The Convention of Chuenpi[1] (also "Chuenpee", pinyin: Chuān bí) was a tentative agreement between British Plenipotentiary Charles Elliot and Chinese Imperial Commissioner Qishan during the First Opium War between the United Kingdom and the Qing dynasty of China.

[2] In November 1840, during the First Opium War, George returned to Britain due to ill health, leaving Charles as sole plenipotentiary.

In negotiations with Imperial Commissioner Qishan, Elliot wrote on 29 December to "request a place in the outer sea, where the British can fly their flag and administer themselves, just as the Westerners do in Macao.

To force Chinese concessions, the British captured the forts at the entrance of the Humen strait (Bogue) on 7 January 1841, after which Qishan agreed to consider Elliot's demands.

Matheson believed that when Qishan wrote "as we have granted you territory you do not now require another port", Elliot as a result gave up demands of British access to a port in northern China in the hope that he could hold Qishan to an interpretation of the Chinese characters in which the British had been ceded Hong Kong rather than just being given a trading factory there.

[6][7] On 20 January, Elliot issued a circular announcing "the conclusion of preliminary arrangements" between Qishan and himself involving the following conditions:[8] Other terms that were agreed upon were the restoration of the islands of Chuenpi and Taikoktow[clarification needed] to the Chinese, and the evacuation of Zhoushan, which the British had captured and occupied since July 1840.

[10][11] The convention allowed the Qing government to continue collecting tax at Hong Kong, which was the main sticking point that led to the disagreement according to Lord Palmerston.

[4] Commodore Gordon Bremer, commander-in-chief of British forces in China, sent an officer to Anunghoy (north of Chuenpi) with a letter for Chinese Admiral Guan Tianpei, informing him of their intention to return the forts.

[18] News of the terms was sent to England aboard the East India Company steamer Enterprise, which left China on 23 January.

[22][23] On the same day as the Hong Kong ceremony, Elliot left Macao on board the steamer Nemesis to meet Qishan at Lotus Flower Hill near the Second Bar pagoda to settle the convention.

[29] This was the first time in Sino-British relations that a Chinese high official received a British representative, with a carefully selected suite, not as a "barbarian vassal" but as a plenipotentiary of standing.

[31] Elliot and interpreter John Morrison later had a private meeting with Qishan, who did not sign the convention but agreed to put matters in abeyance until Zhoushan was evacuated.

[35] A British account described Qishan's demeanour: There was an appearance of constraint about him, as if his mind was downcast, and his heart burdened and heavy laden.

He never indeed for a moment lost his self-possession, or that dignified courtesy of manner which no people can better assume than the Chinese of rank; but there was still something undefinable in his bearing, which impressed upon all present the conviction that something untoward had happened.

The first was an edict the emperor sent on 30 January, which stated that a large army would be sent to Canton and appointed Yang Fang as the new imperial commissioner, Yishan as General-in-Chief of Repressing Rebellion, and Longwen as an assistant regional commander.

[42] He faced several charges, including giving "the barbarians Hongkong as a dwelling place", to which he claimed, "I pretended to do so from the mere force of circumstances, and to put them off for a time, but had no such serious intention.

He felt that Elliot treated his instructions as "waste paper" and dismissed Hong Kong as "a barren island with hardly a house upon it".