The Chefoo Convention, known in
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
as the Yantai Treaty, was a treaty between
Qing China
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu people, Manchu-led Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin (1616–1636), La ...
and Great Britain, signed by
Sir Thomas Wade
Sir Thomas Francis Wade, (25August 181831July 1895) was a British diplomat and sinologist who produced an early Chinese textbook in English, in 1867, that was later amended, extended and converted into the Wade-Giles romanization system for ...
and
Li Hongzhang
Li Hongzhang, Marquess Suyi ( zh, t=李鴻章; also Li Hung-chang; 15 February 1823 – 7 November 1901) was a Chinese politician, general and diplomat of the late Qing dynasty. He quelled several major rebellions and served in important ...
in
Zhifu (now a
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
of
Yantai
Yantai, Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of ...
) on 21 August 1876. The official reason for the treaty was to resolve the "
Margary Affair," but the final treaty included a number of other items.
China regards the Chefoo Convention as an "
unequal treaty
Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to a series of treaties signed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, between China (mostly referring to the Qing dynasty) and various Western powers (specifically the British Empire, France, the ...
".
Contents
The convention consisted of sixteen articles and was divided into three sections. The first section dealt with the resolution of the
Margary Affair, calling for the punishment of the people implicated in the murder of
Augustus Raymond Margary
Augustus Raymond Margary (26 May 1846 – 21 February 1875) was a British diplomat and explorer. The murder of Margary and his entire staff, while surveying overland Asian trade routes, sparked the Margary Affair which led to the Chefoo Conve ...
the year before and stipulating that an indemnity be paid to Margary's relatives. The second section dealt with official intercourse between the two empires and specified the extraterritorial privileges of British subjects in China. The final section dealt with trade, prohibiting the levying of the ''
Lijin'' in the treaty ports, outlawing other forms of taxes on foreign goods, and opening a number of new treaty ports.
One practical result of the treaty was that the official mission of apology to Britain, led by
Guo Songtao
Guo Songtao ( zh, 郭嵩燾, s=郭嵩焘, p=Guō Sōngtāo, w=Kuo Sung-t’ao; 11 April 1818 – 18 July 1891) was a Chinese diplomat and statesman during the Qing dynasty. He was among the first foreign emissaries to be sent abroad by the Q ...
, became a permanent diplomatic mission in Britain, opening the way for a permanent foreign representation of China.
Ratification
The Chefoo Convention was ratified immediately by the Qing government, but was not ratified by Britain until July 1885.
References
* .
{{Qing dynasty topics
China–United Kingdom relations
Unequal treaties
1876 in China
1876 treaties
Treaties of the Qing dynasty
Treaties of the United Kingdom (1801–1922)