Former Site of the Chaozhou Customs

Former Site of the Chaozhou Customs

The Former Site of the Chaozhou Customs is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Former Site of the Chaozhou Customs is located at No. 2 Waibian Road, Jinping District, Shantou City, Guangdong Province. Constructed in 1921, the building originally served as the office of the Chaozhou Customs and is one of the earliest structures built since Shantou became a treaty port. It now houses the Shantou Customs History Exhibition Hall. The site covers a construction area of 1,556.2 square meters and features a two-story reinforced concrete structure, with corridors surrounding the perimeter, exquisite interior decorations, and a large clock atop the main entrance.

In 1856, the Anglo-French Allied Forces launched the Second Opium War and captured the Dagu Forts in the Battle of Dagu in 1858, advancing to Tianjin. The Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Tianjin with foreign powers, which designated Chaozhou as a treaty port. However, due to strong resistance from the local population in downtown Chaozhou, foreigners opted to abandon trade in the urban area and instead chose Shashantou Port in Chenghai County, which was considered relatively safer, as the trading port. On January 1, 1860 (the ninth day of the twelfth month of the ninth year of the Xianfeng reign), during preparations for establishing the customs, Americans were allowed to begin trading first. On July 26 (the ninth day of the sixth month of the tenth year of the Xianfeng reign), the Chaozhou Customs (officially named the “Shantou New Customs”) officially opened on Mazu Island. William Wallace Ward, brother of the U.S. Minister to China Anson Burlingame, was appointed as the first Commissioner of Customs, while Yu Enyi, former magistrate of Lingshui County, was appointed by the Qing Ministry of Revenue as the first Customs Supervisor. The “Shashantou Port” in Chaozhou officially opened as a treaty port and was renamed “Shantou,” becoming the third port in the country and the second in the province to have a customs office. The jurisdiction of the Chaozhou Customs extended from Hong Kong in the west to Nanpeng Island in the eastern part of Nan’ao Island in the east.

In 1865 (the fourth year of the Tongzhi reign), a directive from the Inspectorate General of Customs ordered the Chaozhou Customs to relocate from Mazu Island to its current location at the intersection of Juping Road in Shantou. In 1888 (the fourteenth year of the Guangxu reign), the Chenghai County government allocated approximately 140 acres of beachfront south of present-day Waibian Road to the Chaozhou Customs. The Customs reclaimed land from the beach (commonly referred to as the “Customs Reclamation Area”). In 1919, construction began on the new site of the Chaozhou Customs within the reclaimed area, and it was completed and put into use in 1921 — the current site of the Former Site of the Chaozhou Customs. Until 1988, the building served as the headquarters of both the Chaozhou Customs and later the Shantou Customs. In October 1994, the Former Site of the Chaozhou Customs was designated as a Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the Shantou Municipal People’s Government. In December 2006, the Shantou Customs began restoring the building to its original appearance, transforming it into the Shantou Customs History Exhibition Hall, which officially opened to the public on October 22, 2008. In May 2010, the Former Site of the Chaozhou Customs was included in the sixth batch of Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units.

On October 7, 2019, the Former Site of the Chaozhou Customs was included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units