La famille Li

1933 – The municipality of the French concession in Tiānjīn

Oct. 1933 – Tientsin Race Club - "Braconnier", one of Charles Lépissier's racehorses

Août 1936 – Charles Lépissier and Ambassador Naggiar in Tiānjīn

Mars 1937 – Holidays in Běidàihé – Hunting – Charles Lépissier 

Charles Lépissier and his family arrived in Tiānjīn (天津) in March 1931.

Tiānjīn was the largest port of the capital, approximately 120 kilometres east of Peking (Běijīng – 北京), on the river Hǎi Hé (海河).

Today, Tiānjīn is one of China’s four autonomous municipalities.

Charles was there for two four-year stays, interrupted by a period of leave in France from May to December 1935.

It was a prestigious post. The Consul there also acted as the Mayor of the second largest French concession in China, after that of Shànghǎi. A strong presence of the 16^th Regiment of Colonial Infantry (RCI) could also be found in Tiānjīn.

This period was greatly troubled by a number of political and military events.

1931 saw the start of the Japanese military intervention in China, after the attack of Mukden (Shěnyáng – 沈阳) in September 1931. There followed in November 1931 the creation of the “Chinese Soviet Republic” by Máo Zédōng (毛泽东) and the war against Chang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Party (Jiǎng Jièshí – 蒋介石). In February 1932, the Japanese created the puppet state of Manchukuo (Mǎnzhōuguó – 满洲国), headed by Pǔyí (溥仪), the last Emperor of China, who abdicated in 1912. 

In May1932, Charles Lépissier is confirmed as "Consul in charge" of Tiānjīn. He was appointed First Class Consul in May 1933.

From 1932 to 1934, Jiǎng Jièshí’s armies led several campaigns against the communists, forcing the latter to flee towards the Shānxī (山西). This led to the dramatic event of the "Long March" (Chángzhēng – 长征) which lasted a year until October 1935. The communists would later turn this bloody defeat into a heroic tale. Máo Zédōng was named head of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in January 1935.

The French legation in China was turned into an Embassy in January 1936 and a new ambassador, Émile Naggiar, was appointed in Běijīng, at a time when the Japanese military pressure on China was becoming concerning.

In November 1936, Japan and Germany signed the anti-Komintern pact.

In July 1937, the "Marco Polo Bridge Incident" was used as a pretext by Japan to reinforce their military presence. Japan and China were at war. The Chinese communists and nationalists then united as the “second front against the Japanese” in order to counter the Japanese invasion.

If the Westerners in China were relatively spared, the Chinese, whether military or civil, paid a heavy price. Japanese atrocities in Nánjīng ( 南京) reached their peak in December 1937 : this would make history as “the Rape of Nanking” (Nánjīng Dàtúshā – 南京大屠杀).

It is in the context of this extremely difficult and dangerous environment that Charles Lépissier had to manage the concession and the defence of French interests in Tiānjīn.

Charles Lépissier was named Consul-General on 28 December 1937, becoming the most senior member of the consular body in Tiānjīn.

Charles and Madeleine left Tiānjīn for France in March 1939.

Charles refused to swear loyalty to Marshal Pétain. As a result, a decree of 26 August 1940 made by Paul Baudoin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, prematurely ended Charles Lepissier’s career. His son Henri is requisitioned for the Compulsory Work Service (STO - Service du Travail Obligatoire).

In the middle of the war, to support his family of four children, Charles was forced to sell his building at 101 boulevard Saint-Michel in Paris under difficult conditions to buy a farm at Orgerus in the Yvelines. He became a farmer and recruited a sharecropper to look after his rented farm. He also helped to set up the Foyer du prisonnier indigène (Home for Indigenous Prisoners) which, at the time of the Liberation, housed more than 2,000 Senegalese, Madagascans and North Africans, many of whom he helped to escape.

Following the Liberation, General de Gaulle’s provisional government re-established Charles’s rights by a decree of 31 January 1945

Charles was also promoted to Minister Plenipotentiary with retrospective effect from 1 January 1942.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered to send him to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil but he rejected the offer, preferring, one year from retirement, to finish his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Quai d’Orsay in Paris.

After the war, as the chief of staff of the member of parliament and minister of transport and public works, Édouard Bonnefous, Charles actively participated in the steering committees of the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR), of which he was a member. He supported the centrist and Christian democrat faction led by René Pleven and left the UDSR (founded by Pléven), when François Mitterrand, a supporter of the more leftist faction opposed to René Pleven, became president of the UDSR.

Charles also became deputy to André Pichon, mayor of the small town of Orgerus (78910) from May 1945 to May 1953, then municipal councillor from May 1953 to 1962

Charles, hemiplegic since 1962, died in Versailles on 28 February 1975 at the age of 92.

His wife Madeleine died in Versailles on 7 August 1986 at the age of 95.

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

The following tab contains more information on Charles Lépissier during his time in Tiānjīn : '4 books on Charles Lépissier in Tientsin (1931-1939) and in wartime France until the end of Charles's life' (Only available to members of the Association Émile-Jean Lépissier)

– Volume 1 : Tientsin – 1931-1933 with 661 illustrations

– Volume 2 : Tientsin – 1934-1936 with 600 illustrations

– Volume 3 : Tientsin – 1937 - closure of the Consulate of Tientsin with 571 illustrations

and

– Volume 4 :  France – War time and end of life fin de vie (under construction)

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

© Tous droits réservés

Redirections :

- Go to 'Legal Notices & GDPR' (Publicly available)

- Go to 'Documents relating to Charles Lépissier' (Only available to members of the Association Émile-Jean Lépissier)