Here are some Q & A:
What were the causes of the Second Opium War?
- failure of the treaty to satisfy British goals of improved trade and diplomatic relations led to the Second Opium War (1856-60)
- In October 1856, Chinese marines in Canton seized a cargo ship called the Arrow on suspicion of piracy, arresting twelve of its fourteen Chinese crew members.
How did the Canton incident cause the Second Opium War?
- Arrow had previously been used by pirates, captured by the Chinese government, and subsequently resold.
- was then registered as a British ship and still flew the British flag at the time of its detainment, though its registration had expired.
- its captain, Thomas Kennedy, who was aboard a nearby vessel at the time, reported seeing Chinese marines pull the British flag down from the ship.
- The British consul in Canton, Harry Parkes, contacted Ye Mingchen, imperial commissioner and Viceroy of Liangguang, to demand the immediate release of the crew, and an apology for the alleged insult to the flag.
- Ye released nine of the crew members, but refused to release the last three
- they followed up the Arrow Incident in 1856 and attacked Guangzhou from the Pearl River.
Viceroy Ye Mingchen ordered all Chinese soldiers manning the forts not to resist the British incursion.
- After taking the fort near Guangzhou with little effort, the British Army attacked Guangzhou
What were the consequences of the Second Opium War?
- social unrest
- Treaty of Tianjin
- opium trade was legalized and Christians were granted full civil rights, including the right to own property, and the right to evangelize
Supplementary Treaty of Peking" which ceded the Maritime Provinces east of the Ussuri River (forming part of Outer Manchuria) to the Russians who went on to found the port of Vladivostok between 1860-61.
-a major modernization movement, known as the Self-Strengthening Movement, began in China in the 1860s and several institutional reforms were initiated
What were the terms of the Treaty of Tianjin?
- Britain, France, Russia, and the U.S. would have the right to establish diplomatic legations (small embassies) in Peking (a closed city at the time)
ten more Chinese ports would be opened for foreign trade, including Niuzhuang, Tamsui, Hankou, and Nanjing
- right of all foreign vessels including commercial ships to navigate freely on the Yangtze River
- right of foreigners to travel in the internal regions of China, which had been formerly banned China was to pay an indemnity of four million taels of silver to Britain and two million to France