The Treaty of Tientsin, also known as the Treaty of Tianjin, is a collective name for several unequal treaties signed at Tianjin (then romanized as Tientsin) in June 1858. The Qing dynasty, Russian Empire, Second French Empire, United Kingdom, and the United States were the parties involved. These treaties, counted by the Chinese among the unequal treaties, opened more Chinese ports to foreign trade, permitted foreign legations in the Chinese capital Beijing, allowed Christian missionary activity, and effectively legalized the import of opium. They ended the first phase of the Second Opium War, which had begun in 1856 and were ratified by the Emperor of China in the Convention of Peking in 1860, after the end of the war.
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Treaty of Tientsin in the context of New Taipei City
New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 4,004,367 as of January 2023, making it the most populous city in Taiwan, and also the second largest special municipality by area, behind Kaohsiung. The top-level administrative divisions bordering New Taipei City are Keelung to the northeast, Yilan County to the southeast, and Taoyuan to the southwest, and it completely encloses the capital city of Taipei. Banqiao District is its municipal seat and biggest commercial area.
Before the establishment of Spanish and Dutch outposts in Tamsui in 1626, the area of present-day New Taipei City was mostly inhabited by Taiwanese indigenous peoples, mainly the Ketagalan people. From the late Qing era, the port of Tamsui was opened up to foreign traders as one of the treaty ports after the Qing dynasty of China signed the Treaty of Tientsin in June 1858. By the 1890s, the port of Tamsui accounted for 63 percent of the overall trade for entire Taiwan, port towns in the middle course of Tamsui River had also developed into bustling business and transportation centers. During the Japanese rule of Taiwan, the entire area of New Taipei City was organized as part of the Taihoku Prefecture. After the Republic of China took control of Taiwan in 1945, the present-day New Taipei City was designated on 7 January 1946 as Taipei County in Taiwan Province, which was constituted from the former Taihoku Prefecture, but not including present-day divisions of Taipei City, Keelung and Yilan County, the latter of which became detached from Taipei County on 10 October 1950. Its county status remained until 25 December 2010 when it was promoted to special municipal status and renamed as "New Taipei City".
Treaty of Tientsin in the context of Second Opium War
The Second Opium War (simplified Chinese: 第二次鸦片战争; traditional Chinese: 第二次鴉片戰爭), also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or Arrow War, was fought between the United Kingdom and France against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860. It was the second major conflict in the Opium Wars, which were fought over the right to import opium to China, and resulted in a second defeat for the Qing and the forced legalisation of the opium trade. It caused many Chinese officials to believe that conflicts with the Western powers were no longer traditional wars, but part of a looming national crisis.
On 8 October 1856, Qing officials seized the Arrow, a British-registered cargo ship, and arrested its Chinese sailors. The British consul, Harry Parkes, protested, upon which the viceroy of Liangguang, Ye Mingchen, delivered most of the sailors to the British on 22 October, but refused to release the rest. The next day, British gunboats shelled the city of Canton. The British government decided to seek redress from China and dispatched a naval force led by Michael Seymour, and France joined in the action, citing as its reason the murder of a French missionary in China. After coordination with each other, the British and French stormed Canton in December 1857. Ye was captured and the governor of Guangdong surrendered. The alliance then moved north to demand a treaty from the Qing court, and on 20 May 1858, captured the Taku Forts, stormed Tianjin, and threatened the capital Beijing. The Qing asked for peace, and signed the Treaty of Tientsin with Great Britain and France in 1858.
Treaty of Tientsin in the context of Xianfeng Emperor
The Xianfeng Emperor (17 July 1831 – 22 August 1861), also known by his temple name Emperor Wenzong of Qing, personal name Yizhu, was the eighth emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the seventh Qing emperor to rule over China proper. During his reign, the Qing dynasty experienced several wars and rebellions including the Taiping Rebellion, the Nian Rebellion, and the Second Opium War. He was the last Chinese emperor to exercise sole power.
The fourth son of the Daoguang Emperor, he assumed the throne in 1850 and inherited an empire in crisis. A few months after his ascension, the Taiping Rebellion broke out in southern China and rapidly spread, culminating in the fall of Nanjing in 1853. Contemporaneously, the Nian Rebellion began in the north, followed by ethnic uprisings (the Miao Rebellion and the Panthay Rebellion) in the south. The revolts ravaged large parts of the country, caused millions of deaths and would not be quelled until well into the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor's successor. Qing defeat during the first phase of the Second Opium War led to the Treaty of Tientsin and the Treaty of Aigun, the latter of which resulted in the cession of much of Manchuria to the Russian Empire. Negotiations broke down and hostilities resumed soon after, and in 1860 Anglo-French forces entered Beijing and burned the Old Summer Palace. The Xianfeng Emperor was forced to flee for the imperial estate at Jehol, and the Convention of Peking was negotiated in his absence.