1. A century's eyewitness: the history of Takow Port
2. Revisiting 1879: in search of the story of the British Consulate at Takow
3. The Street view in front of the Consulate
4. The negotiations between the British consul Gibson and the Ching authority, Circuit Intendants Sian-De Zeng
5. British medical missionary, Maxwell
6. British consul Swinhoe on a biological survey trip
7. Takow News

The negotiations between the British consul Gibson and the Ching authority, Circuit Intendants Sian-De Zeng

Following theratification of the Treaty of Tianjin in 1858, Taiwan opened its ports, whichallowed western businessmen and missionaries to come to Taiwan. With thewesterners’ uncompromising business conduct, compounded with the preaching ofreligions that the people of Taiwan had never heard of, the Taiwanese bitterlyresented them and were deeply afraid of westerners, thus triggering relentlessconflicts between the two.

The British ActingConsul in Takow, John Gibson, who took office on July 1, 1868, was extremelyresentful of incidents, notably the burning of churches, along with the deathof a Christian in the Fongshan case, as well as the confiscation of camphorwhich a British company was trying to transport unlawfully. A gunboat was sentto Taiwan by the British. To settle the conflicts the Ching government sent outthe Circuit Intendant of Singcyuanyongdao, Sian-De Zeng, to Taiwan to handlethe matters. They met in person and negotiated at the British Consulate at Takow(at the time it was located in Chihou) on November 17, 1868. However, they didnot reach a settlement and it deteriorated into the Anping Shelling Incident.This was one of the most important negotiations between the British and theChinese that took place at the Former British Consulate at Takow.