The Legation Cities (Chinese: 公使館城市, Gōngshǐguǎn Chéngshì), officially the International Mandate for the Concessions, Settlements and Legations in China (國際聯合委任管理諸國在華租界、僑民定居區及公使館區之政府, Guójì Liánhé Wěirèn Guǎnlǐ Zhū Guó Zài Huá Zūjiè, Qiáomín Dìngjū Qū Jí Gōngshǐguǎn Qū Zhī Zhèngfǔ), are an international authority which encompasses the cities of @Shanghai, Tianjin, Hong Kong, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Shantou, and a number of smaller inland concessions, established in the aftermath of the 1928 Shanghai Conference. Conceived as a solution to years of conflict in China and over the British Empire's former possessions, as well as a means of ensuring equal and open access to the Chinese market, the Mandate is formally governed by a council of ambassadors representing the seven treaty-powers with constituent concessions; the @United-States , @United Kingdom, @German Empire , @Russian Republic , @Empire of Japan , Flanders-Wallonia, and @Austro-Hungarian Monarchy . This council is notoriously prone to deadlock given the tensions between its constituent members. As a result, a great deal of authority has been left in the hands of each city's governor or municipal council.
The Mandate's borders were established with the intent to create a thirty-mile "neutral zone" surrounding selected "strategic" coastal cities, into which no armed Chinese forces may enter, though these zones and the concessions themselves legally remain a part of China. Within China, the Legation Cities border the @League of Eight Provinces and the regions directly administered by the Central Government.
The collapse of @United Kingdom and the subsequent withdrawal of the China Station to Australasia in 1925 placed its Chinese concessions in an uncomfortable position, and none more so than Hong Kong. As soon as the colony's vulnerability became apparent, the nationalist @Kuomintang in Guangzhou declared their intent to retake the city. With their forces already massing in preparation for the Northern Expedition, a quick conquest of Hong Kong would service as the perfect anti-imperialist platform from which to begin their campaign. The mere sixty miles separating Guangzhou and Hong Kong meant that acting Governor Claud Severn had to move quickly. In keeping with the informal policy of mutual-assistance observed by the great powers in China, he sent a personal request to the German Governor-General in Indochina for a guarantee of protection. The Germans were only too happy to comply. Within a matter of days over 3,000 German troops from Guangzhouwan had taken up positions in Kowloon and the New Territories, with the prospect of prompt reinforcement from Indochina.
Berlin soon unilaterally extended this offer of protection to all of @United Kingdom's concessions in China until the restoration of “responsible British Government” could be ensured, an offer soon echoed by virtually every power with a presence in the country. In what soon came to be called the “Shanghai Scramble”, German and Japanese troops began a series of standoffs across the remaining concessions, re-igniting tensions ostensibly extinguished with the Tsingtau Accord only three years prior. The Americans “China Marines” and 15th Infantry Regiment soon joined the bloodless struggle, later followed by token forces from the @Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and @Russian Republic . Though Austrian and Russian forces departed after only two months, this general state of affairs persisted for nearly two years, as the respective sides delineated informal areas of control and regularly butted heads; interrupted only briefly by the Northern Expedition's approach toward @Shanghai in late 1926.