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Convention of Chuenpi
The Convention of Chuenpi (also "Chuenpee", pinyin: Chuān bí) was a tentative agreement between British Plenipotentiary Charles Elliot and Chinese Imperial Commissioner Qishan during the First Opium War between the United Kingdom and the Qing dynasty of China. The terms were published on 20 January 1841, but both governments rejected them and dismissed Elliot and Qishan, respectively, from their positions. Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston stated that Elliot acquired too little while the Daoguang Emperor believed Qishan conceded too much. Palmerston appointed Major-General Henry Pottinger to replace Elliot, while the emperor appointed Yang Fang to replace Qishan, along with Yishan as General-in-Chief of Repressing Rebellion and Longwen as an assistant regional commander. Although the convention was unratified, many of the terms were later included in the Treaty of Nanking (1842).
On 20 February 1840, Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston instructed the joint plenipotentiaries Captain Charles Elliot and his cousin Admiral George Elliot to acquire the cession of at least one island for trade on the Chinese coast, amongst other terms. In November 1840, during the First Opium War, George returned to Britain due to ill health, leaving Charles as sole plenipotentiary. In negotiations with Imperial Commissioner Qishan, Elliot wrote on 29 December to "request a place in the outer sea, where the British can fly their flag and administer themselves, just as the Westerners do in Macao." However, the year ended with no agreement. To force Chinese concessions, the British captured the forts at the entrance of the Humen strait (Bogue) on 7 January 1841, after which Qishan agreed to consider Elliot's demands. Negotiations ensued at the Bogue near Chuenpi.
On 11 January, Qishan offered to "grant a place outside the estuary to lodge temporarily". He later wrote to Elliot on 15 January, offering either Hong Kong Island or Kowloon but not both. Elliot replied the next day, accepting Hong Kong. On 15 January, trader James Matheson wrote to his business partner William Jardine that Elliot arrived in Macao the night before: "I learn from him very confidentially that Ki Shen [Qishan] has agreed to the British having a possession of their own outside, but objects to ceding Chuenpee; in lieu of which Captain Elliot has proposed Hong Kong".
One factor that may have led to settling on Hong Kong was the perceived ambiguity of the Chinese language. Matheson believed that when Qishan wrote "as we have granted you territory you do not now require another port", Elliot as a result gave up demands of British access to a port in northern China in the hope that he could hold Qishan to an interpretation of the Chinese characters in which the British had been ceded Hong Kong rather than just being given a trading factory there.
On 20 January, Elliot issued a circular announcing "the conclusion of preliminary arrangements" between Qishan and himself involving the following conditions:
Other terms that were agreed upon were the restoration of the islands of Chuenpi and Taikoktow[clarification needed] to the Chinese, and the evacuation of Zhoushan, which the British had captured and occupied since July 1840. Zhoushan was returned in exchange for the release of British prisoners in Ningbo who became shipwrecked on 15 September 1840 after the brig Kite struck quicksand en route to Zhoushan. The convention allowed the Qing government to continue collecting tax at Hong Kong, which was the main sticking point that led to the disagreement according to Lord Palmerston.
The forts were restored to the Chinese on 21 January in a ceremony on Chuenpi, which had been held by Captain James Scott as pro tempore governor of the fort. Commodore Gordon Bremer, commander-in-chief of British forces in China, sent an officer to Anunghoy (north of Chuenpi) with a letter for Chinese Admiral Guan Tianpei, informing him of their intention to return the forts. About an hour later, Guan sent a mandarin to receive them. The British colours were hauled down and the Chinese colours were hoisted in their place, under a salute fired from HMS Wellesley, and returned by the Chinese with a salute fired from the Anunghoy batteries. The ceremony was repeated at Taikoktow. Military secretary Keith Mackenzie observed: "I never saw a [Chinese] man in such an ecstasy of chin chin [a gesture of greeting or farewell], as he was, when our colours were lowered—he absolutely jumped for joy."
Two days later, Elliot dispatched the brig Columbine to Zhoushan, with instructions to evacuate it for Hong Kong. Duplicates of these dispatches were also forwarded overland by the imperial express. At the same time, Qishan directed Yilibu, the viceroy of Liangjiang, to release the British prisoners at Ningbo. News of the terms was sent to England aboard the East India Company steamer Enterprise, which left China on 23 January. On the same day, the Canton Free Press published the opinion of British residents in China regarding the cession of Hong Kong:
Convention of Chuenpi
The Convention of Chuenpi (also "Chuenpee", pinyin: Chuān bí) was a tentative agreement between British Plenipotentiary Charles Elliot and Chinese Imperial Commissioner Qishan during the First Opium War between the United Kingdom and the Qing dynasty of China. The terms were published on 20 January 1841, but both governments rejected them and dismissed Elliot and Qishan, respectively, from their positions. Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston stated that Elliot acquired too little while the Daoguang Emperor believed Qishan conceded too much. Palmerston appointed Major-General Henry Pottinger to replace Elliot, while the emperor appointed Yang Fang to replace Qishan, along with Yishan as General-in-Chief of Repressing Rebellion and Longwen as an assistant regional commander. Although the convention was unratified, many of the terms were later included in the Treaty of Nanking (1842).
On 20 February 1840, Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston instructed the joint plenipotentiaries Captain Charles Elliot and his cousin Admiral George Elliot to acquire the cession of at least one island for trade on the Chinese coast, amongst other terms. In November 1840, during the First Opium War, George returned to Britain due to ill health, leaving Charles as sole plenipotentiary. In negotiations with Imperial Commissioner Qishan, Elliot wrote on 29 December to "request a place in the outer sea, where the British can fly their flag and administer themselves, just as the Westerners do in Macao." However, the year ended with no agreement. To force Chinese concessions, the British captured the forts at the entrance of the Humen strait (Bogue) on 7 January 1841, after which Qishan agreed to consider Elliot's demands. Negotiations ensued at the Bogue near Chuenpi.
On 11 January, Qishan offered to "grant a place outside the estuary to lodge temporarily". He later wrote to Elliot on 15 January, offering either Hong Kong Island or Kowloon but not both. Elliot replied the next day, accepting Hong Kong. On 15 January, trader James Matheson wrote to his business partner William Jardine that Elliot arrived in Macao the night before: "I learn from him very confidentially that Ki Shen [Qishan] has agreed to the British having a possession of their own outside, but objects to ceding Chuenpee; in lieu of which Captain Elliot has proposed Hong Kong".
One factor that may have led to settling on Hong Kong was the perceived ambiguity of the Chinese language. Matheson believed that when Qishan wrote "as we have granted you territory you do not now require another port", Elliot as a result gave up demands of British access to a port in northern China in the hope that he could hold Qishan to an interpretation of the Chinese characters in which the British had been ceded Hong Kong rather than just being given a trading factory there.
On 20 January, Elliot issued a circular announcing "the conclusion of preliminary arrangements" between Qishan and himself involving the following conditions:
Other terms that were agreed upon were the restoration of the islands of Chuenpi and Taikoktow[clarification needed] to the Chinese, and the evacuation of Zhoushan, which the British had captured and occupied since July 1840. Zhoushan was returned in exchange for the release of British prisoners in Ningbo who became shipwrecked on 15 September 1840 after the brig Kite struck quicksand en route to Zhoushan. The convention allowed the Qing government to continue collecting tax at Hong Kong, which was the main sticking point that led to the disagreement according to Lord Palmerston.
The forts were restored to the Chinese on 21 January in a ceremony on Chuenpi, which had been held by Captain James Scott as pro tempore governor of the fort. Commodore Gordon Bremer, commander-in-chief of British forces in China, sent an officer to Anunghoy (north of Chuenpi) with a letter for Chinese Admiral Guan Tianpei, informing him of their intention to return the forts. About an hour later, Guan sent a mandarin to receive them. The British colours were hauled down and the Chinese colours were hoisted in their place, under a salute fired from HMS Wellesley, and returned by the Chinese with a salute fired from the Anunghoy batteries. The ceremony was repeated at Taikoktow. Military secretary Keith Mackenzie observed: "I never saw a [Chinese] man in such an ecstasy of chin chin [a gesture of greeting or farewell], as he was, when our colours were lowered—he absolutely jumped for joy."
Two days later, Elliot dispatched the brig Columbine to Zhoushan, with instructions to evacuate it for Hong Kong. Duplicates of these dispatches were also forwarded overland by the imperial express. At the same time, Qishan directed Yilibu, the viceroy of Liangjiang, to release the British prisoners at Ningbo. News of the terms was sent to England aboard the East India Company steamer Enterprise, which left China on 23 January. On the same day, the Canton Free Press published the opinion of British residents in China regarding the cession of Hong Kong:
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