treaty port

treaty port port opened to foreign trade by a treaty. The term is usually confined to ports in those countries that formerly strongly objected to foreign trade or attempted altogether to exclude it. Thus it is used especially in reference to Japan and China. Those countries had admitted trade with the West in the 16th cent. but soon reversed themselves, with Japan permitting only a trickle of Dutch commerce through Nagasaki, and China shutting off all trade until the opening of Guangzhou in 1834. Great Britain, determined to increase commerce, provoked the first of the Opium Wars with China. The Treaty of Nanjing (1842), which restored peace, provided for five treaty ports—Xiamen, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai. As in all the 69 Chinese treaty ports that were finally opened, zones were established for foreign residence that enjoyed extraterritoriality . Most of the ports were on the seacoast or on large rivers. A similar system came into being in Japan after the country was reopened to Western trade by Matthew Perry in 1854. With the abolition of extraterritoriality, the system of treaty ports also disappeared. This occurred in 1899 in Japan but not until 1946 in China.

Bibliography: See J. K. Fairbank, Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842-1854 (1953, repr. 1969).

treaty ports The Asian ports, especially Chinese and Japanese, that were opened to foreign trade and habitation as a result of a series of UNEQUAL TREATIES in the 19th century. In China, the first five treaty ports were opened as a result of the Treaty of NANJING (1842), eleven more as a result of the Treaty of Tianjin (1858) and the Conventions of Beijing (1860), and approximately 35 more opened before the CHINESE REVOLUTION OF 1911, some on the Yangtze River. Foreigners living in their own concessions in treaty ports had the protection of their home governments and were not required to pay Chinese taxes or to be subject to Chinese laws. This was strongly resented by the nationalist government and all privileges were surrendered by 1943. After the Treaty of Kanagawa (1858), Japan established five treaty ports, but foreign powers were obliged to surrender their privileges in 1899.