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308 At present, and as a result of the stipulations contained in Article VI concerning the indemnity, the Chinese Government agrees to assist in the improvement of the courses of the rivers Peiho and Whangpu, as stated below.

(a) The works for the improvement of navigation in the Peiho, begun in 1898 with the cooperation of the Chinese Government, have been resumed under the direction of an international Commission. As soon as the administration of Tientsin shall have been handed back to the Chinese Government, the latter will be able to have a representative on this Commission, and will pay each year a sum of sixty thousand Haikwan Taels for continuing the works.

(b) A River Board, charged with the management and control of the work of straightening the Whangpu and improving the course of that river, is hereby created.

This Board shall consist of members representing the interests of the Chinese Government and those of foreigners in the shipping trade of Shanghai. The expense to be incurred for the works and the general management of the undertaking is estimated at the annual sum of four hundred and sixty thousand Haikwan Taels for the first twenty years. This sum will be supplied in equal portions by the Chinese Government and the foreign interests concerned. Detailed stipulations concerning the composition, duties, and revenues of the River Board are embodied in Annex No. 17.

An Imperial Edict of the 24th of July, 1901 (Annex No. 18), reorganized the Office of Foreign Affairs, (Tsungli Yamen), on the lines indicated by the Powers, that is to say, transformed it into a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Waiwu Pu), which takes precedence over the six other Ministries of State. The same Edict appointed the principal members of this Ministry.

An agreement has also been reached concerning the modification of Court ceremonial as regards the reception of foreign Representatives and has been the subject of several notes from the Chinese Plenipotentiaries, the substance of which is embodied in a memorandum herewith annexed (Annex No. 19).

Finally, it is expressly understood that as regards the declarations above set forth and the annexed documents emanating from the foreign Plenipotentiaries, the French text alone is authoritative.

The Chinese Government having thus complied to the satisfaction of the Powers with the conditions laid down in the above-mentioned note of December 22nd, 1900, the Powers have acceded to the wish of China to terminate the situation created by the disorders of the summer of 1900. The foreign Plenipotentiaries are therefore authorized to declare in the names of their Governments that, with the exception of the legation guards mentioned in Article VII, the international troops will completely evacuate the city of Peking, on the 17th September, 1901, and, with the exception of the localities