Treaty of Nanking

29 August 1842, aboard HMS Cornwallis

On 29 August 1842, British plenipotentiary Henry Pottinger and the Qing representatives Qiying, Yilibu and Niu Jian signed and sealed the treaty aboard HMS Cornwallis, anchored at Nanjing.

Its thirteen articles ended the hostilities between Britain and Qing China and allowed British residence and trade at Canton, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai. Compulsory British dealing through the licensed Cohong merchants was abolished.

Twenty-one million dollars, itemized

The indemnity came to 21 million dollars: 6 million for surrendered opium, 3 million for insolvent Cohong debts owed to British subjects, and 12 million for expedition expenses, less qualifying ransom receipts collected after 1 August 1841. Overdue instalments carried 5 percent annual interest.

Article III ceded Hong Kong Island to Queen Victoria and her successors in perpetuity, and explained the cession in the language of a place for British ships to refit and keep stores.

In force before it was ratified

Article XIII provided that signed counterpart copies would be exchanged immediately and that the arrangements would take effect pending sovereign ratification. The Daoguang Emperor ratified on 27 October 1842 and Queen Victoria at Windsor on 28 December; the ratifications were exchanged at Hong Kong on 26 June 1843.

British withdrawal from Nanjing and the Grand Canal was tied to imperial assent and the first payment, while Britain kept Kulangsu and Chusan as security until the payments and port arrangements were completed.

The treaty neither legalized the opium trade nor granted extraterritoriality; extraterritoriality came in the supplementary Treaty of the Bogue in 1843.