The treaty's key provisions granted extraterritoriality and most favored nation status to Britain.

In order to conclude the First Opium War, imperial commissioner Qiying and Henry Pottinger concluded the Treaty of Nanking aboard the British warship HMS Cornwallis in 1842 in Nanjing on the behalf of Britain and the Chinese Qing dynasty.

During the negotiations in Nanjing, China and Britain had agreed that a supplementary treaty be concluded, and on 22 July 1843 the two parties promulgated the "General Regulations of Trade with Britain and China" in Canton (Guangzhou).

The treaty laid down detailed regulations for Sino-British trade and specified terms under which Britons could reside in the newly opened ports of Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen (Amoy), Fuzhou, and Canton.

Similar agreements were concluded in other treaty ports, which created a social divide between the Europeans and Chinese citizens in the cities.