The Chinese formally capitulated to the British in the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, which ceded the island of Hong Kong at the mouth of the Pearl River as a Crown colony. In addition, it granted Western traders access to four additional Chinese ports: Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai. As a final insult, the Chinese government was obligated to pay a staggering £21 million indemnity to the British Crown,
