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48-691: From 1757 to the signing of the Treaty of Nanking by the Chinese and British governments in 1842, all foreign trade in China operated through the Canton System , a monopoly centered in the Southern Chinese port of Canton (now Guangzhou ). The treaty abolished the monopoly and opened the ports of Shanghai , Amoy ( Xiamen ), Ningpo ( Ningbo ) and Foochow ( Fuzhou ) to international trade, creating

96-576: A crushing victory and allowed it to impose a one-sided treaty. The first working draft for articles of a treaty was prepared at the Foreign Office in London in February 1840. The Foreign Office was aware that preparing a treaty containing Chinese and English characters would need special consideration. Given the distance separating the countries, the parties realised that some flexibility and

144-751: A departure from established procedure in preparing treaties might be required. The fundamental purpose of the treaty was to change the framework of foreign trade imposed by the Canton System , which had been in force since 1760. Under Article V, the treaty abolished the former monopoly of the Cohong and their Thirteen Factories in Canton. Four additional " treaty ports " opened for foreign trade alongside Canton ( Shameen Island from 1859 until 1943): Xiamen (or Amoy; until 1930), Fuzhou , Ningbo and Shanghai (until 1943), where foreign merchants were to be allowed to trade with anyone they wished. Britain also gained

192-565: A formal hierarchy in its interactions with other states. Despite this stipulation, the treaty's contents featured entirely concessions from the Chinese side with no reciprocity of provisions on the British side - for instance, Britain received the right to establish consulates in treaty ports that held the right to an audience with local officials, an option denied to China should it have hypothetically wanted to send its own formal diplomatic missions to Britain. The one-sided nature of this treaty as

240-571: A list of concessions, alongside the sovereignty ceded with the terms granting extraterritoriality and joint Sino-British determination of tariff, would earn the Nanking Treaty and similar settlements that followed the name, "unequal treaty," from Chinese nationalists in later centuries. Interestingly, Joanna Waley-Cohen writes that, at the time of its signing, the Qing did not regard the treaty as “of major significance.” According to Waley-Cohen,

288-412: A miniature portrait of Pottinger's wife, Pottinger wrote that Keying "placed [the miniature] on his head—which I am told is the highest token of respect and friendship—filled a glass of wine, held the picture in front of his face, muttered some words in a low voice, drank the wine, again placed the picture on his head and then sat down" to complete the ceremony of long-term amity between the two families and

336-659: A short working day, which meant the later afternoon could be spent exercising and socializing, going to the races, playing tennis, taking part in amateur dramatics or musical performances, and later enjoy dinner parties, which might include 'absurd games', or a musical interlude. Records of individual senior and junior staff in the Chinese Maritime Customs are preserved in the School of Oriental and African Studies , London (SOAS). Archives and Special Collections Treaty of Nanking The Treaty of Nanking

384-562: A sympathetic boss, but he insisted on high standards of efficiency and honesty, and, for those aspiring to the highest rank of Commissioner, a thorough knowledge of written and spoken Chinese. His most likely young men spent a year or more in Beijing learning Chinese under his supervision, which also allowed him to evaluate other characteristics that would enable them to act sensibly and rapidly in crisis situations demanding immediate response without referral back to him. The compensations included

432-654: The Court of St James's with a copy for ratification by Queen Victoria . The emperor ratified the treaty on 27 October and Queen Victoria added her written assent on 28 December. Ratification was exchanged in Hong Kong on 26 June 1843. Pottinger wrote in a letter to the Earl of Aberdeen the following year that at a feast with Keying celebrating the ratification, Keying insisted they ceremonially exchange miniature portraits of each member of each other's families. Upon receiving

480-818: The Great Game . While controlled by the Chinese central government, the Service was largely staffed at senior levels by foreigners throughout its history. It was effectively established by foreign consuls in Shanghai in 1854 to collect maritime trade taxes that were going unpaid due to the inability of Chinese officials to collect them during the Taiping Rebellion . Its responsibilities soon grew to include domestic customs administration, postal administration, harbour and waterway management, weather reporting, and anti-smuggling operations. It mapped, lit, and policed

528-648: The Mandarin Chinese language and remained as a cavalry instructor under General Yuan Shikai . Munthe's association with Yuan Shikai proved advantageous. He advanced in rank to lieutenant General and Chief of Legation Quarters Beijing. He was also an advisor to the Ministry of War; the first and only foreigner to achieve such a position. Munthe was an avid collector of Chinese works of arts, and his collection includes porcelain, paintings, costumes, and statues in bronze and marble. The collection now resides with

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576-614: The West Norway Museum of Decorative Art ( Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuseum ) in Bergen. The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon also holds a large number of works collected by Munthe and later acquired by the museum's founder, Gertrude Bass Warner (1863–1951). In 1919, he married German-born Alexandra Ethelred von Herder (1867–1920 ). She was the widow of Frederick William Grantham (1870–1915) and

624-555: The Yangtze at the city. On 29 August, British representative Sir Henry Pottinger and Qing representatives Keying , Yilibu , and Niu Jian signed the treaty, which consisted of thirteen articles. The treaty was ratified by the Daoguang Emperor on 27 October and Queen Victoria on 28 December. The exchange of ratification took place in Hong Kong on 26 June 1843. The treaty required the Chinese to pay an indemnity, to cede

672-537: The British and American merchants were only subject to the legal control of their permissive consuls. The opium traffic was later legalised in the Treaties of Tianjin , which China concluded after the Second Opium War resulted in another defeat for the Qing dynasty. The Treaty itself contained no provision for the legalization of the opium trade. Stephen R. Platt writes that such a term would have provided

720-422: The China coast and the Yangtze . It conducted loan negotiations, currency reform, and financial and economic management. The Service published monthly Returns of Trade, a regular series of Aids to Navigation and reports on weather and medical matters. It also represented China at over twenty world fairs and exhibition, ran some educational establishments, and conducted some diplomatic activities. Britons dominated

768-786: The Customs in China were Willard Straight , botanist Augustine Henry ; Johan Wilhelm Normann Munthe , Norwegian; Samuel Cornell Plant who was the First Senior River Inspector from 1915 and for whom the Plant Memorial was raised in his honour; G.R.G. Worcester (1890–1969), River Inspector from 1914 to 1948, and author of seven published books on the Yangzi River; novelist and journalists Bertram Lenox Simpson (known as Putnam Weale) and J.O.P. Bland ; and historian H.B. Morse . Medical Officers attached to

816-474: The Customs included John Dudgeon , in Beijing, James Watson at Newchwang and Patrick Manson at Takow and Amoy . The Hong Kong Chinese businessman and political leader Robert Hotung served as a Customs clerk for two years (1878–1880). A number of early Sinologists emerged from the Service, including linguist Thomas Francis Wade , Edward Charles Bowra , and Charles Henry Brewitt-Taylor . Even higher level 'indoor staff' sometimes had difficulties in

864-591: The Island of Hong Kong to the British as a colony, to essentially end the Canton system that had limited trade to that port and allow trade at Five Treaty Ports . It was followed in 1843 by the Treaty of the Bogue , which granted extraterritoriality and most favoured nation status. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Britain faced a growing trade deficit with China. Britain could offer nothing to China to match

912-656: The Maritime Service in Shanghai and the Statistical Secretariat (1873–1950) and following the Boxer Uprising , set up Customs College to provide educated Chinese staff for the Service. Hart was succeeded by Sir Francis Aglen ( 安格联 , 1869–1932) and then by his own nephew, Sir Frederick Maze ( 梅乐和 , 1871–1959), who served from 1929 to 1943. In January 1950 the last foreign Inspector-General, American Lester Knox Little ( 李度 ), resigned and

960-601: The Question of Hong Kong , under which the sovereignty of the leased territories, together with Hong Kong Island and Kowloon (south of Boundary Street) ceded under the Convention of Peking (1860), was transferred to the PRC on 1 July 1997. The treaty was sealed by interpreter John Robert Morrison for the British and Wang Tajin for the Chinese. Harry Parkes , who was a student of Chinese under Morrison, gave his account of

1008-542: The Treaty of Nanking’s terms remarkably resembled another treaty signed with the central Asian state of Kokand, which had also conflicted with the Qing over control of trade along Qing frontiers. Failing to achieve results with a complete trade ban, the Qing arranged a treaty with Kokand that granted Kokandis “the right to live, trade, and levy taxes […] appoint consuls with extraterritorial jurisdiction over their compatriots in China,” alongside an indemnity. The precedent set by

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1056-461: The ceremony: There were four copies of the Treaty signed and sealed. They were bound in worked yellow silk, one Treaty in English and the same in Chinese stitched and bound together formed a copy. This being finished they all came out of the after-cabin and sat down to tiffin , and the different officers seated themselves all round the table, making plenty of guests. Almost directly after the Treaty

1104-522: The emperor had given his assent to the treaty and the first instalment of money had been received (Article XII). British troops would remain in Gulangyu and Zhaobaoshan until the Qing government had paid reparations in full (Article XII). In 1841, a rough outline for a treaty was sent for the guidance of Plenipotentiary Charles Elliot . It had a blank after the words "the cession of the islands of". Pottinger sent this old draft treaty on shore, with

1152-423: The fixed trade tariff, extraterritoriality , the most favoured nation provisions and freeing the importation of British opium which continued to have social and economic consequences for the Chinese people. These terms were imposed by the British and extended to other Western powers with most favoured nation status, and were conceded by the ruling Qing dynasty in order to avert continued military defeats and under

1200-400: The following treaties of 1843, 1858, and 1860, ended the Canton System as created in 1760. These treaties created a new framework for China's foreign relations and overseas trade, which would last for almost a hundred years and marked the start of what later nationalists called China's " century of humiliation ." From the perspective of modern Chinese nationalists, the most injurious terms were

1248-472: The foreign staff of the Customs, but there were large numbers of German, U.S., French, and later Japanese staff amongst others. Promotion of Chinese nationals into senior positions started in 1929. After two decades of operation, the system collected about one third of the revenue available to the government in Beijing. In addition, foreign trade expanded rapidly because international trade was regulated and predictable. Foreign governments benefitted because there

1296-400: The growing importation of Chinese goods to Britain, such as tea and porcelain. In British India , opium was grown on plantations and auctioned to merchants, who then sold it to Chinese who smuggled it into China (Chinese law forbade the importation and sale of opium). The use of opium within China had become a nation wide emergency. China's social stability had significantly decreased because

1344-542: The hope that most favoured nation provision would set the foreigners against each other. Although China regained tariff autonomy in the 1920s, extraterritoriality was not formally abolished until the 1943 Sino-British Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China . The stipulation of legal equality in diplomatic proceedings between Britain and China ended the centuries-long Sinocentric tributary system of interstate relations that placed China atop

1392-433: The letter s struck out of islands and the words Hong Kong placed after it. Robert Montgomery Martin , treasurer of Hong Kong, wrote in an official report: The terms of peace having been read, Elepoo the senior commissioner paused, expecting something more, and at length said "is that all?" Mr. Morrison enquired of Lieutenant-colonel Malcolm [Pottinger's secretary] if there was anything else, and being answered in

1440-565: The lower class had been all but demolished from the easy access citizens had to opium. This in turn led to major health concerns and labor productivity within China also dropping drastically. When Lin Zexu seized this privately owned opium and ordered the destruction of opium at Humen , Britain first demanded reparations, then declared what became known as the First Opium War . Britain's use of recently invented military technology produced

1488-530: The money that was not paid in a timely manner (Article VII). The Qing government undertook to release all British prisoners of war (Article VIII), and to give a general amnesty to all Chinese subjects who had cooperated with the British during the war (Article IX). The British on their part, undertook to withdraw all of their troops from Nanjing, the Grand Canal and the military post at Zhenhai , as well as not to interfere with China trade generally, after

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1536-584: The most well known IG, who served until his death in 1911. Hart oversaw the development of the Service and its activities to its fullest form. Among his many contributions were the establishment of the Tongwen Guan or School of Combined Learning, which produced numerous translations of works on international law, science, world history, and current events; the postal service; and the Northern Navy. Hart established China's central statistical office in

1584-597: The need for a mechanism to collect customs duties in these additional ports. The First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) and the increase of foreign concessions in China , led to the foreign powers having conflicts over nationalities' representation in the Customs Service. Britain and Russia had disputes over the number of British or Russian employees hired into the Imperial Maritime Customs Service, which historian Matzuzato connects to

1632-559: The negative, Elepoo immediately and with great tact closed the negotiation by saying, " all shall be granted—it is settled—it is finished ." The Qing government agreed to make Hong Kong Island a crown colony , ceding it to the Queen Victoria of Great Britain , in perpetuity ( 常 遠 , Cháng yuǎn , in the Chinese version of the treaty), to provide British traders with a harbour where they could "careen and refit their ships and keep stores for that purpose" (Article III). Pottinger

1680-458: The nineteenth century, as the value of their salaries varied with the price of silver, and the extra year's pay every seven years which Hart had negotiated for them in place of a pension did not always allow for having an adequate saving for retirement. Family travel costs were at their expense, so not everyone took their due of foreign leave of two years on half pay after the first seven years, and subsequently every ten years. They were subject to all

1728-452: The opium that had been confiscated by Lin Zexu in 1839 (Article IV), 3 million dollars in compensation for debts that the merchants in Canton owed British merchants (Article V), and a further 12 million dollars in war reparations for the cost of the war (Article VI). The total sum of 21 million dollars was to be paid in instalments over three years and the Qing government would be charged an annual interest rate of 5 percent for

1776-501: The opponents of Lord Palmerston, who headed the Conservative government that launched the war, with a seeming confirmation for their claim that the war was fought to support the opium trade. Instead, Palmerston asked his negotiators to request the Chinese to legalize the sale of opium on their own initiative, outside of the treaty’s terms, which they refused. These treaties had deep and lasting effect. Nanking Treaty, together with

1824-588: The parties concluded the supplementary Treaty of the Bogue at the Bocca Tigris outside Canton. Nevertheless, the treaties of 1842–43 left several unsettled issues. In particular they did not resolve the status of the opium traffic in favour of the British Empire. Although the Treaty of Wanghia with the Americans in 1844 explicitly banned Americans from selling opium, the trade continued as both

1872-594: The responsibilities of the Service were divided between what eventually became the Customs General Administration of the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of China Directorate General of Customs on Taiwan. It was the only bureaucratic agency of the Chinese government to operate continuously as an integrated entity from 1854 to 1950. Amongst the many well-known figures who worked for

1920-410: The right to send consuls to the treaty ports, which were given the right to communicate directly with local Chinese officials (Article II). The treaty stipulated that trade in the treaty ports should be subject to fixed tariffs, which were to be agreed upon between the British and the Qing governments (Article X). The Qing government was obliged to pay the British government 6 million silver dollars for

1968-710: The treaty with Kokand made the Nanking Treaty palpable enough that the Qing did not immediately regard this settlement as a disastrous capitulation. A copy of the treaty is kept by the British government while another copy is kept by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of China at the National Palace Museum in Taipei , Taiwan. Johan Wilhelm Normann Munthe Johann Wilhelm Normann Munthe (27 July 1864 – 13 May 1935)

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2016-450: The two peoples. This extravagant display has been analysed as showing an "erotically charged ... reciprocity [in] this symbolic gesture of swapping images of wives. Because of the brevity of the Treaty of Nanking and its terms being phrased only as general stipulations, the British and Chinese representatives agreed that a supplementary treaty should be concluded to establish more detailed regulations for relations. On 3   October 1843,

2064-404: The usual hazards of life in China from illness and civil disruption to difficulties in providing for the education of their children, which often involved family separation, although to some extent this was compensated by the strong esprit de corps. A network of friends was sustained across changes of post by letter-writing, quite frequently by the duty of their wives. Sir Robert Hart was sometimes

2112-810: Was a Norwegian military officer and art collector. Munthe was born in Bergen , Norway. He received a military education at the Cavalry Cadet School ( Kavaleriets underoffiserskole ) in Trondheim . He emigrated to China in 1886, and first started working with the Chinese Maritime Customs Service . He enlisted in the Chinese Army during the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–95). Munthe had mastered

2160-531: Was a mechanism to collect revenues to repay the loans that they had imposed on or granted to China. By 1900, there were 20,000 people working in forty main Customs Houses across China and many more subsidiary stations. The agency's first Inspector-General (IG), Horatio Nelson Lay ( 李泰國 ), was dismissed in 1863 following a dispute with the Imperial court to be replaced by Sir Robert Hart ( 赫德 ), by far

2208-817: Was later appointed the first Governor of Hong Kong . In 1860, the colony was extended with the addition of the Kowloon peninsula under the Convention of Peking and in 1898, the Second Convention of Peking further expanded the colony with the 99-year lease of the New Territories . In 1984, the governments of the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China (PRC) concluded the Sino-British Joint Declaration on

2256-467: Was signed, a yellow flag for China at the main and a Union Jack for England at the mizen were hoisted, and at the same time a royal salute of twenty-one guns was fired. The Daoguang Emperor gave his assent for the treaty on 8 September. After his assent arrived in Nanjing on 15 September, Pottinger's secretary George Alexander Malcolm was dispatched on board the steamer Auckland the next morning to

2304-471: Was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese later termed the " unequal treaties ". In the wake of China's military defeat, with British warships poised to attack Nanjing (then romanized as Nanking), British and Chinese officials negotiated on board HMS Cornwallis anchored in

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