Treaty ports
Ports in East Asia opened to trade with Western countries
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The treaty ports were designated Chinese cities that were opened to foreign trade and residence by the unequal treaties, and lasted for approximately one hundred years. The Treaty of Nanking established the first treaty port, and the Second Opium War gave rise to a second group of treaty ports. At its peak, more than 80 treaty ports were established in China; initially by Britain, France, and the United States; but soon expanding to all of the major foreign powes by the end of the 19th century.
For encyclopedic details on each treaty port, see Robert Nield's China's Foreign Places: The Foreign Presence in China in the Treaty Port Era, 1840–1943 (2015).
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Japan
Japan opened two ports to foreign trade, Shimoda and Hakodate, in 1854 (Convention of Kanagawa), to the United States. In 1858, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce designated four more ports, Kanagawa, Hyogo, Nagasaki, and Niigata. The treaty with the United States was followed by similar ones with Britain, the Netherlands, Russia, and France. The ports permitted legal extraterritoriality for citizens of the treaty nations. The system of treaty ports ended in Japan in the year 1899 as a consequence of Japan's rapid transition to a modern nation. Japan had sought treaty revision earnestly, and in 1894, signed a new treaty with Britain which revised or abrogated the previous "unequal" treaty. Other countries signed similar treaties. The new treaties came into force in July 1899.
Korea
Following the Ganghwa Treaty of 1876, the Korean kingdom of Joseon agreed to the opening of three strategic ports and the extension of legal extraterritoriality to merchants from Meiji Japan. Chinese merchants also entered Korea in earnest after the Qing army was sent to suppress the Imo Incident in 1882. The first port opened in this manner was Busan, while Incheon and Wonsan followed shortly thereafter. These cities became important centers of mercantile activity for traders from China and Japan until Korea's colonization by Japan in 1910.