The preliminary Tianjin Accord, 11 May 1884. The clash at Bac Le. Undeclared war, 23 August. Cixi ordered China out of the war in December, alarmed by Japan in Korea. A Chinese victory at Bang Bo and the reoccupation of Lang Son in late March; at the same time the French took the Pescadores. The fall of Jules Ferry. Preliminaries of peace, 4 April 1885: a ceasefire in Tonkin and Formosa; the rice blockade of the Yangtze, Ningbo and Beihai until the Chinese withdrawal. The Yunnan Army left through Lao Cai on 2 June. The treaty of peace, friendship and commerce was signed at Tianjin on 9 June 1885. For France: Jules Patenotre. For China: Li Hongzhang, with Xi Zhen and Deng Chengxiu of the Zongli Yamen. Ten articles, on the basis of the May 1884 accord, ratified by imperial decree on 13 April 1885. Chinese date: the 27th day of the fourth month of the eleventh year of Guangxu.

Article 1: France restores order in the Annam provinces bordering China; French troops shall not cross the Tonkin-China frontier. China shall not send troops to Tonkin. Article 2: China respects the treaties, conventions and arrangements between France and Annam, hence the Hue protectorate of June 1884. China-Annam relations shall not affront the dignity of the Empire. Article 3: within six months, commissioners to mark the frontier. Article 4: passports for land crossings.

Article 5: land trade, two customs posts above Lao Cai and above Lang Son, with French consuls; China may appoint consuls in the principal towns of Tonkin, subject to French agreement. Article 6: a special regulation for Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong; opium by separate arrangements. Article 7: roads and railways in Tonkin; when China builds railways she will address herself to French industry, without an exclusive privilege. Article 8: commercial stipulations revisable after ten years. Article 9: French forces leave Keelung; Formosa and the Pescadores evacuated within one month. Article 10: older treaties, unmodified, remain in force. Keelung, 21 June; the Pescadores, 22 July. Ratifications at Beijing, 28 November.

The frontier commission worked from 1885 to 1887; the agreement confirming it was signed in Beijing on 26 June 1887. In 1887 Cochinchina, Annam, Tonkin and Cambodia were brought into French Indochina. Laos followed after the conflict with Siam in 1893.

This is not the Treaty of Tianjin of 1858, after the Second Opium War, and not the preliminary accord of 11 May 1884. The cover is Li Hongzhang, photographed by Lorenzo Fisler; the group photograph after the signing is too small for the frame.

Sources: Treaty of Tianjin (1885); Traité de paix, d'amitié et de commerce, conclu entre la France et la Chine, le 9 juin 1885, à Tien-Tsin.