Question

How was China affected by the Unequal Treaties of the 1850s and the 1860s?

Answer 1

Hint: The Unequal Treaties were signed by China under the Qing dynasty and many western powers, the Russians and the Japanese in the 19th century. This name has been given to the treaties by the Chinese themselves as they found the treaties taking undue advantage of the Chinese position.

Complete answer: The Unequal Treaties in China were signed after the military defeat of the Chinese people under the Qing dynasty by the European powers. This defeat led them to accept the open door trade policies. They were made to give territorial concessions, let the foreign traders into their territory, pay reparation for the costs of the war and accept unfair prices for the produce they marketed.
The effect of this was the increasing unpopularity of the Qing dynasty amongst the Chinese people. According to the divine rights theory by which the Chinese dynasties had survived, these unjust policies reflected in deferring groups of people. This finally led to the Boxer rebellion in China where the Chinese people protested against the administration for not being able to protect their people against such encroachments.
There were even British and Japanese Supreme Courts established in the Chinese territories to monitor the payments, financial health and even the general administration in China. This Chinese resentment of foreign occupation and forceful subservience to them made them name the treaty as “unequal treaties” after World War I.

Note: The unequal treaty in Korea was not imposed primarily by any western or European powers but by Japan who dominated the Korean empire for a log time and forced them into unfair open door trade policy.