British Vice-Consulate in Fuzhou

British Vice-Consulate in Fuzhou

The British Vice-Consulate in Fuzhou is a cultural relic protection unit of Fuzhou City.

The British Vice-Consulate in Fuzhou is situated on the summit of Maling Mountain in Mawei District. Constructed in the ninth year of the Tongzhi era (1870) and completed in the eleventh year (1872), it consists of a vice-consulate and a prison, both designed by architect Boyce from the Shanghai office of the British Works Department. While nominally a vice-consulate, it actually served as an entertainment facility. The building is a single-story brick-and-wood structure with colonial-style architecture. It is now a protected cultural heritage site of Fuzhou City.

In addition to its consulate, Britain also established a "vice-consulate" in Fuzhou, creating the unusual situation of two consular buildings in one location. The establishment of this vice-consulate was related to the founding of the Fujian Shipyard.

During the Tongzhi period, the Qing court deliberated on establishing a shipyard and selected Mawei as the site. Shortly after the decision was initially made, the British preemptively purchased the land atop Maling Mountain. When the shipyard authorities later sought to acquire the land, the contract had already been signed. Despite repeated protests by Shen Baozhen, the British refused to relinquish it. By the ninth year of the Tongzhi era (1870), a vice-consulate and a prison had been built there, enclosed by walls and situated in isolation on the barren mountain, cut off from the local populace.

The prison was established because local Fujian officials sympathized with public resistance, which angered the British. Unsatisfied, they set up their own makeshift court and abducted citizens. Initially located within the consulate in Cangshan, the facility was moved to the riverside in Mawei due to concerns that transporting hostages through Chinese-populated areas would attract unwanted public attention and damage their reputation. Once the vice-consulate was established here, the prison was merged into this complex.

In the ninth year of the Tongzhi era (1870), the British Works Department’s Shanghai Office (H.B.M. Office of Works, Shanghai Office), designed and constructed the British Vice-Consulate in Fuzhou, with the chief architect being Robert Henry Boyce. This office was responsible for designing and building 35 British consulates across China. The project was completed in the eleventh year of the Tongzhi era (1872).

In the twenty-seventh year of the Guangxu era (1901), British Acting Consul Dr. May founded St. Luke’s Hospital, located outside the vice-consulate. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the use of the prison gradually diminished and was eventually discontinued, and the buildings were repurposed for hospital use.

The prison was a single-story structure with a basement. The basement was made of stone, built into the hillside on two sides, with no windows on the two exposed facades—only a few small ventilation holes. The space inside was oppressive, the air foul and suffocating, resulting in a high mortality rate among prisoners. The ground floor was built of brick, using a mix of blue and red bricks, with a relatively refined façade in the Victorian style. The layout of the building had many irregularities, and the original layout of the individual cells had been altered. The prison also had its own surrounding wall and guardhouse within the compound, indicating a high level of security.

Another building of the vice-consulate actually served as an entertainment facility. It was a single-story brick structure, more modest in exterior appearance than the prison, lacking the two-tone brick decoration. However, its interior was luxuriously appointed—“the beauty of its camphorwood paneling was rare, and by now (1934), it would be impossible to replicate.” From here, one could clearly overlook the Shipyard.