The antagonism between Britain and China increases a few weeks later when some drunken British sailors destroy a temple near Kowloon and murder a man named Lin Weixi who tries to stop them.

The British government, distrustful of the Chinese legal system, refuses to turn the accused men over to the Chinese courts.

Because China does not have a jury trial system or evidentiary process (the magistrate is the prosecutor, judge, jury and would-be executioner), the British government and community in China wants "extraterritoriality", which means that British subjects would only be tried by British judges.