Convention of Peking

The 1860 agreement between Qing China and Britain that ceded the southern part of Kowloon and Stonecutters Island to Britain.

Second Opium War: A war from 1856 to 1860 in which Britain and France fought Qing China. British forces’ victory created the conditions for the 1860 settlement.
Kowloon Peninsula: A peninsula on the mainland opposite Hong Kong Island, now part of Hong Kong. The convention ceded its southern portion to Britain.
British Hong Kong: The British-administered territory of Hong Kong from 1841 until its transfer to China in 1997. The convention enlarged the colony by adding southern Kowloon and Stonecutters Island.
Convention of Peking (1860, France): The 1860 agreement between Qing China and France concluding France’s participation in the Second Opium War. It was a separate agreement at Peking, with French claims rather than the British Kowloon cession.
Treaty of Tianjin: A set of 1858 treaties that sought to end the Second Opium War. Its unratified provisions became part of the dispute resolved at Peking.
Stonecutters Island: An island west of the Kowloon Peninsula, now joined to mainland Hong Kong by reclamation. The agreement transferred this island to British control alongside southern Kowloon.
New Territories: The mainland area and islands leased by Qing China to Britain in 1898 for 99 years. Unlike the 1860 cession, the New Territories were leased rather than ceded in perpetuity.
Convention of Peking (1860, Russia): The 1860 agreement between Qing China and Russia that confirmed Russian territorial gains in northeast Asia. Russia’s convention concerned northern borders, not Britain’s acquisition of Kowloon.
Burning of the Old Summer Palace: The destruction and looting of Beijing’s Old Summer Palace by British and French forces in 1860. The attack accompanied the military pressure that forced Qing negotiators to conclude the convention.
Hong Kong Island: An island in southern China that Britain acquired from Qing China in 1842. The Kowloon cession expanded the British colony opposite the island.

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