Second Battle of Chuenpi
| Second Battle of Chuenpi | |||||||||
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| Part of the First Opium War | |||||||||
 British forces advancing in Chuenpi |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Qing China
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| James Bremer | Guan Tianpei | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 14 ships 1,500 troops2 |
15 junks 2,000 troops |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 38 wounded | 500+ killed or wounded 11 junks destroyed 191 guns captured |
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1 Cession formally ratified in the Treaty of Nanking (1842). 2 In the Chuenpi land force only. |
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The Second Battle of Chuenpi was fought between British and Chinese forces in the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong province, China, on 7 January 1841 during the First Opium War. The British launched an amphibious attack at the Humen strait (Bogue), capturing the forts on the islands of Chuenpi and Taikoktow. Subsequent negotiations between British Plenipotentiary Charles Elliot and Chinese Imperial Commissioner Qishan resulted in the Convention of Chuenpi on 20 January. As one of the terms of the agreement, Elliot announced the cession of Hong Kong Island to the British Empire, after which the British took formal possession of the island on 26 January.
In September 1840, the Daoguang Emperor of the Qing dynasty fired Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu and replaced him with Qishan. British Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston instructed Plenipotentiary Charles Elliot to have the ports of Canton, Amoy, Fuzhou, Ningpo, and Shanghai opened for trade; to acquire the cession of at least one island (or if the Chinese refused, the establishment of a secure English enclave on the mainland); and to secure compensation for confiscated opium as well as military costs incurred in China. On 1 December, Elliot wrote to Palmerston that these demands would be secured within ten days. Three days after the deadline, Elliot wrote to Governor-General of India Lord Auckland that he had failed to get the concessions, but one was still in prospect. He then conceded that any settlement would be "far short of the demands of the government."
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