6/6/24, 1:13 AM Milestones in the History of U.S.
Foreign Relations - Office of the Historian
MILESTONES: 1830–1860
NOTE TO READERS
“Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations” has been retired and is no longer maintained.
For more information, please see the full notice.
The Opening to China Part II: the Second Opium War,
the United States, and the Treaty of Tianjin, 1857–
1859
Following the First Opium War in the 1840s, the Western powers concluded a series of treaties
with China in an effort to open its lucrative markets to Western trade. In the 1850s, the United
States and the European powers grew increasingly dissatisfied with both the terms of their
treaties with China and the Qing Government’s failure to adhere to them. The British forced the
issue by attacking the Chinese port cities of Guangzhou and Tianjin in the Second Opium War.
Under the most-favored-nation clause contained in the existing treaties, all of the foreign
powers operating in China were permitted to seek the same concessions of China that Great
Britain achieved by force. As a result, France, Russia, and the United States all signed treaties
with China at Tianjin in quick succession in 1858.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/china-2 1/3
6/6/24, 1:13 AM Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations - Office of the Historian
Prince Gong, 1860 (Felice Beato, photographer)
These treaties granted the Western powers a number of rights and privileges. The number of
treaty ports increased, with new ports opened to Western trade along the Chinese coast, on the
islands of Taiwan and Hainan, and along the Yangtze River in the interior. With the opening of
the Yangtze River, foreigners also gained full access to the interior, and were free to travel and
conduct business or missions anywhere in China. The British demanded the right of Chinese
citizens to emigrate on British ships. British (and therefore, French, American and Russian)
diplomats were permitted to establish legations and live in Beijing. The agreements reached at
Tianjin also set a new, low tariff for imported goods, giving foreign traders an important
advantage. Frustrated by irregularities in Chinese customs services, British and U.S. merchants
finally established the Imperial Maritime Customs Service, which regulated trade for the benefit
of foreign merchants and provided a steady source of revenue to the Chinese Government.
Although the Chinese signed the treaties in 1858, it took two more years of fighting before the
Chinese Government was disposed to ratify them and accept the terms. Noticing Chinese
resistance to some of the principle clauses, in particular to the residence of foreign ambassadors
in Beijing, the British continued their attacks on Chinese forts. Although the Chinese repulsed
an attack on the Dagu forts in 1859, that one victory was not enough to stop the British forces
from making their way north to Beijing. Joined by French forces, the British entered the city and
burned the Summer Palace in the northwestern periphery, but spared the Forbidden City, home
of the Chinese emperor.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/china-2 2/3
6/6/24, 1:13 AM Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations - Office of the Historian
While the British and French used military power to convince China to accept the new treaty
agreements, U.S. diplomat John Ward sought, and finally achieved through diplomatic
negotiations, an exchange of treaty ratifications in 1859. Under the most-favored-nation
clause, the U.S. ratification allowed the other powers to take advantage of the treaty provisions
of the Treaty of Tianjin secured by American diplomacy.
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. Ironically, the Qing Government had fully
supported the clauses on extraterritoriality and most-favored nation status in the first treaties
in order to keep the foreigners in line. This treaty system also marked a new direction for
Chinese contact with the outside world. For years, the Chinese had conducted their foreign
policy through the tribute system, in which foreign powers wishing to trade with China were
required first to bring a tribute to the emperor, acknowledging the superiority of Chinese
culture and the ultimate authority of the Chinese ruler. Unlike China’s neighbors, the European
powers ultimately refused to make these acknowledgements in order to trade, and they
demanded instead that China adhere to Western diplomatic practices, such as the creation of
treaties. Although the unequal treaties and the use of the most-favored-nation clause were
effective in creating and maintaining open trade with China, both were also important factors in
building animosity and resentment toward Western imperialism.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/china-2 3/3
