“A useless river”

In the late summer of 1842, a treaty was concluded by the British and the Chinese in the city of Nanking. This agreement brought to an end the hostilities of the so-called Opium Wars, and at the same time initiated a new era in East Asia's relations with the Western world. In their negotiations at Nanking the British had demanded, and were granted, the full cession of the port of Hong Kong and the opening of a further four ports for their commercial activities, to be supported by consular representation. The Russians followed these events carefully, for they understood that the consequences of the British victory would ultimately affect their own position and interests in China. Exactly how these interests would be affected, however, was far from clear. Seen from one standpoint, the course of developments in the Far East offered definite cause for encouragement. In striking contrast to the image of confident power with which the Chinese armed forces had impressed and overwhelmed the Russians in the seventeenth century and kept them at bay ever since, the relatively easy British victory now exposed the Middle Kingdom for the “paper dragon” or helpless giant it had become, and observers in Moscow and St. Petersburg began to appreciate that the strategic balance of forces on the Russia's southeastern frontier had shifted decisively.