Treaty of Nanking

Date: August 29, 1842 • Location: Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Under the Treaty of Nanking, an "unequal treaty" that ended the First Opium War, the Chinese island from which Hong Kong would grow was ceded to Britain.

The Treaty of Nanjing was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the second of what the Chinese later termed the unequal treaties, after the rejected 1841 Convention of Chuenpi, signed by British Superintendent of trade in China, Charles Elliot, and Qing Imperial Commissioner, Qishan, which the treaty was largely based on.