Sino-Western Relations
(1759-1839)
Overland Contacts

Russian Expansion



Office of Border Affairs (Lifanyuan)
Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689)
Treaty of Kaikhta (1723)
Canton System of Trade
1759-1841


British East India Company (BEIC)
Cohong Merchants




Monopoly on trade
Responsible for foreigners
No Direct Communication with Chinese
government
Trading Season (October to January)
British Complaints




Trade restrictions
Government corruption
No representation in Beijing
Chinese laws too harsh

Lady Hughes Affair, 1784
British Diplomatic Missions

Marcartney Mission (1793)


Amicable but ineffective
Amherst Mission (1816)

Discordant and ineffective
Road to Opium War
(1839-1842)




Importance of Chinese Tea
to British Government
Increasing Opium exports
after 1800 to balance trade
Abolishment of BEIC,
First British Superintendent
of trade,
Impact of Illegal Opium Trade on China



Official corruption
Drug addiction
Economic impact

Silver – copper imbalance
Chinese Response to Opium Trade




Lin Zexu
Daoguang Emperor (1821-50)
Legalize or Suppress 1836
Lin Zexu (Commissioner Lin)
1839
Reason, moral suasion, coercion
 Attack opium trade
 Treatment of addicts
 Blockade foreign merchants
Opium War





Destruction of the Opium
End of BEIC monopoly 1834
British Government Rep in Canton
 Lord Napier, Deputy of British
Crown
Destruction of Opium
Hostilities Phase One
 Lin Zexu—Charles Elliott
Hostilities Phase Two
 Qishan—Henry Pottinger
Sanyuanli Incident
Treaty of Nanjing 1842


Ceded Hong Kong in
perpetuity
Opened Five new ports:
Canton, Xiamen,
Fuzhou, Ningbo,
Shanghai




Fixed tariff
Equality in
correspondence
Indemnity
Abolish Cohong
Signing of the Treaty of Nanjing
Treaty Port System



Trade at Five Open Ports
Most favored nation for foreign powers
Extraterritoriality
Arrow War (1856-1860)
“Second Opium War”

Treaty of Tianjin




Residence in Beijing
Preaching Christianity
11 more ports including Yangzi River Ports
Legalize opium