Treaty of Tientsin

The Treaty of Tientsin was the settlement signed on 26 June 1858 at Tientsin between Queen Victoria's government, represented by the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, and the Chinese emperor, represented by the High Commissioners Kweiliang and Hwashana. It renewed and confirmed the Treaty of Nanking of 1842 and abrogated the supplementary treaty and trade regulations that had followed it, folding their substance into one new instrument. Its articles let each side send diplomatic agents to the other's court and allowed the British envoy to reside at Peking, placed Protestant and Catholic missionaries under the protection of the Chinese authorities, authorized British subjects to travel in the interior under passports, opened the Yangtze to British merchant ships with Chinkiang as the first port, and added Newchwang, Tengchow, Taiwan, Swatow and Kiungchow to the ports open to British trade. It also set out customs and shipping procedure. The Chinese refusal to let the envoy proceed to Peking for the exchange of ratifications led to renewed fighting and to the Convention of Peking of 1860.