Treaty of Nanjing

Audience

The audience for this treaty was the Chinese officials, merchants, and city magistrates whose lives would be altered forever by the presence of newly enfranchised foreign traders in their midst. It took some time before the reality of the treaty diplomacy sank into the urban populations of the treaty cities, and several skirmishes were fought even after the treaty was signed. The reality, though, was that the foreigners were in China to stay and that resistance against them would be answered by force. Of course, the treaty was also addressed to posterity and world opinion, and the commercial powers of the West paid very close attention, using the Treaty of Nanjing as their own model for unequal treaties that would be imposed on East Asian nations until the end of World War II.