After the First Opium War, as Hong Kong rose as an center for bulk import/export goods, smuggling by junk intensified significantly. This directly impacted tax of the Qing government. In 1868, authorities in Guangdong Province initiated crackdowns on this smuggling around Hong Kong, triggering the two-decade-long "Blockade of Hong Kong" dispute between China and Britain. In 1868, the revision of the Sino-British Treaty of Tientsin was seen by the British as a opportunity to resolve the "blockade of Hong Kong". The "blockade of Hong Kong" affected foreign merchants based in Hong Kong, with the British parties having differing opinions on the matter. The Hong Kong government and the British Colonial Office focused more on local Hong Kong affairs, especially the practical interests of the merchants, while the British Foreign Office and diplomats in China were more concerned with the whole picture of Sino-British relations, striving to promote the alignment of the Chinese system with the West. Caught in the middle was the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, which participated in various ways, systematically articulating their demands for the revision through petitions, hoping to expand their shares in the Chinese market, and using their influence to pressure the British government. The Chamber strongly dissatisfied with the British concessions, which led to the failure of the revision.
| Published in | Science Innovation (Volume 13, Issue 3) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.si.20251303.13 |
| Page(s) | 33-36 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, Revision of the Treaty of Tientsin, Blockade of Hong Kong
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APA Style
Quan, Q. (2025). The Role of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in the Sino-British Contest over the 1868 Tianjin Treaty Revision. Science Innovation, 13(3), 33-36. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.si.20251303.13
ACS Style
Quan, Q. The Role of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in the Sino-British Contest over the 1868 Tianjin Treaty Revision. Sci. Innov. 2025, 13(3), 33-36. doi: 10.11648/j.si.20251303.13
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Download@article{10.11648/j.si.20251303.13,
author = {Quan Quan},
title = {The Role of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in the Sino-British Contest over the 1868 Tianjin Treaty Revision
},
journal = {Science Innovation},
volume = {13},
number = {3},
pages = {33-36},
doi = {10.11648/j.si.20251303.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.si.20251303.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.si.20251303.13},
abstract = {After the First Opium War, as Hong Kong rose as an center for bulk import/export goods, smuggling by junk intensified significantly. This directly impacted tax of the Qing government. In 1868, authorities in Guangdong Province initiated crackdowns on this smuggling around Hong Kong, triggering the two-decade-long "Blockade of Hong Kong" dispute between China and Britain. In 1868, the revision of the Sino-British Treaty of Tientsin was seen by the British as a opportunity to resolve the "blockade of Hong Kong". The "blockade of Hong Kong" affected foreign merchants based in Hong Kong, with the British parties having differing opinions on the matter. The Hong Kong government and the British Colonial Office focused more on local Hong Kong affairs, especially the practical interests of the merchants, while the British Foreign Office and diplomats in China were more concerned with the whole picture of Sino-British relations, striving to promote the alignment of the Chinese system with the West. Caught in the middle was the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, which participated in various ways, systematically articulating their demands for the revision through petitions, hoping to expand their shares in the Chinese market, and using their influence to pressure the British government. The Chamber strongly dissatisfied with the British concessions, which led to the failure of the revision.
},
year = {2025}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - The Role of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in the Sino-British Contest over the 1868 Tianjin Treaty Revision AU - Quan Quan Y1 - 2025/06/12 PY - 2025 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.si.20251303.13 DO - 10.11648/j.si.20251303.13 T2 - Science Innovation JF - Science Innovation JO - Science Innovation SP - 33 EP - 36 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2328-787X UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.si.20251303.13 AB - After the First Opium War, as Hong Kong rose as an center for bulk import/export goods, smuggling by junk intensified significantly. This directly impacted tax of the Qing government. In 1868, authorities in Guangdong Province initiated crackdowns on this smuggling around Hong Kong, triggering the two-decade-long "Blockade of Hong Kong" dispute between China and Britain. In 1868, the revision of the Sino-British Treaty of Tientsin was seen by the British as a opportunity to resolve the "blockade of Hong Kong". The "blockade of Hong Kong" affected foreign merchants based in Hong Kong, with the British parties having differing opinions on the matter. The Hong Kong government and the British Colonial Office focused more on local Hong Kong affairs, especially the practical interests of the merchants, while the British Foreign Office and diplomats in China were more concerned with the whole picture of Sino-British relations, striving to promote the alignment of the Chinese system with the West. Caught in the middle was the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, which participated in various ways, systematically articulating their demands for the revision through petitions, hoping to expand their shares in the Chinese market, and using their influence to pressure the British government. The Chamber strongly dissatisfied with the British concessions, which led to the failure of the revision. VL - 13 IS - 3 ER -
Department of History, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
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