how did the unequal treaties affect china

Historian Immanuel Hsu states that the Chinese viewed the treaties they signed with Western powers

and Russia as unequal "because they were not negotiated by nations treating each other as equals but were imposed on China after a war, and because they encroached upon China's sovereign rights... which reduced her to semicolonial status".

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What was the significance of unequal treaties?

These documents are known as "unequal treaties," and they played a key role in creating nationalism in Japan, China, and also Korea . The first of the unequal treaties was imposed on Qing China by the British Empire in 1842 after the First Opium War.

What was the first unequal treaty in Asia?

Unequal Treaties in Modern Asian History. The first of the unequal treaties was imposed on Qing China by the British Empire in 1842 after the First Opium War.

How did the Chinese feel about the Western treaties?

Historian Immanuel Hsu explained that the Chinese viewed the treaties they signed with Western powers as unequal "because they were not negotiated by nations treating each other as equals but were imposed on China after a war, and because they encroached upon China's sovereign rights ...

What was the significance of the Treaty of Nanjing?

The first treaty between China and the United Kingdom termed "unequal" was the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842. Following Qing China's defeat, treaties with Britain opened up five ports to foreign trade, while also allowing foreign missionaries, at least in theory, to reside within China.

What was the result of the unequal treaties in China?

Towards the end of the unequal treaties China declared war on Germany on August 17 1917. These acts voided the unequal treaty of 1861, resulting in the reinstatement of Chinese control on the concessions of Tianjin and Hankou to China.

How did the unequal treaties weaken China?

The unequal treaties that western powers imposed on China undermined the ways China had conducted relations with other countries and its trade in tea. The continuation of the opium trade, moreover, added to the cost to China in both silver and in the serious social consequences of opium addiction.

Why was China subject to unequal treaties in the nineteenth century?

The agreements reached between the Western powers and China following the Opium Wars came to be known as the “unequal treaties” because in practice they gave foreigners privileged status and extracted concessions from the Chinese.

Which condition does China have to meet after signing the unequal treaties?

By the terms of the treaty, China was obliged to recognize the independence of Korea, over which it had traditionally held suzerainty; to cede Taiwan, the Pescadores Islands, and the Liaodong (south Manchurian) Peninsula to Japan; to pay an indemnity of 200,000,000 taels to Japan; and to open the ports of Shashi, ...

What did China agree to in the Treaty of Nanjing?

Under the Treaty of Nanking, signed on August 29, 1842, China agreed to open the five ports requested (Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai), pay an indemnity of 20 million silver dollars, abolish the Cohong monopoly that hitherto had controlled trade in and through Canton, and adhere to a fixed schedule of ...

Why was the Treaty of Nanjing an unfair Treaty for the Chinese?

The Treaty of Nanjing, the beginning of a series of unfair agreements that benefited the West and hurt China, required China to repay British merchants for damages, open five ports for British residence and trade, and place a low tariff on British goods.

Why was the Treaty of Nanjing known as the unequal treaties?

The agreements reached between the Western powers and China following the Opium Wars came to be known as the “unequal treaties” because in practice they gave foreigners privileged status and extracted concessions from the Chinese.

How did the government and Japanese society react when Japan was forced to accept unequal treaties?

How did the government and Japanese society react when Japan was forced to accept unequal treaties? The samurai and daimyo restored the emperor to power and worked to reform Japan.

Why is the Treaty of Nanking an unequal treaty for the Chinese?

The agreements reached between the Western powers and China following the Opium Wars came to be known as the “unequal treaties” because in practice they gave foreigners privileged status and extracted concessions from the Chinese.

What was one of the consequences of the Treaty of Nanjing?

It began what the Chinese refer to as the Century of Humiliation as the Treaty of Nanjing was followed in 1856 by the Second Opium War. Concessions in the Treaty of Nanjing included repayment for opium the Chinese destroyed, the opening of five Chinese trading ports, and the British were given control of Hong Kong.

How did the government and Japanese society react when Japan was forced to accept unequal treaties?

How did the government and Japanese society react when Japan was forced to accept unequal treaties? The samurai and daimyo restored the emperor to power and worked to reform Japan.

How did the Chinese people react to the growing influence of Westerners in China?

How did the people of China react to the growing influence of Europeans in China? They tried to introduce western ideas, but many Chinese resisted reform. What were the causes of the Taiping Rebellion, and what were the results?

What happened during the Second Opium War?

The Second Opium War (1856 to 1860) lead to the legalization of the Opium market started a wave of drug addiction that sapped of the people. Beijing was occupied, looted, and the Summer Palace burned. A host of rebellions took place in the time period that repeated emptied the country's Treasury.

Why did traders pay in silver?

Traders paid in Silver for her products and natural resources. The population was a consumer market that the Europeans envied. The unequal treaties gutted China's economy and undermined the forces of the State. With the First Opium War (1839-1842) the British were the first foreign power to force China into an "unequal treaty" China was compelled ...

What was the period of unequal treaties with China?

The period of “unequal treaties” with China came not so much with the appearance of Europeans in the Far East, but with their aggressive commercial diplomacy. The formidable industrial rise of European nations during the first two thirds of the nineteenth century resulted in ever-growing pressure on the unrivalled market that was the Middle Kingdom.

What was the impact of China's economic and industrial rise on the West?

During the nineteenth century, the perception of China evolved considerably in the West, whose economic and industrial rise promoted the spread of liberal doctrines, and pushed back the borders of the Old Continent. The development of geographical societies, exploratory expeditions, and religious missions opened up broad horizons for Europeans.

Why did Chinese civil servants hounded drug users?

To counter the ever-terrible ravages of opium within its population, Chinese civil servants hounded drug users, who now numbered in the millions. Both Europeans and Americans demanded opening trade towards China’s north and interior.

What was the impact of the naval industry in 1839-1840?

During the years 1839-1840, the appearance of technologies that revolutionized the naval industry, such as the use of steel and steam, led to a substantial shortening of voyages by sea routes. Maritime traffic assumed a major role, and the implementation of naval support locations emerged as a new strategic priority for European admiralties. Finally, new regions were now within the reach of European trade, with Western businessmen now having their sights fixed on the giant potential market that was the Middle Kingdom. It was the British who took the initiative of opening the Chinese market by force, not only to unload stocks of opium produced in India, but also to impose their economic liberalism and wash away the repeated affronts to their diplomacy.

What happened in 1856?

In 1856, Chinese soldiers seized a ship flying the British flag, and confiscated its cargo of drugs. Europeans’ warehouses were pillaged and burned, while missionaries were massacred, among them the French priest Chapdelaine. London and Paris decided on a new military expedition, encircling Beijing on October 13, 1860.

What countries seized Annam?

The Middle Kingdom was henceforth being attacked on its edges: in the North by Russia, which ate away territories in Manchuria and Central Asia; in the South by France, which seized the tributary state of Annam in 1885; and in the East by Japan, which seized Korea in 1895. The permanence of a unified China was quite compromised in the early twentieth century, as internal agitation grew, fuelled by anti-Western hatred.

What did the Portuguese trade with China?

Following upon Portuguese expeditions from the early sixteenth century in the Indian Ocean and towards the seas of the Far East, Europeans had been setting foot on Chinese coasts for an extended period of time. In 1557, the Portuguese established themselves in Macao, engaging in trade from there. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, regular trade between China and the European maritime powers was established. French, English, Dutch and Spanish ships bought cotton, silk and “blue and white” porcelain in exchange for silver, a rare material in China. The scope of trade “to China” nevertheless remained too limited to generate a major political reaction in the Middle Kingdom.

What is Chapter 8 of the Treaty of China?

Chapter 8 contains a rich and solid profile of the forty treaty ports in the nineteen provinces. Morse had firsthand experience working in several treaty ports of China. Nield, Robert.

Who were the two Western scholars who emphasized the importance of foreign presence in China?

During the first half of the 20th century, the foreign presence and establishment served as the “port of entry” to the study of modern China for two generations of Western scholars, epitomized by Hosea Ballou Morse and John King Fairbank.

What is the Treaty Ports of China and Japan?

The Treaty Ports of China and Japan: A Complete Guide to the Open Ports of Those Countries, Together with Peking, Yedo, Hongkong and Macao. London: Trübner, 1867. A monumental first book on treaty ports and other important cities in China and Japan, chiefly compiled by then British consular officers.

What is the meaning of treaty ports?

Introduction. The “unequal treaties” and the treaty ports are two intricately linked elements of modern China’s experience with the world from 1843 to 1943 and beyond. The legal framework of treaty ports was rooted and developed in a series of documents signed between China and foreign countries that are considered by the Chinese ...

How many chapters are there in the Treaty of Ports?

A collective work to advance the study of the treaty ports. Comprises twelve chapters that explore the legal and land system, technological innovations, shipping infrastructure, migration, and other topics.

When was the Treaty Ports opened?

Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842–1854. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1969. First edition published by Harvard University Press in 1953. Focuses on the creation of the treaty system. A classic example of Fairbank’s impact-response interpretation of modern Chinese history, although Fairbank, ...

Which provinces did not have treaty ports?

Among the nineteen Chinese provinces, by the early 20th century only Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Henan, and Guizhou had no treaty ports. Not necessarily located on the coast or near navigable water, the treaty ports were the “ports of entry,” but also something more. In historiographical terms, the treaty ports have been variously characterized as ...

When did China end the unequal treaties?

Thus China entered the new era of ending unequal treaties on March 14, 1917 when it broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, and declared war on August 17 of the same year. These acts voided the unequal treaty of 1861, resulting in the reinstatement of Chinese control on the concessions of Tianjin and Hankou to China.

What was the Unequal Treaty?

Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to a series of treaties signed between the Qing dynasty and various Western powers, the Russian Empire, and the Empire of Japan during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The agreements, often reached after a military defeat, contained one-sided terms requiring China to cede land, pay reparations, ...

What did the new government declare to the Great Powers?

The new government declared to the Great Powers that China had been exploited for decades under unequal treaties, and that the time for such treaties was over, demanding they renegotiate all of them on equal terms. In the face of Japanese expansion in China, however, ending the system was postponed.

What was the name of the treaty between the Qing Dynasty and various Western powers?

Unequal treaty. Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to a series of treaties signed between the Qing dynasty and various Western powers, the Russian Empire, and the Empire of Japan during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The agreements, often reached after a military defeat, contained one-sided terms requiring China to cede land, ...

What was the first unequal treaty between Japan and Korea?

This forced Korea to open its doors to Japan by signing the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876.

What were some examples of treaties that outlasted World War II?

Significant examples did outlast World War II: treaties regarding Hong Kong remained in place until Hong Kong's 1997 handover, and in 1969, to improve Sino-Soviet relations in the wake of military skirmishes along their border, the People's Republic of China reconfirmed the 1858 Treaty of Aigun.

What was the first treaty between China and the United Kingdom?

The first treaty between China and the United Kingdom termed "unequal" was the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842. Following Qing China's defeat, treaties with Britain opened up five ports to foreign trade, while also allowing foreign missionaries, at least in theory, to reside within China.

When did China's unequal treaties end?

The majority of China's unequal treaties lasted until the Second Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1937; the western powers abrogated most of the agreements by the end of World War II. Great Britain, however, retained Hong Kong until 1997.

What was the first unequal treaty?

The first of the unequal treaties was imposed on Qing China by the British Empire in 1842 after the First Opium War. This document, the Treaty of Nanjing, forced China to allow foreigner traders to use five treaty ports, to accept foreign Christian missionaries on its soil, and to allow missionaries, traders, and other British citizens the right ...

What were the effects of the Treaties of the 19th and early 20th centuries?

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, stronger powers imposed humiliating, one-sided treaties on weaker nations in East Asia. The treaties imposed harsh conditions on the target nations , sometimes seizing territory, allowing citizens of the stronger nation special rights within the weaker nation, and infringing on the targets' sovereignty. These documents are known as "unequal treaties," and they played a key role in creating nationalism in Japan, China, and also Korea .

What was the name of the agreement that the U.S. imposed on the Tokugawa government?

The U.S. imposed an agreement called the Convention of Kanagawa on the Tokugawa government.

What happened in 1860 in Japan?

In 1860, China lost the Second Opium War to Britain and France and was forced to ratify the Treaty of Tianjin.

When did Japan end the Korean tributary relationship?

It imposed the first unequal treaty of its own on Korea in 1876. In the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1876, Japan unilaterally ended Korea's tributary relationship with Qing China, opened three Korean ports to Japanese trade, and allowed Japanese citizens extraterritorial rights in Korea.

When did Japan annex Korea?

This was the first step toward Japan's outright annexation of Korea in 1910. In 1895, Japan prevailed in the First Sino-Japanese War. This victory convinced the western powers that they would not be able to enforce their unequal treaties with the rising Asian power any longer.

When did China and Britain sign the Treaty of Nanking?

Britain and China sign the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, first of the ‘Unequal Treaties’. Photo: Wikicommons.

Why did the British send back treaties?

Ever sticklers for detail that the British were, they sent back treaties numerous times so that the language within perfectly reflected an agreement between two equal countries, and thus ensuring that there were no hidden subtexts of one party being senior to the other. In fact, the Treaties between Britain and China were not unequal in their wording or intention. They were, in fact, the first ever treaty that the Dragon Throne entered on an equal basis.

What are the unwritten conditions for future UK governments to fulfil?

For the billions of dollars of deals from China to Britain come loaded with unwritten conditions for future UK governments to fulfil: Don’t meet the Dalai Lama, don’t comment on China’s human rights, don’t comment on China’s internal affairs, be compliant with China’s foreign policy, do not support Hong Kong, and such. Or bad behaviours, as defined by the immoral CCP, will bring financial consequences for Britain, good behaviours will bring rewards. Don’t forget to throw the control of three nuclear reactors into this coercive relationship.

What was the main driver of the first war between Britain and China?

In fact, any simple review of British Colonial History quickly shows that the principle driver behind the first war between Britain and China was Britain’s desire for trading treaties that were essentially equal – whereas in the past the Dragon Throne had only ever entered into treaties that overtly benefitted itself over and above the vassal or barbarian state.

What was the name of the steamer that destroyed Chinese war junks?

The ironclad steamer HMS Nemesis destroying Chinese war junks at the Second Battle of Chuenpee, 1841. Photo: Wikicommons.

Was the trade pact fair?

No doubt, the trade pacts that were signed were fair and equal and probably gushed with mutual respect between the two States. But just as with the original Unequal Treaties, what will be remembered in history is what the text does not contain.

Is China a trading partner of Great Britain?

Great Britain and China have had a long and contentious trading relationship – this is a fact that no one can deny.