两次鸦片战争后,英国先后在中国开辟七块租界地,界内土地的租用方式,特别是英国商民如何获得合法的租地权利,是租界土地制度的核心问题。七城市的英租界中有五处实行的是由英国政府与其本国商民订立皇家租契的土地制度,其中天津英租界扩张次数最多,面积最大,租地关系最为复杂,具有较高的典型性。在原有帝国主义、殖民主义的解释框架中,皇家租契订约双方属于协同利益群体,二者间发生旷日持久的纷争几乎无法想象。以天津为个案,考察和梳理英租界皇家租契制度的历史脉络和矛盾波折,有助于更完整地理解近代英国在华租界及其土地制度的深层次特征。 After the Opium War, the United Kingdom opened up seven concessions in China successively. The leasing of land within the boundaries, and especially how British merchants were entitled to the right to lease land, were the core issues of the concession’s land system. Five of the British concessions in the seven cities implemented a system of land royalties entered into by the British government and its own merchants. Among them, the British concessions in Tianjin expanded most, with the largest area, with the most complex relationship of renters, with a high degree of typicality . In the framework of the original imperialist and colonial interpretation, the parties to the royal lease are both cooperative interest groups, and the protracted dispute between the two can hardly be imagined. Taking Tianjin as a case study, it is helpful to study and sort out the history of the royal lease system in the British Concession and its contradictions. This will help us to understand more deeply the deep characteristics of the modern British concession and its land system in China.