FO 17 Foreign Office. Political and other departments : general correspondence, China

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Summary

The full FO 17 series contains numerous volumes of correspondence and follows Anglo-Chinese relations from Lord Amherst's mission at the start of the nineteenth century, through the trading monopol...

The full FO 17 series contains numerous volumes of correspondence and follows Anglo-Chinese relations from Lord Amherst's mission at the start of the nineteenth century, through the trading monopoly of the Canton System, and the Opium Wars of 1839-1842 and 1856-1860, as Britain and other foreign powers gradually gained commercial, legal, and territorial rights in China. These files provide correspondence from the Factories of Canton (modern Guangzhou) and from the missionaries and interpreters who entered China in the early nineteenth century, as well as from the envoys and missions sent to China from Britain and the later legation and consulates. After 1842 and the Treaty of Nanking, the precedence of Canton declined as the treaty ports of Shanghai, Ningpo (Ningbo), Foochow (Fuzhou) and Amoy (Xiamen) were established. These were later joined by more trading posts, with British merchants and Consuls established at Swatow (Shantou), Hankow (Hankou), Newchwang (Yingkou), Chefoo (Yantai), Formosa (Taiwan), and more. As well as matters of trade and commerce, the correspondence in this archive covers local uprisings, anti-foreign and anti-Christian riots, piracy, Chinese emigration, judicial and legal matters, and the activities of Russia, the US, France, and other Western powers in the region. It also covers British interests and ambition in Japan, Corea (Korea), Cochin-China (Vietnam), Siam (Thailand), Burma (Myanmar), Malaya (Malaysia and Singapore), and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).

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