Nanjing, Treaty of

1842 agreement between the UK and China, concluded at the end of the first Opium War, under which Hong Kong was ceded to Britain and five treaty ports, Shanghai, Guangzhou (Canton), Xiamen (Amoy), Fuzhou (Foochow), and Ningbo, were opened to foreign trade. It was the first of the unequal treaties, so called because it was forced on China and was favourable to the UK.