Follow me on History III: The Second Opium War

After the First Opium War, Western capitalist powers invaded China one after another. Because they are not satisfied with the privileges and interests they have already gained, they deliberately step up their aggression against China's sovereignty and engage in economic plunder. In 1856, under the pretext that the British sailors captured the pirates on the British ship "Yaluo" in Huangpu, Guangzhou, and sent troops to attack Guangzhou, and the French also sent troops to invade China under the pretext that the French Catholic priest Ma Lai was killed in Xining, Guangxi. Because this war was a continuation of the First Opium War, it was called the Second Opium War. At the end of 1857, the Anglo-French army captured Guangzhou. On January 5, 1858, the Anglo-French forces captured the governor Ye Mingchen, and on May 20, the Anglo-French forces attacked the Dagukou Fort.

The troops approached Tianjin and threatened to attack Beijing. On June 13, the Qing government also sent the university scholar Guiliang and the official Shangshu Hua Shana as ministers of Chincha to Tianjin to negotiate peace. Guiliang and others, under the threat and intimidation of the British and French allies, signed the "Tianjin Treaty" with Russia, Britain, France, and the United States, the main contents of which were: (1) foreign envoys stationed in Beijing, adding 10 places such as Hankou and Nanjing as treaty ports, and foreign warships and merchant ships could sail freely at the ports of the Yangtze River (2) Foreigners could travel, do business, and preach in Chinese mainland: (3) The Qing government compensated Britain with 4 million taels of silver and France 2 million taels of silver.

After the signing of the Treaty of Tianjin, Britain and France were not satisfied with the various privileges seized from China and deliberately used them to exchange them

The machine once again provoked war and extorted more privileges from China. On June 25, 1859, the British and French forces launched an attack on Taku Kou. The Chinese officers and men guarding the fort counterattacked under the command of Shi Rongchun, the directly subordinate governor, and after a day and night of fierce fighting, the Qing army sank more than 10 British and French warships, and the Anglo-French coalition army was completely defeated, and the remnants fled to Hangzhou Bay.

When the news of the taku defeat reached London and Paris, the British and French bourgeoisie was so outraged that they were clamoring for massive retaliation against China. February 1860, England and France

The government once again sent troops to re-occupy Tianjin and approach Beijing. On 22 September, the Xianfeng Emperor fled to Rehe (rehe, in present-day Chengde, Hebei) and sent his younger brother Yi Bi the Prince of Gong (恭王奕䜣) as a minister of parliament and remained in Beijing. On October 18, the British and French forces burned and occupied Beijing, looting and burning the world-famous royal garden, the Yuanmingyuan.

Subsequently, the Anglo-French coalition forced the Qing government to sign the Sino-British and Sino-French Treaty of Beijing, which ended the Second Opium War. The main contents of the Beijing Treaty are: (1) opening Tianjin as a commercial port; (2) Increase the amount of reparations in the Treaty of Tianjin to 8 million taels; (3) Ceded the Kowloon Division 1 to the United Kingdom; (4) Allow Britain and France to recruit Chinese workers to go abroad.

After the Second Opium War, China lost more territory and sovereignty, and the degree of semi-colonial and semi-feudal Chinese society further deepened.