Treaty of Nanjing

The Treaty of Nanjing is the agreement which ended the First Opium War between the United Kingdom and China.

It was signed in 1842 onboard the British warship HMS Cornwallis.

Table of contents

1 Treaty Ports 2 Opium trade 3 Aftermath

Treaty Ports

The treaty had China agree to cede Hong Kong to the British Empire. The following ports of were opened for foreign trade:

• Canton (Guangzhou)
• Amoy (Xiamen)
• Foochow (Fuzhou)
• Ningpo (Ningbo)
• Shanghai

(The first of the Romanizations are in Postal System Pinyin; the second Hanyu Pinyin.)

Together, the above six ports are the Treaty Ports.

Opium trade

The treaty also ensured the continuance of the opium trade, which was profitable for the English and which many historians believe to have been devastating to the Chinese.

Aftermath

In June 1858 the first part of the Second Opium War ended with the Treaties of Tianjin, to which France, Russia, and the United States were party. These treaties opened eleven more ports to Western trade. They were ratified by the emperor in the Beijing Convention in 1860, after the end of the war.

See also: Nanjing