First Opium War

British capture of Chuenpi and occupation of Hong Kong during the First Opium War

Both negotiators lost their jobs because their own governments disliked the compromise they had reached — Qishan went back to Beijing in chains.

7 January 1841: the forts on the Pearl River

On 7 January 1841, British forces captured the forts on Chuenpi and Taikoktow, which guarded the Pearl River approach to Canton. British casualties in the action numbered 38.

Negotiations had already failed over British demands for compensation and a coastal island, which is why the attack came.

Nineteen days to a flag on Hong Kong

The defeat produced a truce and preliminary talks between the British chief superintendent of trade Charles Elliot — a Royal Navy captain, not an admiral — and the Qing imperial commissioner Qishan.

The preliminary Chuenpi terms covered Hong Kong Island, an indemnity and the resumption of trade. On 26 January a British naval landing party raised the flag at Possession Point in Sheung Wan and formally occupied the island.

A settlement neither government accepted

London and Beijing both repudiated what their representatives had agreed. Hostilities resumed and both Elliot and Qishan were removed from their posts; after the court rejected the terms, Qishan was sent to Beijing in chains.

Sources still differ on how to describe and date the preliminary arrangement — some give 18 January, Hong Kong government histories call it a convention signed on 20 January, and other scholarship stresses that no instrument was ever accepted by both governments.

The occupation of January 1841 rested on that repudiated settlement. Definitive cession of Hong Kong Island came only with the Treaty of Nanking, signed on 29 August 1842.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes, 1 issue open Date disputed

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Date disputed. Sources disagree; the research places it at 1841-01-07.

What the sources leave uncertain

The source record is internally mismatched: its title names the entire 1839–42 war, while its date supplies only 1841. This sheet identifies the specific 1841 episode emphasized in the supplied article—the Chuenpi battle and ensuing occupation of Hong Kong.
Sources differ over how to describe and date the preliminary Chuenpi arrangement. Some say an agreement was reached on 18 January; Hong Kong government histories call it a convention signed on 20 January; other scholarship emphasizes that no definitive instrument was accepted by both governments.
The war's opening is variously dated to the Kowloon clash of 4 September 1839, the Chuenpi naval battle of 3 November 1839 or the arrival of the British expedition in June 1840. Therefore 1841 cannot correctly serve as the opening date of the whole war.