(1883–85) Conflict between China and France over Vietnam.
It revealed the inadequacy of China's modernization efforts and aroused nationalistic sentiment in southern China. In 1880, when France began to extend its presence in Vietnam northward from the three southern provinces it controlled, China sent in troops and engaged in limited battles. The governor-general, Li Hongzhang , negotiated an agreement whereby northern Vietnam would be a joint protectorate, but a hard-line government faction in China rejected it. The French defeated Chinese reinforcements in 1883, and the new settlement was more strongly in France's favour. This, too, was rejected in China; after further hostilities, the new Chinese fleet of 11 steamers was destroyed, as was a large shipyard at Fuzhou. In 1885 China signed a peace treaty accepting the settlement of 1883.