The Italian presence in China: Historical trends and perspectives (1902-1947)

Abstract

One of the main problems facing scholars engaged in the study of the Italian presence in China during the late Qing-Republican period (especially in Beijing and in some of the most important treaty ports, starting from Tianjin where an Italian Concession was created in 1902) 1 is represented by the gaps and fragmentary nature of the documents and data available, the dispersion of these in dozens of archives and libraries, and by the blanks that exist in the historical records for certain years and-at times-entire periods.