Treaty of Nanking
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The Treaty of Nanking (Chinese: 南京條約, Nánjīng Tiáoyuē) is the agreement which marked the end of the First Opium War between the United Kingdom and China.
It was signed on 29 August 1842 aboard the British warship HMS Cornwallis in Nanjing (then known as "Nanking"). It is the first of the Unequal Treaties signed by China with a foreign power.
Under the treaty, China agreed to cede Hong Kong Island (together with some small nearby islands) to the British Empire, and open the following treaty ports of China for foreign trade:
(The first of the romanizations are in Postal System Pinyin, which were used in the treaty; the second Hanyu Pinyin, the modern spellings.)Also, Great Britain received:
- 21 million ounces silver for compensation
- Fixed tariffs
- Extraterritoriality for British Citizens on Chinese soil
- Most Favored Nation status
The treaty left several unsettled issues. In particular it did not resolve the status of the opium trade with China, which was profitable for the British and which many historians believe has been devastating to the Chinese. The equivalent American treaty forbade the opium trade, but, as both the British and American merchants were only subject to the legal control of their consuls, the trade continued.
See also
- Opium Wars
- Treaty of Tientsin
- Convention of Peking
- Imperialism in Asia
- History of Hong Kong
- Anglo-Chinese relations
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