Britain, Germany, France, Japan, and Russia forced treaty ports on China, conferring themselves preferential trading privileges.
The first Chinese ports were opened to British merchants in 1842, after China’s downfall in the first Opium War (1839–42) against the British.
By the end of the 19th century, because the Western countries required even further concessions from China, the Chinese treaty ports increased from 5 to over 50 by 1911.