Essay on Opium Wars in China

Also, citizens became addicted, and the drug eventually killed thousands of people. China’s actions angered Britain politicians even though opium was illegal in Britain as well. But was a result, war started between the two countries. In 1842, the treaty of Nanking ended the war. It was the first unequal treaty with Britain and it said that Chinese had to give up Hong Kong to Britain for ninty-nine years, the British would live in China by extraterritoriality at four ports, distribution of opium would continue and Christain missionaries will be set up throughout China. When China couldn’t meet the ridiculous requirements of the treaty, the second Opium War began in 1956. As a result, Britain won again by the Treaty of Tientsin. The treaty asked to open more ports to outer nations, let foreign leaders into the capital Beijing, and legalized the distribution and use of opium. Their situation was dangerously bad.

China has 5000 years of history which experienced wars, collapses, failures and successes. The Opium War in the year 1839 and 1856 marked the changing point of China’s trade policy with foreigners, especially with British in opium and tea. China changed from getting tributes to being forced to sign the Nanjing Treaty and Tianjing Treaty with British and French. Due to China’s over confidence and unwelcome attitude toward foreigners and opium, it caused the British to declare the Opium War to China which made Chinese suffer for many years, but at the same time it also forced China to open its doors to the foreigners.

Opium came from opium poppy seeds, which were grown and sold under British ruling in India. The British East India Company developed a monopoly which took place in effectively growing opium and making profits and/or trading it with the Chinese in exchange for their premium good such as silk, porcelain, and tea. According to Memorials on the Legalization and Elimination of Opium by Xu Naiji and Yuan Yulin, they explained how the rise of opium prompted many debts and death around China. Opium became an addiction for many, from the poor to officials in government positions. Cutting off all access of trading opium would’ve started issues in the trading network, not just with Britain but with the Western countries as well. Instead of passing laws to completely ban opium, they reverted to only permitting the barbarian merchants to import opium to pay duty as a medication. This made it unacceptable for money to be involved with the product. According to Xu Naiji, smokers of opium were lazy, with no purpose in life and if they were caught smoking it, the only punishment was getting the opium confiscated. However, if any officer, scholar, or soldier were found smoking opium, the would be immediately dismissed from public employ. Yuan Yulin, a minister, believes that the expansion of opium is the government’s fault, being that they cannot decipher right from wrong; he thought it was unfair that prohibition of smoking opium only applied to the officers of the government, scholars, and military but not the common people. The British capitalized on the effects of opium, because many of China’s population were going to put forth their money, goods, etc. for

The long-term effects of the opium trade were economically harmful to the Chinese. In “An Argument for Legalization,” senior official and advisor to Emperor Daoguang,

In conclusion, the 1839 “Letter to Queen Victoria” by Lin Zexu argued that Opium is a source of evil and pain and appealed to the Queen of Great Britain to abolish sale and smuggling of opium in China. Zexu did this through exemplifying the past trading relationship of China and Great Britain, also by moral persuasion, and last by means of warnings and

China and British perspectives on the opium trade were contradistinctive and ultimately became the foundations of the Opium Wars in 1839-42 and 1856-60. The clash of opinions were not based around the narcotic opium itself but stemmed from a misunderstanding of cultures, conflicting economic behaviours and different ethical ideologies.

That is, until they were introduced to opium. They got hooked fast and it became extremely high in demand, in fact, opium became the most traded commodity in the world. China started out getting it from Great Britain, who was producing their opium in India. Soon though, the United States became the second largest opium providers to China; however, it was produced in Turkey and it was lower quality. Merchants in the U.S. used the money they made from selling opium to build railroads, universities such as Princeton, and small towns like Salem, Mass. Opium became such a large problem in China, that they declared it illegal. Because it was difficult to stop the trade of opium, China set up the “Canton System” which was made up of 6 rules. The first rule was that trade of opium was not allowed. The second rule was that trade in China could only take place in Canton. The third rule was that trade in China could only occur 6 months out of the year. The fourth rule was that merchants could not bring women with them to trade, decreasing their chances of staying. The fifth rule was that foreigners could not learn Chinese, and vice versa. This created a trade language, pidgin language. The last rule was that foreigners could only deal with Hong merchants. The Canton System was not very effective, as Europeans started smuggling opium. Commissioner Lin tried writing a letter to the queen to stop

In order to save the lives of Chinese people, Chinese authorities prohibited the trade of opium and defended against the British invaders [paragraph 10, line 1 to 2]. However, the emperor neglected one of the important reasons of the British invasion, and took a biased view of the reasons why their people and troops suffered a lot. As a result, the regional commissioner suggested the necessity of concession, as described in the second

The increase of production and use of opium created many problems for China. An issue that resulted of the opium trade was the illegal opium trade with Britain. While most goods and products were legally traded, opium had increased in the illegal market. Previously China’s emperor had written to Britain’s monarchy about the encroachment of their demand of goods and land within China. The emperor Qianlong, in his letter, states that “porcelain which the Celestial Empire produces are absolute necessities to European nations and to yourselves” (Document 1). This shows that European countries often wanted the products of China. It also provoked the illegal trade of opium a very valued

In 1729 China banned the distribution of opium. This ban was not heavily enforced. At this time Britain began growing opium as a cash crop. In 1773 Britain imported 1,000 chests of opium to China. The Chinese people became addicted. In 1832 Britain imported another 20,000 chests of opium to China. Then in 1836 China closed all main ports as an attempt to keep opium out of the country. Chinese officials then openly burned large amounts of confiscated opium. This sparked The First Opium War. This war lasted 4 years and ended with the Treaty of Nanjing which opened all of China’s ports and made Hong Kong a British colony. This was beneficial to Britain because they made money importing opium to China, as well as forcing China into a war that Britain knew that they could win and gain land from.

The aim of this investigation is to find the extent to which the British and Chinese trade of opium into China caused the corruption and eventual downfall of the Qing dynasty. The main body of this investigation focuses on the corruption and failure of the Chinese government in controlling British incursions, which caused its citizens to rebel and thus began the downfall of the Qing Dynasty. The introductions of opium to China and the effects it had on China will be assessed in accordance to origin, value, purpose, and limitation. The British and Chinese trade in relation to opium and its role of corruption in the Qing Dynasty will be analyzed also.

In the early eighteen hundreds, Britain and other European countries demanded more and more Chinese commodities, especially tea and silk. However, only the port in Canton was opened to foreign countries, and Chinese would not take any other form of payments besides silver. The desire to make China into a free market that foreigners have more access to and the increasing, though illegal, European opium import to China eventually created tension between the European countries, especially Britain, and the Chinese government (Allingham Par. 1-2). The two battles fought and won by European powers were known as the Opium Wars. China’s politics, economy, and intellects were both positively and negatively

Xu’s memorandum advocates for the government allowing opium to be brought into China by foreign traders as a taxable good as the best way to combat the opium problem. Xu views strict laws against opium as ineffectual for tackling the drug problem in China, noting in the first paragraph that, “the more severe the interdicts against [opium] are made, the more widely do the evils arising therefrom spread” (Xu page 1). While he acknowledges the addictive and destructive effects of opium on those who use it, Xu believes that the stricter the laws proscribing the dissemination and use of opium, the more widely used the drug becomes. Xu argues that the prohibitions against the opium trade led to increased smuggling by foreign traders and increased use of the drug across China. Conversely, when the state’s policy towards opium was one of leniency, in which opium was allowed into China and taxed as a medicine, the issues involving opium were

Finally, deeply rooted tensions between Britain and China began to come to the surface as the Chinese attempted to crack down on opium use and trade within its borders.

In the late nineteenth century China was plagued with a range of internal issues - political turmoil, floods, famine, and foreign invasions. It was a country stuck in its traditional ways in a industrial and imperialist world. There were issues with the bureaucracy, as it remained small as did its ability to collect taxes for government revenue. This led to minimal spending on the military, which was needed to go against the imperialist threats from the West. These foreign powers, led by the British, sought new markets for their possessions from their empires. One product that became immensely popular was the opium poppy grown in India, which was mass-marketed by the British. Opium spread throughout China and conflict and dissension of its