Treaty of Wanghia

The Treaty of Wanghsia (also Treaty of Wangxia, Treaty of Peace, Amity, and Commerce, with tariff of duties, Chinese: 望廈條約) was a diplomatic agreement between Qing dynasty of China and United States, signed on July 3, 1844 in the Kun Iam Temple. Its official title name is the Treaty of peace, amity, and commerce, between the United States of America and the Chinese Empire.[1] Following passage by the U.S. Congress, it was ratified by President John Tyler on January 17, 1845.[2] It formally remained in effect until the 1943 Sino-American Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extraterritorial Rights in China.

Treaty of Wanghsia
TypeBilateral / Unequal
Signed3 July 1844 (1844-07-03)
LocationKun Iam Temple in Portuguese Macau
Parties
LanguagesEnglish and Chinese
Treaty of Wanghia at Wikisource
Treaty of Wanghia
Traditional Chinese望廈條約
Simplified Chinese望厦条约
Façade of the Kun Iam Temple, where the treaty was signed.

Name of the Treaty

The treaty was named after a village in northern Macau where the temple is located, called Mong Ha or Wang Hia (traditional Chinese: 望廈; simplified Chinese: 望厦; pinyin: Wàngxià; Cantonese Yale: Mohng Hah).[3] It is now a part of the territory's Our Lady of Fátima Parish.

Treaty contents

The United States was represented by Caleb Cushing, a Massachusetts lawyer dispatched by President John Tyler under pressure from American merchants concerned about the English dominance in Chinese trade.[3] Physician and missionary Peter Parker served as Cushing's Chinese interpreter. The Qing Empire was represented by Keying, the Viceroy of Liangguang, who held responsibility for the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi.[4]

The treaty was modeled after the Treaties of Nanking and the Bogue between the UK and China, but differed in being more detailed.[3] Among other things, it contained provisions for:

  • Extraterritoriality, where Chinese subjects would be tried and punished under Chinese law and American citizens would be tried and punished under the authority of the American consul or other public functionaries authorized to that effect[3]
  • Fixed tariffs on trade in the treaty ports
  • The right to buy land in the five treaty ports and erect churches and hospitals there
  • The right to learn Chinese by abolishing a law which thitherto forbade foreigners to do so[5]
  • The U.S. received most favored nation status, resulting in the U.S. receiving the same beneficial treatment China gave to other powers such as the UK, and received the right to modify the treaty after 12 years

The United States also granted the Chinese Empire powers to confiscate American ships if operating outside treaty ports, and withdrew consular protection in cases where American citizens were trading in opium under articles 3 and 33, respectively.[3] Furthermore, the U.S. agreed to hand over any offenders to China. (Americans entered the opium trade with less expensive but inferior Turkish opium and by 1810 had around 10% of the trade in Canton.*[6])

See also

Footnotes
  1. http://lccn.loc.gov/12033773 Treaty of peace, amity, and commerce, between the United States of America ..., Library of Congress
  2. Library of Congress, Treaty of peace, amity, and commerce, between the United States of America ...
  3. Cassel, Pär (2012). Grounds of Judgment. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-19-979205-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  4. Koon, Yeewan (2012). "The Face of Diplomacy in 19th-Century China: Qiying's Portrait Gifts". In Johnson, Kendall (ed.). Narratives of Free Trade: The Commercial Cultures of Early US-China Relations. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 131–148.
  5. Article 18 of the treaty states, "It shall be lawful for the officers or citizens of the United States to employ scholars and peoples of any part of China…to teach any of the languages of the Empire, and to assist in literary labors ... it shall in like manner be lawful for citizens of the United States to purchase all manner of books in China."
  6. Layton, Thomas N. (1997). The Voyage of the 'Frolic': New England Merchants and the Opium Trade. Stanford University Press. p. 28. ISBN 9780804729093.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

References
  • Kuo, Ping Chia. "Caleb Cushing and the Treaty of Wanghia, 1844". The Journal of Modern History 5, no. 1 (1933): 34-54. Available through JSTOR.
  • Swisher, Earl, ed. China's Management of the American Barbarians; a Study of Sino-American Relations, 1841–1861, with Documents. New Haven, CT: Published for the Far Eastern Association by Far Eastern Publications, Yale University, 1953.
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