The German and Japanese Architectural Complex in Fangzi

The German and Japanese Architectural Complex in Fangzi

The German and Japanese Architectural Complex in Fangzi is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Fangzi is a century-old town that came into painful existence, grew in a distorted manner, and rapidly expanded along with imperialist colonial aggression. Before the mid-19th century, Fangzi did not exist. The area was originally surrounded only by villages such as Zhangluyuan in the front and back, Ningjiagou in the north and south, and Wangjiazhuang in the east and west.

Starting in March 1898, Germany used the “Caozhou Incident” to force the Qing government to sign the “Jiaozhou Bay Lease Treaty.” Under this unequal treaty, the German Empire gained the right to build the Jiaoji Railway and to mine minerals within a 15-kilometer radius along the railway line. In April of the same year, Germany began coal mining between Zhangluyuan in the front and back and Ningjiagou in the north and south. Since there was a small shop named Fangzi near the mine, the German-operated coal mine was named after Fangzi. In the summer of 1902, the Jiaoji Railway built by the Germans reached Weixian County. Due to Germany’s ulterior motives regarding the abundant local coal resources in Fangzi, the Jiaoji Railway, which should have continued westward, illogically made a large detour southeastward in Fangzi. As Germany developed coal mines, built railways and stations, constructed churches, and opened hospitals here, laborers and expatriates from all over gathered and settled in the area, leading to the region's gradual prosperity and giving rise to the fame of Fangzi.

In September 1914, war broke out between Germany and Japan. Japan, as the victorious nation, forcibly took over all of Germany’s interests in Fangzi. On the basis of the urban construction and industrial facilities left behind by the Germans, the Japanese Empire expanded the scale somewhat. With “three main roads running north-south and a bustling ten-li stretch running east-west,” over the 31 years from 1914 until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, the large number of institutions and facilities established during the Japanese occupation—marked by a distinctly exploitative economic character—formed the fundamental framework of Fangzi as an important commercial and industrial town on the Jiaodong Peninsula.

The German and Japanese architectural complexes in Fangzi are mainly distributed across approximately eight square kilometers in the old town area. Today, 166 structures are preserved, including 103 German buildings and 63 Japanese buildings, with a total floor area of over 45,200 square meters. Among these, the German-style buildings cover more than 31,100 square meters, and the Japanese-style buildings cover over 14,100 square meters.

The existing German and Japanese buildings in Fangzi include: the German Military Headquarters, the German Northern Barracks, the German Hospital, the Catholic Church, the Convent, the German Post Office Building, the Japanese Consulate, the Japanese National School, the Japanese Farm, the Military Transport Station, material warehouses and transit stations, luxurious German and Japanese official residences, the Yokohama Specie Bank, the Yokota Hotel, the Fish Fresh Opium Den, the Red House Water Dungeon… These buildings, whether grand and imposing, exquisitely unique, solemn and magnificent, or simple and sturdy, together form a unique century-old town with exotic charm.

In May 2013, the State Council (State Council Document [2013] No. 13) announced the German and Japanese Architectural Complex in Fangzi as part of the seventh batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Shandong Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units