Battle of Tsekee

Battle context

The Battle of Tsekee was fought in Cixi, Zhejiang province, during the final phase of the First Opium War. The engagement pitted a British force of approximately 1,260 troops under Hugh Gough and William Parker against a Qing force of around 8,000, with Qing casualties recorded at approximately 1,000. The scale of Qing losses relative to British force size reflects the broader pattern of the war, in which British expeditionary forces consistently overcame numerically superior Qing formations. Operations in Zhejiang were part of the British advance along the Chinese coast and river systems that would ultimately compel the Qing court toward the Treaty of Nanking later in 1842.