The Taipings at Ningpo
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Shanghae, as we consider it quite unsafe to proceed to Ningpo through the pirate fleet, though we shall be quite safe in going to Shanghae, although it will be a long and tedious journey.” The agent and his companions did make their way to Shanghai, with their silk, and were everywhere treated in a friendly manner by the Taipings. Another writer reported to the North China Herald that he had been given a pass in order to conduct trade in the environs of Ningpo, and transmitted the assurances of a Taiping officer in charge of the district through which he passed that "he would do his best to protect traders and he hoped before long to regain the confidence of the population, and see business again restored..."13 As it turned out this particular reporter did run into some difficulties in the course of his business trip, but in the end received “adequate apology", and another pass to travel again later on.
Yet despite such a positive record, the Taiping achievement at Ningpo marks a watershed in their relations with the foreign powers. Far from viewing the Taiping occupation as an experiment to determine their governmental capacity, the British only awaited an appropriate opportunity to retake the city on behalf of the Ch'ing government. And except for the initial candidly favorable appraisals of Taiping behavior, most subsequent reports were calculated to portray a negative image of the insurgents. Thus, despite the surprise of the rapid Taiping conquest and signs of Taiping reasonableness in dealing with foreigners and their promotion of the all-important trade, it seems evident that the British very early began to make preparations for the inevitable showdown. But first they were preoccupied elsewhere. A few days after the fall of Ningpo, for example, Admiral Hope again visited the Taiping capital at Nanking where he sought a renewal of the agreement for the Taipings to respect the thirty-mile limit in the environs of Shanghai. The Taipings refused to comply, primarily because of their concern that the Ch'ing forces were using Shanghai as a base of operations in the civil war. The correspondence between the Taipings and the British on the occasion of this visit to Nanking is further evidence that the latter were simply provoking the Taipings. And although the Taipings remained anxious to avoid an armed confrontation or to give rise to any pretext for one, they still firmly sought to protect their interests with dignity.