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== Summary ==
{{Battlemap|war=2nd China War 1856-60<br>Northern Campaign|link=http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=101241150585833319689.00046ed520b0561348179&ll=39.334297,117.086792&spn=3.288382,5.037231&t=p&z=8}}
In the 1850s the Western Powers sought to renegotiate their commercial treaties with China. The British wanted opening of all China to merchants, legalization of the opium trade and exemption of import tariffs. The Qing Government refused and relations deteriorated when a Hong Kong vessel 'Arrow" was boarded by the Chinese and there was an attempt to poison Europeans in Hong Kong. The French were drawn in following the execution of a missionary and the Russians and Americans also made representations. A combined British and French force under [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Seymour_(Royal_Navy_officer) Admiral Sir Michael Seymour] captured Canton and then took the Taku Forts outside Tianjin. There was temporary end to hostilities in June 1858 with the Treaty of Tianjin which gave extensive rights to the Western Powers.
A combined British and French force under [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Seymour_(Royal_Navy_officer) Admiral Sir Michael Seymour] was despatched and the British army led by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bruce,_8th_Earl_of_Elgin Lord Elgin] and the French army led by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Louis_Gros Gros], attacked and occupied [[Canton]] (Guangzhou) in late 1857. The combined force then sailed north to capture the Taku Forts outside Tianjin. There was a temporary end to hostilities in June 1858 with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaties_of_Tianjin Treaty of Tianjin] which gave extensive rights to the Western Powers.
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