Canton System vs. Treaty Port System Essay Example

ship had alsc to pay some specified duties and charges such as the ship measurement duty, the cumsha (present), the charge for the pilotage, and the fees for the comprador and linguist. After the unloading and reloading (if any) of goods, the ship had to obtain a port clearance (ch'uan. p'ai) in order to depart from Canton. In anarticle from www. exeas.

org, few of the new British traders were willing to endure the rules and restrictions of the Canton System. Yet the Chinese remained adhorrent to changes. The free traders were then determined to tear down the undesirable Canton System and to strike away the outmoded tribute diplomacy of China, thus, they started the Opium Trade which started the Opium War. Thus, when China lost to the Western powers, in order to change the framework of the existing foreign trade, the Canton system was abolished and the Treaty Port system was set into motion.

Through this system, the Chinese government lost the right to set its own tariffs, had to extend extraterritoriality to foreign residents of China, paid large indemnities, and granted the most-favored-nation clause to all treaty signatories. This last treaty right made it impossible for China to negotiate individual terms with individual countries: the clause demanded any right gained by one signatory be extended to all treaty signatories; consequently, China found it could not escape the weight of the unequal treaty system.

While the brunt of the treaties was in the economic realm, they also affected the social realm; the treaties established missionary rights, setting the stage for cultural imperialism. China was not able to escape semi-colonial status until

the mid-20 th century. Economic and cultural imperialism brought gains to treaty signatories but fueled hostility toward foreigners and stoked nationalist sentiment on the part of the Chinese population.