TNAG-2225-FCO40-3196-Political-relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-Australia-1991 — Page 11

silver dollars the recognition of "equality" in Sino-British

of trade. When news of

negotiations and a full resumption

this treaty reached Peking, it was repudiated.

The Emperor

This produced

1841 and 1842.

ordered an offensive against the British.

various further military efforts during Despite the courage of the Chinese garrisons, the superior technology of British arms carried the campaign before them. The British fleet and military continued the slow ascent of the Yangtse River. On 10 August 1842, they reached Naking. The threat to that city extinguished Peking's resistance. The Treaty of Nanking was signed. It required the payment of a war indemnity by China which included $6 million

compensation for the confiscated opium.

It obliged the

It

that it

opening of five ports to British trade and residents. confirmed the session of Hong Kong to the British Crown.

Subsequent plaintive Chinese requests

Chinese requests to Britain that

should limit the production and export of opium were dismissed. Hong Kong became the main base for the opium trade which "flourished splendidly in the decades following

the Nanking Treaty"

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By that treaty, the island ceded to the British Crown

provided a base for British trade.

With the British flag

eventually came civil and military officials, the judiciary,

merchants, churchmen and citizens.

What began as a sleepy

domain of fishermen was to become a thriving port and

metropolis.

for the "New Territories"

Eventually a "lease" for the

was negotiated. The lease was, by its terms, to endure for

ninety nine years until 30 June 1997.

the island and coastal

But the acquisition of

area of Hong Kong was not by lease.

The Crown Colony itself was

was acquired by the Ch'uan-pi

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