Signing of the ProtocolAfter peace had been restored in the North， a long period ofnegotiations followed， and it was not until September 7th， 1901， thatthe Protocol was signed.
In 1902 the foreign forces garrisoned at Shanghai during thetroublous period， numbering about 8，000 men， were withdrawn bymutual agreement of the four Powers， England， France， Germany， andJapan.
Tariff
The final Protocol contained a provision that the specific duties ofthe tariff on imports should be raised to an effective five per cent. Nochange was to be made in the levies on opium. Duty was to be paid onimportant classes of goods formerly imported free， such as wine andspirits， foreign tobacco， soap， etc.
A joint commission worked at the new specific import tariffand based it on the market value of the last three year before theBoxer Outbreak. It was completed on September 31st， 1902. Thusthe tariff at five per cent. based on the obsolete values of 1858 wasamended in China"s favour according to the value of imports between1897 and 1899. This meant a great increase in duties collected onforeign imports. Whereas in 1899 according to the old scale of values，excluding opium， it amounted to Tls. 6，656， 881， in 1915， accordingto the revised scale， it amounted to Tls. 14，233，801.
The two articles in the Protocol of the greatest importance toShanghai were those which had to do with the revision of the treaties，and the formation of a Conservancy Board for the Whangpoo.
Revision of the commercial TreatiesIn regard to the revision of the commercial treaties， Chinaproposed that there should be a round table conference for itsconsideration， as it was of common interest. The general opinion of thePowers， however， was that the treaty revision should be negotiated witheach Power separately.
In the negotiations Lu Hai-hwan and Sheng Hsuan-hwai actedthroughout as the Chinese plenipotentiaries and were assisted by Mr. A.
E. Hippisley and Mr. F. E. Taylor of the Customs Service.
The first treaty to be negotiated was that with England， the BritishSpecial commissioner being Sir James L. Mackay， who was assisted byMr. （afterwards Sir） Charles J. Dudgeon， a merchant of Shanghai. Themeetings were held in Shanghai and a treaty was signed on September5th， 1902.
The American plenipotentiaries were Mr. Edwin H. Conger，Minister to Peking， Mr.John Goodnow， Consul-General at Shanghai，and Mr. J. F. Seaman， a Shanghai merchant.
The Japanese plenipotentiaries were Mr. Hioki Eki， Secretary ofLegation， and Mr. Odagiri Masnoske， Consul-General at Shanghai.
The American Treaty for the most part followed closely that ofthe British. When negotiations opened with other Powers， difficultywas encountered， for they all demanded some quid pro quo， and hencenegotiations were suspended and never resumed. The British andAmerican treaties furnished the code to which China was expected toconform.
It contained a scheme where by China might be enabled to abolishher system of likin， a tax paid at customs barriers by commodities intransit. It had been imposed at the time of the Taiping Rebellion andbecame a cause of international dispute for many years.
“All barriers collecting likin or such like dues were to bepermanently abolished…Foreign goods on importation， in additionto the effective 5 per cent， were to pay a special surtax of one and a halltimes that duty to compensate for the abolition of likin， of transit duesin lieu of likin， and of all other taxation on foreign goods.“ No changewas to be made in regard to the duties on foreign opium， and therewas to be no interference in “China"s right to tax native opium.” Anexcise on salt was to be substituted for the payment of likin in transit.
China was to be allowed to revise her export duties to an effective fiveper cent. and a special surtax of “one half the export duty payable， inlieu of internal taxation and likin， may be levied on goods， exportedeither to foreign countries or coastwise“ Native goods circulating in theinterior might be charged with a “consumption tax，” levied only at theplace of consumption. An excise could be collected from “products offoreign type turned out by machinery.“Thus the attempt was made to do away with likin， but it wasdoomed to failure.
First of all there was the condition “that all the Powers whoare now or who may hereafter become entitled to most favourednation treatment in China， enter into the same engagements as thoseH. B. Morse： International Relations of the Chinese Empire， Vol. III. p. 371.
undertaken by the British， American， and Japanese Governments.“This condition nullified the whole agreement as many of the smallernations would not consent to the new arrangement. Furthermorelikin was popular with provincial officials. It was a source of revenueto them， and if cut off， there would be difficulty in carrying on theprovincial administration. The agreement never came into operationand likin exists up to the present time （1928）。
Establishment of Whangpoo Conservancy BoardThe other matter of extreme importance to Shanghai was theimprovement of the course of the Whangpoo. Annex No. 17 of thefinal Protocol provided for the establishment of a Conservancy Board.
For forty years the Shanghai mercantile community had agitatedfor the removal of the bars and the deepening of the channel in theriver， but the Chinese authorities had continued to maintain a supineattitude. In 1882 a dredger had been set to work but with no enduringresults. The future development in commerce and industry dependedon Shanghai having an accessible waterway for ships of large draught.
According to the Protocol， the Chinese would have smallrepresentation on the Conservancy Board， not more than twoappointees， and the representatives of the foreign community wouldhave the predominating control.