The Treaty of Nanking (南京條約) is the agreement which marked the end of the First Opium War between the United Kingdom and
China.
It was signed on August 29, 1842 onboard
the British warship HMS
Cornwallis in Nanjing. It is the first of the Unequal Treaties signed by China with a foreign
power.
Under the treaty, China agree to cede Hong Kong Island to the British Empire, and open
the following treaty ports of China for foreign trade:
(The first of the romanizations are in Postal System Pinyin; the second Hanyu Pinyin.)
The treaty also ensured the legalization of the opium trade with China, which was
profitable for the British and which many historians believe to have been devastating to the Chinese.
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