Annals 683

"The Qing court cares too much about face! The fuse for both trade wars was translation issues. Since the 40s, translation problems have led to a series of diplomatic disputes in the Qing court's foreign dealings.

In the 1858 Tianjin Treaty, a provision was written that all English documents from then on were to be written only in English. Hindered by the Qing court's lack of English talents, they temporarily provided Chinese translations; however, once the Qing court cultivated English talents, England would no longer provide Chinese versions.

The fourth clause is the most critical—the treaty stipulated that after the treaty's signing, if there were any disagreements over the interpretation of the document due to translation, the English version would prevail.