Drawing on a wide range of public and private sources, including multiple micro-histories, this book examines how the wives of China consular officials shaped, and were shaped by, the treaty port world. Building on scholarship about women in empire and Britain in China, Hillier shows that these women played a significant role in forging and legitimising Britain's presence in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These contributions occurred on three distinct levels. In the public sphere, they acted as incorporated wives, carrying out a range of duties, as well as supporting their husbands in their multiple roles. On an intimate level, they were responsible for setting up and managing the consular household, providing exemplars of Western familial practices and maintaining relationships with local Chinese people. And, on a wider level, they forged networks of information and support that linked the treaty port world and beyond. Overlooked by the Foreign Office and marginalised in the literature, these women nonetheless became influential actors in their own right. This study brings their experiences to light, demonstrating their importance in consolidating Britain's semi-imperial presence from the opening of the first treaty ports in 1843 to the Siege of the Legations in 1900, when Sino-British relations entered a new phase.