On this day, 144 years ago, on February 24, 1881 (January 26, 1881 in the lunar calendar), tsarist Russia forced the Qing government of China to sign the China-Russia Ili Treaty. In July 1871, Tsarist Russia took advantage of the chaos in Xinjiang caused by the Aqub invasion to blatantly send troops to occupy the Ili area under the pretext of "stabilizing border order," massacred the China people, and imposed colonial rule. Tsarist Russia invaded Ili and told the Qing government that it was "collecting money." The Qing government repeatedly negotiated with Tsarist Russia to return Ili, but to no avail. In 1875, the Qing government decided to send Zuo Zongtang to lead troops into Xinjiang to defeat the Agubai bandits, strengthen Xinjiang's border defense, and then recover Ili. After the Qing army entered Xinjiang, it successively recovered important towns such as Urumqi and the southern border areas. On the basis of military victory, the Qing government once again asked Tsarist Russia to return Ili. At that time, Tsarist Russia proposed that it must obtain trade rights in mainland China and separate the land west of Ili in China's Tikes River Basin and Ili before it could hand over Ili. In 1879, under the threat of Tsarist Russia, Chonghou sent by the Qing government signed the Treaty of Rivagia and the Regulations on Land Trade without authorization. The treaty nominally returned Ili to China, but ceded a large area of territory west of the Horgos River in the south of Ili to Tsarist Russia in the west, making Ili an isolated city. Moreover, the treaty also stipulates that the borders between Kashgar and Talbatay should be revised in favor of Tsarist Russia, as well as compensation for military expenditures, duty-free trade, the opening of additional trade routes, and the addition of consuls. When the news came, public opinion across the country was in uproar and demanded a change of the treaty. On the one hand, the Qing government was forced by pressure from public opinion and on the other hand, it felt that it had lost too much power, so it refused to ratify the treaty. In 1880, Zeng Jize, the envoy sent by the Qing government to Britain, sent an envoy to Russia to negotiate a treaty change. In order to bring it into submission, Tsarist Russia gathered a large number of troops on our country's northeastern and northwest borders, and dispatched additional navies to demonstrate off the coast of China to intimidate Zeng Jize diplomatically, and repeatedly threatened to suspend negotiations and launch war. On February 24, 1881, Zeng Jize, forced by tsarist Russia, signed the China-Russia "Ili Treaty" and the "Revised Land Trade Regulations" to replace the treaties and regulations signed by Chonghou. According to these two treaties, although China regained Ili and no longer ceded the Tikes River Basin, the area west of the Horgos River was occupied by tsarist Russia; Compensation to Russia increased to 9 million rubles (More than 5 million taels of silver); Tsarist Russia added more consuls in Jiayuguan and Turpan; Russian merchants traded "temporarily without paying taxes" in the cities of the south and north Tianshan Mountains, and traded duty-free in Mongolia. Those transported Russian goods to Jiayuguan by land were reduced by one-third according to Tianjin's method; Ili residents "who wish to move to Russia and become Russian citizens should do whatever they want"(Tsarist Russian invaders used this clause to kidnap more than 100,000 China border residents from 1881 to 1884). In addition, the treaty stipulated that "a straight line shall be drawn from Mount Quidon across the Heiltji River to the territory of Saur, and the Minister of Demarcation shall determine the New Territories between this straight line and the old boundary." According to this, Russia forced the Qing government to conclude five treaties from 1882 to 1884, such as the Ili Boundary Treaty and the Kashgar Boundary Treaty, which redefined the western boundary of China and Russia in sections. Tsarist Russia adopted the China-Russia Ili Treaty and five border survey protocols, and annexed more than 70,000 square kilometers of territory in western China.