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Unequal treaty Chinese history

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Unequal treaty Chinese history

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Opium-Wars

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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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China, c. 1902
China, c. 1902 
Date: 1842 - c. 1901  Participants: China
Major Events: Treaty of Shimonoseki

unequal treaty, in Chinese history, any of a series of treaties and agreements in which China was forced to concede many of its territorial and sovereignty rights. They were negotiated during the 19th and early 20th centuries between China and foreign imperialist powers, especially Great BritainFranceGermany, the United StatesRussia, and Japan.

Patterned largely on the terms of an accord in 1835 between China and the khanate of Kokand (in parts of present-day Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan), the unequal treaties were initiated by the armed conflict between Britain and China known as the first Opium War (1839–42), which was resolved by the Treaty of Nanjing (Nanking; August 29, 1842). Under the terms of that agreement, China paid the British an indemnity, ceded the territory of Hong Kong, and agreed to establish a “fair and reasonable” tariff. Moreover, British merchants, who were previously allowed to trade only at the South China port of Canton (Guangzhou), were now to be allowed to trade at five ports (called treaty ports), including Canton and Shanghai.

The agreement was augmented the following year by the British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue (Humen; October 8, 1843), which granted British citizens in China extraterritorial rights, by which they were to be under the control of their own consuls and were not subject to Chinese law. It also included a most-favoured-nation clause, guaranteeing to Britain all privileges that China might grant to any other foreign power.

Over the next few years China concluded a series of similar treaties with other powers; the most important treaties were the Treaty of Wanghia (Wangxia) with the United States and the Treaty of Whampoa with France (both 1844). Each additional treaty expanded upon the rights of extraterritoriality, and, as a result, the foreigners obtained an independent legal, judicial, police, and taxation system within the treaty ports.

Following the defeat of China by Britain and France in the second Opium War (or Arrow War; 1856–60), a new series of agreements was negotiated. The resulting treaties of Tianjin (Tientsin; 1858) supplemented the old treaties by providing for the residence of foreign diplomats in Beijing (Peking), the right of foreigners to travel in the interior of China, the opening of the country’s major waterway, the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), to foreign navigation, permission for Christian missionaries to propagate their faith, legalization of opium importation and the coolie trade, and the opening of 10 new ports to foreign trade and residence.

Russia, meanwhile, signed a separate agreement, the Treaty of Aigun (May 16, 1858), by which Russia would have jurisdiction over the lands north of the Amur River from its junction with the Argun River to the Tatar Strait, China would control the lands south of the Amur from the Argun to the Ussuri (Wusuli) River, and the territory east of the Ussuri to the Sea of Japan (East Sea) would be held in common. According to the treaty, only Russian and Chinese vessels would be permitted to navigate the Amur, Ussuri, and Sungari (Songhua) rivers.

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In 1860, after the Chinese had failed to ratify the Tianjin agreements, the British and French resumed the war, captured Beijing, and forced the Chinese to sign the Beijing Convention, in which they agreed to carry out the initial settlements. Other Western countries again exacted similar agreements. The Chefoo Convention, negotiated at Yantai (Chefoo) with Britain in 1876 (although not ratified by Britain until 1885) following the murder of a British explorer by Chinese nationals, resulted in more Chinese concessions and the opening of several new ports. By the Treaty of Beijing (November 14, 1860), Russia attained what it had sought in the unratified Treaty of Aigun; Russia was also given jurisdiction over the lands east of the Ussuri and south of Lake Khanka, which included the settlement of Vladivostok.

Treaty of ShimonosekiTreaty of Shimonoseki

In 1885 another treaty of Tianjin concluded the Sino-French War (1883–85) and ceded Annam (now in Vietnam) to France, while the Treaty of Shimonoseki, signed in 1895 following the Sino-Japanese War (1894–95), ceded Taiwan and the P’eng-hu Islands (Pescadores) to Japan, recognized the independence of Korea, and provided for the opening of still more ports as well as the right of Japanese nationals to operate factories (trading posts) inside China. The Boxer Protocol, signed in 1901 following China’s unsuccessful attempt to expel all foreigners from the country during the Boxer Rebellion (1900), provided for the stationing of foreign troops at key points between Beijing and the sea.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Soviet government terminated most of the privileges gained by tsarist Russia under the unequal treaties. Between 1928 and 1931 the Chinese Nationalists succeeded in persuading the Western powers to return tariff autonomy to China, but extraterritorial privileges were not relinquished by Britain, France, and the United States until 1946. The British restored sovereignty for Hong Kong to China in 1997, and the Portuguese did the same in Macau in 1999, after both countries had concluded agreements with China.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kenneth Pletcher.
 

Opium Wars

Written by  Kenneth Pletcher Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica  Last Updated: Article History

 

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Opium Wars, two armed conflicts in China in the mid-19th century between the forces of Western countries and of the Qing dynasty, which ruled China from 1644 to 1911/12. The first Opium War (1839–42) was fought between China and Britain, and the second Opium War (1856–60), also known as the Arrow War or the Anglo-French War in China, was fought by Britain and France against China. In each case the foreign powers were victorious and gained commercial privileges and legal and territorial concessions in China. The conflicts marked the start of the era of unequal treaties and other inroads on Qing sovereignty that helped weaken and ultimately topple the dynasty in favour of republican China in the early 20th century.

The first Opium War

Know about the first and second Opium Wars between China and Western countriesKnow about the first and second Opium Wars between China and Western countries

The Opium Wars arose from China’s attempts to suppress the opium trade. Foreign traders (primarily British) had been illegally exporting opium mainly from India to China since the 18th century, but that trade grew dramatically from about 1820. The resulting widespread addiction in China was causing serious social and economic disruption there. In spring 1839 the Chinese government confiscated and destroyed more than 20,000 chests of opium—some 1,400 tons of the drug—that were warehoused at Canton (Guangzhou) by British merchants. The antagonism between the two sides increased in July when some drunken British sailors killed a Chinese villager. The British government, which did not wish its subjects to be tried in the Chinese legal system, refused to turn the accused men over to the Chinese courts.

 
Louis IX of France (St. Louis), stained glass window of Louis IX during the Crusades. (Unknown location.)

Hostilities broke out later that year when British warships destroyed a Chinese blockade of the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang) estuary at Hong Kong. The British government decided in early 1840 to send an expeditionary force to China, which arrived at Hong Kong in June. The British fleet proceeded up the Pearl River estuary to Canton, and, after months of negotiations there, attacked and occupied the city in May 1841. Subsequent British campaigns over the next year were likewise successful against the inferior Qing forces, despite a determined counterattack by Chinese troops in the spring of 1842. The British held against that offensive, however, and captured Nanjing (Nanking) in late August, which put an end to the fighting.

Treaty of NanjingTreaty of Nanjing

Peace negotiations proceeded quickly, resulting in the Treaty of Nanjing, signed on August 29. By its provisions, China was required to pay Britain a large indemnity, cede Hong Kong Island to the British, and increase the number of treaty ports where the British could trade and reside from one (Canton) to five. Among the four additional designated ports was Shanghai, and the new access to foreigners there marked the beginning of the city’s transformation into one of China’s major commercial entrepôts. The British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue (Humen), signed October 8, 1843, gave British citizens extraterritoriality (the right to be tried by British courts) and most-favoured-nation status (Britain was granted any rights in China that might be granted to other foreign countries). Other Western countries quickly demanded and were given similar privileges.

The second Opium War

In the mid-1850s, while the Qing government was embroiled in trying to quell the Taiping Rebellion (1850–64), the British, seeking to extend their trading rights in China, found an excuse to renew hostilities. In early October 1856 some Chinese officials boarded the British-registered ship Arrow while it was docked in Canton, arrested several Chinese crew members (who were later released), and allegedly lowered the British flag. Later that month a British warship sailed up the Pearl River estuary and began bombarding Canton, and there were skirmishes between British and Chinese troops. Trading ceased as a stalemate ensued. In December Chinese in Canton burned foreign factories (trading warehouses) there, and tensions escalated.

The French decided to join the British military expedition, using as their excuse the murder of a French missionary in the interior of China in early 1856. After delays in assembling the forces in China (British troops that were en route were first diverted to India to help quell the Indian Mutiny), the allies began military operations in late 1857. They quickly captured Canton, deposed the city’s intransigent governor, and installed a more-compliant official. In May 1858 allied troops in British warships reached Tianjin (Tientsin) and forced the Chinese into negotiations. The treaties of Tianjin, signed in June 1858, provided residence in Beijing for foreign envoys, the opening of several new ports to Western trade and residence, the right of foreign travel in the interior of China, and freedom of movement for Christian missionaries. In further negotiations in Shanghai later in the year, the importation of opium was legalized.

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The British withdrew from Tianjin in the summer of 1858, but they returned to the area in June 1859 en route to Beijing with French and British diplomats to ratify the treaties. The Chinese refused to let them pass by the Dagu forts at the mouth of the Hai River and proposed an alternate route to Beijing. The British-led forces decided against taking the other route and instead tried to push forward past Dagu. They were driven back with heavy casualties. The Chinese subsequently refused to ratify the treaties, and the allies resumed hostilities. In August 1860 a considerably larger force of warships and British and French troops destroyed the Dagu batteries, proceeded upriver to Tianjin, and, in October, captured Beijing and plundered and then burned the Yuanming Garden, the emperor’s summer palace. Later that month the Chinese signed the Beijing Convention, in which they agreed to observe the treaties of Tianjin and also ceded to the British the southern portion of the Kowloon Peninsula adjacent to Hong Kong.

Kenneth PletcherThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
 

Treaty of Shimonoseki

1895, China-Japan
Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: Article History
Treaty of Shimonoseki
Treaty of Shimonoseki
Date: April 17, 1895
Participants:China Japan
Key People:  Li Hong zhang

Treaty of Shimonoseki, Chinese (Pinyin) Maguan Tiaoyue, (April 17, 1895), agreement that concluded the first Sino-Japanese War (1894–95), which ended in China’s defeat. By the terms of the treaty, China was obliged to recognize the independence of Korea, over which it had traditionally held suzerainty; to cede Taiwan, the Pescadores Islands, and the Liaodong (south Manchurian) Peninsula to Japan; to pay an indemnity of 200,000,000 taels to Japan; and to open the ports of Shashi, ChongqingSuzhou, and Hangzhou to Japanese trade. The Triple Intervention (1895), secured by Russia, France, and Germany, subsequently required Japan to retrocede the Liaodong Peninsula to China in return for an additional indemnity of 30,000,000 taels.

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