Decline of Qing Dynasty
During the late Qing Dynasty, government officials became extremely corrupt and the people lived in the poverty. Natural and man-made calamities befell one after another, and peasant uprisings occurred from time to time. This eventually led to the rebellion known as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Uprising that swept most parts of the country, greatly shaking the rule of the Qing government. Beginnig in the 1840's, the Western powers had launched in succession the Opium War, the Second Opium War, the Sino-French War, the Sino-Japanese War and the Eight-Power Allied Forces invasion, forcing China to sign a series of unequal treaties, which seriously encroached  upon China's sovereignty and territory. After the Sino-Japanese War, imperialist power began to lease land in China, set up banks and export capital to China. By way of economic aggression, they exerted an ever greater influence over the Chinese government. China sank deeper and deeper into the abyss of semi-colonialism while the Qing government became increasingly corrupt and incompetent.



Table of Major Unequal Treaties Signed in the Late Qing Dynasty:
Name of Treaty
Sino-British Treaty of Nanjing





Sino-British of Tianjin






Sino-French Treaty of Tianjin





Sino-French Convention of Beijing

Sino-Japanese Treaty of Shimonoseki










Treaty of 1901
Main Terms
1.China opens Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo and Shanghai as trade ports.          
2.China cedes Hong Kong to Britain.         
3.China pays Britain an indemnity of 21 million silver dollars.
4.Tariff on Britain goods are subject to negotiations between China and Britain.

1.China opens Niuzhuang, Dengzhou, Tainan, Chaozhao,
   Qiongzhou, Hankou, Jiujiang, Nanjing, Zhenjiang as trade ports.
2.British warships are allowed to sail into the trade ports.
3.Christian and Catholic missionaries are free to carry out
   missionary activities in China's interior.
4.China pays Britain an indemnity of 4 million taels of silver.

1.China opens Qionzhou, Chaozhou, Tainan, Danshui, Dengzhou
and Nanjing as trade ports.
2.French warships are allowed to sail into the trade ports.
3.Christian and Catholic missionaries are free to carry out
   missionary activities in China's interior.
4.China pays France an indemnity of 2 million taels of silver.  
    
1.China opens Tianjin as a trade port.
2.China pays France an indemnity of 8 million taels of silver.

1.China cedes to Japan Liaodong Peninsula, Penghu Islands,
  Taiwan and its adjacent islands.
2.China pays Japan an indemnity of 200 million taels of silver.
3.China opens Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou and Hangzhou trade ports;
Japanese vessels are allowed to sail into these ports along China's inland ports.
4.Japan is allowed to open factories in China's trade ports.
5.Japanese goods manufactured in China are exempt from
  taxation; Japan is allowed to set up warehouses in China's
  interior.
   
1.China is to pay eleven countries(Britain , U.S., Russia,
  Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Japan, Belgium,
  Spain and Holland) an indemnity of 450 million taels of
  silver within 39 years. The unpaid balance carries an annual
  interest of 4 per cent.      
2.Foreign countries are allowed to station troops in Beijing, and
  along the railway line between Beijing and Shanghai Pass: fort
  at Dagu and all forts from Dagu to Beijing are dismantled.
3.The Qing govenment is to inflict severe punishment on "chief
   offenders, including ministers," and forbids the Chinese people
   to set up or participate in anti-imperialist organizations;
   violaters are to be put to death.
Date
August 29, 1842





June 26, 1858






June 27, 1858






October 25, 1860

April 17, 1895










September 7, 1901
Opium Smoking Set
Hong Kong
Macao
Yuanmingyuan Garden
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
Banknotes issued in China by foreign banks
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