The German Experience of Japan’s Treaty Port System

Prue Holstein

Prue Holstein

The German Experience of Japan’s Treaty Port System

A Case Study of C. Nickel & Co. Ltd., 1860–1923

German merchants were attracted to the British Empire’s spheres of influence in northeast Asia from the 1700s. Their numbers increased when Britain established a network of treaty ports in China from 1842 and in Japan from 1858. A latecomer to empire, Germany, unified only in 1871, extended its imperial influence in China in 1898. This is the story of two German merchants, Carl Nickel and his relative and successor Christian Holstein, ancestors of the author’s husband, as they built their company, C. Nickel & Co. Ltd. in Kobe into their own waterfront empire contributing to the growth and modernization of the port. This is the story of how they operated in treaty port Japan where the Japanese government could be anti-foreign and obstructionist, partnering with or in opposition to British colleagues presenting new challenges as Holstein navigated World War One and its aftermath until 1923.
Author

Prue Holstein

Prue Holstein had a 38-year career serving as Trade Commissioner and Consul for the Australian Government in Chicago, USA and then in Osaka, Japan and also served in Tokyo as Commissioner for Japan and Korea, for the Victorian State Government. She also built up and ran the Australian chapter of an American non-profit, the Asia Society developing programming for senior Australian and Asian business leaders. Holstein has an MBA from the University of Melbourne and a PhD in Japanese Studies from Monash University. She speaks Japanese and German and has a working knowledge of French, Spanish and Italian.
Title
The German Experience of Japan’s Treaty Port System
Subtitle
A Case Study of C. Nickel & Co. Ltd., 1860–1923
Author
Price
€ 134,00 excl. VAT
ISBN
9789048560554
Format
Hardback
Number of pages
298
Language
English
Publication date
Dimensions
15.6 x 23.4 cm
Series
Imperialism in East Asia
Categories
East Asia and North East Asia
International Relations
Modern History
Politics and Government
Discipline
Asian Studies
Table of Contents
Show Table of ContentsHide Table of Contents
Editor’s Preface
Acknowledgements
Editorial Notes
Prologue
Introduction & Background
Part I: Family Origins
Chapter 1 Hamburg: A Trading Port Connected to China and Japan
Part II: Unequal Treaties & Extraterritoriality
Chapter 2 Nagasaki: Civil Unrest and Consular Jurisdiction
Chapter 3 Kobe: Building a Waterfront Empire
Part III: Revised Treaties
Chapter 4 Transitioning to Japanese Jurisdiction
Chapter 5 Operating in the Hatoba
Chapter 6 Managing a Japanese Workforce
Chapter 7 Securing Land Tenure
Chapter 8 The Case of the Dynamite Explosion in the Port of Kobe
Part IV: World War One
Chapter 9 World War One: The British Declare Economic War on German Merchant
Chapter 10 World War One: The Swineherd Kidnapping Case
Conclusions
Bibliography
Index