重慶進行大轟炸過程中，英國駐重慶使領(lǐng)館損失慘重，并經(jīng)歷搬遷，但時任英國駐華大使卡爾爵士、以及后來繼任的薛穆爵士都堅持駐渝辦公，與國民政府高層聯(lián)系緊密，為維系戰(zhàn)時中英關(guān)系作出了貢獻。

新中國成立后，因受外部環(huán)境的影響，特別是朝鮮戰(zhàn)爭爆發(fā)后，英國陸續(xù)撤出其在華外交人員，關(guān)停多處在華使領(lǐng)館，重慶與英國的官方聯(lián)系逐步中斷。但是，中英兩國仍通過多種渠道進行聯(lián)系，在此期間還建立了代辦級外交關(guān)系，為重慶與英國關(guān)系發(fā)展提供了可能。尤其是“文革”期間，“中英友好協(xié)會”創(chuàng)始人完成了首次中國之旅，增進了雙方的民間交往。1972年中英通過談判正式建立外交關(guān)系，為重慶與英國關(guān)系的發(fā)展提供了政治保障。此后雙方務(wù)實合作不斷加強，70年代末雙邊貿(mào)易額即實現(xiàn)翻番。而在中國開展友好城市建設(shè)過程中，1993年，英國萊斯特市還與重慶市結(jié)為友好城市，表明重慶與英國的聯(lián)系日益密切。

2000年3月1日，英國在重慶設(shè)立新的總領(lǐng)事館。此舉既源自于英國與重慶交往的悠久歷史，又是英國新的對華政策的需要，同時也反映了中國中央政府致力于西部大開發(fā)，以及重慶直轄后大力推動“引進來”與“走出去”的戰(zhàn)略設(shè)計。自設(shè)館以來，英國駐重慶總領(lǐng)館先后在五位總領(lǐng)事的帶領(lǐng)下，為促進英國與重慶之間的政府間交往、企業(yè)間合作、民眾間交流發(fā)揮了重要作用，其貿(mào)易投資處、文化教育處和簽證處為便利雙方經(jīng)貿(mào)、科教、文化合作做出了突出貢獻。這一方面是由于英領(lǐng)館需要重慶為更多的英國企業(yè)開放市場，而重慶亦需要通過英領(lǐng)館尋求更多的資金與技術(shù)并培養(yǎng)更多的高級人才，雙方存在著合作共贏的可能。

總之，自19世紀(jì)晚期以來，英國駐渝使領(lǐng)館在中英關(guān)系的發(fā)展過程中扮演了重要角色，尤其是在促進英國與中國西南地區(qū)各省市的經(jīng)貿(mào)往來與人文交流方面起到了重要作用。通過以上對于英國駐渝使領(lǐng)館變遷歷史的研究，必將有助于英國與重慶的友好合作關(guān)系，促進未來中英關(guān)系的順利發(fā)展。

A Study of the Changes of British Consulate and Embassy in Chongqing Abstract

英國首任駐重慶總領(lǐng)事艾琳女士接受媒體采訪

In history, Chongqing was the first city in the west of China where the British Consulate and Embassy was established and has always been playing an important role in Sino-UK bilateral relations in different periods. Taking the changes of British Consulate and Embassy in Chongqing as the main clue and by a staged survey of Sino-UK relation since Modern China, this project is to elaborate on the position and role the British Consulate and Embassy in Chongqing has been and played in promoting the Sino-UK bilateral relations, particularly in the relations between UK and Chongqing .

In the late of 19th century, the declining Kingdom of UK, to make a reaction against the overwhelming challenges from the uprising capitalistic cou nt r ies for consolidati ng its advantageous position in China, adjusted its foreign policies towards China mainly for development and consolidation of the sphere of influence among the Yangtze River basin on the premises of maintaining the integrity of the Chinese Nation. Contributing to its multiple factors including commercial trade, transportation and religious penetration, Chongqing, an inland city in the Northwest of China, was chosen to be the site for establishing the British Consulate. In order to facilitate Chongqing to open as a commercial port, the British government carried out filed investigation of the upper reaches of Yangtze River connecting Yibin and Yichang and the Sichuan market many times and Chinese government was finally been forced to open Chongqing as a commercial port by the aid of event of Archibald John Little. In April 1, 1891, the British Consulate-General was officially established in Chongqing and Harry English Fulford was appointed as the f rst Consul-General, thus UK became the f rst country setting up a Consulate in Chongqing. Since its establishment, the British Consulate-General in Chongqing has successively been very active in various fields of politics, economy, society and culture, which exerted a great influence on the opening-up and modernization of Chongqing and even the southwest of China.

During the WWII, with development of international situation, the Sino-UK relations and British Consulate and Embassy in Chongqing also underwent great changes. Before the break-out of the Pacific War, British government took a comparatively compromising policy towards Japan due to its huge investment in China and the increasingly instability in Europe. However, the British government greatly changed its foreign policies towards China after the break-out of the Pacific War in December of 1941. It became an ally of China in the united front against Fascist, which brought possibility to the comprehensive cooperation of the twocountries in f elds like politics, military and economy. In spite of that, disputes still existed on the Kowloon leased territory and the Tibetan Issue between the two sides. With the ups and downs of the Sino-UK relations in the period of anti-war, British Consulates and Embassy in China representing the relations of the two governments were also through changes accordingly. In November, 1937, the national government moved its capital from Nanjing to Chongqing and all the staff of British Embassies in China transferred from Nanjing through Wuhan and f nally to Chongqing. Even if British Consulate and Embassy in Chongqing suffered great losses and underwent relocations in the period of air bombardment (1938-1943)from Japan, Sir Archibald Clark Kerr, then British Ambassador to China, and his successor Sir Horace James Seymour always insisted to work in Chongqing. They closely contacted with the senior officials of the Kuomintang, contributing a lot to maintaining the Sino-UK relations during the war.

After the establishment of the new China, inf uenced by the international environment, particularly the break-out of the Korean War, the British government withdrew its diplomatic personnel and closed several British Consulates and Embassies in China. Then the official links between Chongqing and the UK was suspended gradually. But the two countries still maintained contacts through various channels and a diplomatic relationship of chargé d'affaires level was established between them, thus providing for the development of Sino-UK relations possibilities. During the period of Cultural Revolution, the first visit to China of the founder of Association for Sino-UK Friendship enhanced non-governmental exchanges of two sides. In 1972, the diplomatic ties of the two sides was officially established by negotiation. It politically guaranteed the development between Chongqing and UK. Since then the pragmatic cooperation has been increasingly improved and the bilateral trade volume has been doubled by the end of 1970s. While in the course of construction of China’s sister cities, Chongqing and Leicester have become sister cities, which suggests the contacts between Chongqing and UK are more closely.

In March 1, 2000, the new British Consulate-General in Chongqing was established. The establishment was based not only on the long history of relationship between Chongqing and UK, but on the needs of new foreign policies towards China. It also indicated China’s commitment to the development of Western China and its strategic design of “bringing-in” and“going-out” after Chongqing became the municipality directly under the central government. Since its establishment, under the leadership of the successive 5 Consuls-General, British Consulate-General in Chongqing has played an important role in promoting inter-governmental contacts, inter-enterprise cooperation and non-governmental contacts. The Trade and Investment Section, the Cultural and Educational Section and the Visa Section have also made great contributions to the convenience of bilateral cooperation on economy and trade, science, education and culture. The obtaining of these great achievements is because British Consulate-General in Chongqing needs it to open its markets for more British enterprises while Chongqing needs to seek for more capital and technologies through British Consulate-General in Chongqing and to train more talents. As such, there exists the possibilities of creating a win-win situation between two sides.

All in all, ever since the late of the 19th century, British Consulate and Embassy in Chongqing has played a vital role in the development of Sino-UK relations, especially in promoting the economic and trade contact and cultural and educational exchanges between UK and provinces and municipalities of Southwestern China. From the research on historic changes of British Consulate and Embassy in Chongqing, the friendly cooperation between UK and Chongqing will certainly be strengthened and the development of future Sino-UK relations will either be promoted.

現(xiàn)位于解放碑大都會的英國總領(lǐng)事館