Unequal Treaty

Unequal Treaty, in Chinese history, any of a series of treaties 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 Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia, and Japan.

Patterned largely on the terms of an accord in 1835 between China and the khanate of Kokand, the Unequal Treaties were initiated by the trading conflict between Britain and China known as the first Opium War (1839–42), which was terminated by the Treaty of Nanking (Aug. 29, 1842). Under the terms of this 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, were now to be allowed to trade at five ports (called treaty ports), including Canton and Shanghai.

The agreement was supplemented the following year by the British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue (Oct. 8, 1843), which granted British citizens in China extraterritorial rights, by which they were to be under the control of their own ... (200 of 791 words)

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