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mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.2_dec7
mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.2_dec7

On 26 and 27 June 1858 (the eighth year of Emperor Xianfeng’s ﹝咸豐﹞reign), the Qing government signed separate Treaties of Tientsin (《天津條約》, Treaties of Tianjin) with Britain and France, which brought the war to a halt. The major points of the treaties were:

(1) Establishment of permanent foreign diplomatic missions in Beijing (北京), the Qing China’s capital: treaty signatories could dispatch their envoys to each other’s capital;

(2) The right to travel: foreigners could freely travel all parts of China for pleasure, business or missionary activities;

(3) Inland waterways navigation: all foreign vessels including naval vessels would have the right to navigate inland waterways freely including the Yangtze River (長江) and access all trading ports;

(4) Opening of additional ports for foreign trade: in addition to the original five designated ports, ten more ports were opened for trade. They were Niuzhuang (牛莊, later opened nearby Yingkou﹝營口﹞), Dengzhou (登州, in Yantai﹝煙台﹞), Taiwan (now Tainan ﹝台南﹞), Tamsui (淡水, now Hsinchu ﹝新竹﹞), Chaozhou (潮州, in Shantou﹝汕頭﹞), Qiongzhou (瓊州), Zhenjiang (鎮江), Nanjing (南京), Jiujiang (九江), and Hankou (漢口);

(5) Consular jurisdiction: the treaties clearly stipulated that foreigners who may commit any crime in China would be tried and punished by their own countries’ consulates instead of the Qing authorities;

(6) Adjustment to customs duties: a customs duty of five per cent would be levied on imports and exports other than silk, tea, and opium; and a zikou tax (子口稅, transit dues) of just two and a half per cent would be charged for importing foreign goods or exporting local goods;

(7) Tariff negotiation: China must continue to negotiate tariff issues with foreign powers;

(8) Payment of indemnities of four million and two million taels (兩) of silver to Britain and France respectively.

To China, these terms were detrimental in many aspects - commerce, jurisdiction, finance - to name a few. It was agreed that China, Britain, and France would meet in Beijing the following year to ratify the treaties.

Why did the Qing government keep committing the same mistake? Had it not learnt its lesson from the First Opium War?

See answer below.

mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.1_dec7
mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.1_dec7

In 1858, the Qing government signed separate Treaties of Tientsin with both Britain and France. Pictured is Haiguang Temple (海光寺) in Tianjin, where the treaties were signed.

mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.2_dec7
mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.2_dec7

Britain was the dominant party in the military operation against China. The picture features the signing ceremony of the Sino-British Treaty of Tientsin. Lord Elgin, the British representative, is sitting in the centre.

mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.3_dec12
mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.3_dec12

The original Sino-British Treaty of Tientsin (partial view).

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Not only did the Sino-British Treaty of Tientsin grant Britain various concessions, Article 51 of the treaty also stipulated that China would be forbidden from using the character “yi” (or spelt “I”, barbarian) to refer to officials, subjects or citizens of the British Empire in all diplomatic records issued by Chinese authorities in the capital or provinces. Traditionally, China had always viewed foreigners as less civilised “barbarians”, and the Qing government habitually referred to the British as “yingyi” (British barbarians). Due to the Qing government’s concerns for safety and its supercilious mindset, the “yi people” were rarely allowed to set foot within the capital, even after the First Opium War.  An exception was made for tributary missions or on occasions for which prior approval had been granted. Therefore, unsurprisingly, to the Chinese the idea of letting foreigners establish legations in the capital was considered preposterous.  The British saw this treatment as discriminatory and insulting, and thus specifically stipulated in the Sino-British Treaty of Tientsin that they would have the right to establish diplomatic legations in the capital, and the term “yi” would be banned from future use. The very negative view of outsiders as “yi” had, to some extent, fuelled antagonism between China and foreign countries.

mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.4_dec7
mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.4_dec7

According to the Treaties of Tientsin, various ports would be opened for trade. Shantou in Chaozhou, Guangdong Province (廣東), was one of them. Pictured is a bird’s eye view of the foreign residential quarter in Shantou in the 19th century (photographed sometime between 1869 and 1871).

mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.5_dec7
mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.5_dec7

Qiongzhou, located on remote Hainan Island, was one of the newly opened ports for foreign trade (photographed in 1870).

mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.6_dec7
mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.6_dec7

Unlike the 1842 Treaty of Nanking (《南京條約》, Treaty of Nanjing), ports opened under the Treaties of Tientsin were not confined to coastal ports. Hankou (漢口), one of the newly opened ports, was a major inland commercial town. Pictured is the Hankou British consulate in the 1880s and the Xiang River (襄河) Wharf in Hankou in the late Qing dynasty.

mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.7_dec7
mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.7_dec7

The intersection of the Grand Canal (大運河) in Yangzhou (揚州) and the Yangtze River in the 19th century. The Treaties of Tientsin granted foreign vessels including naval vessels the right to navigate the Yangtze River and other inland waterways. The free foreign access to inland waterways and inland ports allowed foreigners to penetrate inland regions.

mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.8_dec7
mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.8_dec7

The Qing customs office at Huangpu (黃埔) of Guangzhou (廣州). The terms regarding tariffs in the Treaties of Tientsin struck China’s tariff autonomy.

ebook

Concerning the revision of tariff rates, the Sino-British Treaty of Tientsin stipulated that a customs duty of five per cent would be imposed on imports and exports other than silk, tea, and opium. A zikou tax of just two and a half per cent would be charged for importing foreign goods or exporting local goods. Simply put, zikou refers to the inland checkpoints while its coastal counterpart (port customs) was called mukou (母口). According to the treaty terms, imports were only required to pay a one-time import duty of five per cent to the customs upon arrival and an additional one-time zikou tax of two and a half per cent at the first checkpoint encountered. The goods could then be transported freely throughout the country without needing to pay further taxes and dues. The customs duty and transit dues, at five per cent and two and a half per cent respectively, were both extremely low, and thus China could no longer protect its own economy by increasing tariffs.

mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.9_dec7
mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.9_dec7

According to the Treaties of Tientsin, China and foreign powers must renegotiate tariff issues in Shanghai. They reached an agreement in November 1858, including the tariff rate of opium. Since then, opium trade was legalised. The picture shows Chinese coolies unloading opium from ships during the Anglo-French Expedition to China.

mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.10_dec12
mainsite_tushuojindai_yingfalianjun2.10_dec12

The Chinese translation of the decree from Queen Victoria approving the Sino-British Treaty of Tientsin. After signing the Treaties of Tientsin, China, Britain, and France made an agreement to ratify the treaty in Beijing a year later in 1859. However, this event provoked the second phase of the war.

Why did the Qing government keep committing the same mistake? Had it not learnt its lesson from the First Opium War?

In both Opium Wars, the Qing military had the home field and numerical advantages. Even so, they were utterly defeated on both occasions. A country’s political system, its strategic decisions, the use of military tactics, army size, weaponry quality as well as troop and civilian morale are all key factors determining the outcome of a war. Where military technology, battle resolve, and strategic planning were concerned, Britain and France always possessed the upper hand. The Qing government, on the contrary, was a backward regime that was ignorant of global affairs. Although cowardly in battle, it in general was less troubled by foreign invasions than by its own people’s rebellions. In the First Opium War, it failed to enlist the support of grassroots groups such as the “British quelling brigades” (平英團) for fearing that the Han people would turn against it. In the Second Opium War, preoccupied with the Taiping Rebellion (太平天國), the government’s only thought was to call off the hostilities as soon as possible and pacify the foreigners, with whom it had joined forces to quash the mass uprisings within China.

Source of most photos used in this feature piece: Visual China Group (pictures 1, 2), Fotoe (pictures 4-9), misc. photo sources.

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