The Cause Of The Opium War 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.

While westerners in China pushed to claim rights and generally oppose Chinese reformers who worked to better China, the Chinese government and society continued to face internal problems.

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

To contextualize relevant to the political, social, and economic causes and effects of the first and second opium wars during the modern period 1750-1900 CE, the rate of interconnectedness, industrialization and global integration was rapidly increasing in the western hemisphere while the eastern hemisphere, specifically China, was experiencing great misfortune. At this time there was a significantly high demand for Chinese goods in Europe such as porcelain and chinese silk, but the Chinese did not have a demand for goods in Europe. Since China accumulated most of the silver from Europe there was an unbalanced distribution of silver, which caused the Europeans to start selling opium to the Chinese in order to restore the flow of silver out of China. This resulted in the first opium war in 1839- 1842, the major Civil war in 1850-1864, and second opium war in 1856-1860 which horrendously affected China’s economy, government, and social relations.

The Opium Wars took place in China from 1839 to 1860, between Western forces and the Qing dynasty, which ruled China from 1644 to 1912. The first Opium War occurred from 1839 to 1832 and was fought between China and Britain. In the 17th and 18th centuries, European demand for Chinese goods (particularly silk, porcelain, and tea) created a trade deficit between Great Britain and Qing Imperial China. In 1839, China’s Emperor had enough of British drug smuggling and suspended all British trade with China, beginning the first Opium War. In 1842, the Qing Dynasty was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanking, which granted protection and immunity to Britain, and opened five treaty ports to foreign suppliers, among other things. The second Opium War, also referred to as the Anglo-French War in China, occurred from 1856 to 1860, and was fought by Britain and France against China. The failure of the Treaty of Nanking to satisfy British goals of enhanced trade and diplomatic relations led to the second war.

The opium problem in China during the nineteenth century was primarily viewed as an issue created by foreign traders bringing opium into their empire. Zhu Zun and Xu Naiji wrote memoranda in 1863 elucidating their diverging view to the government on how to combat the issue of opium use and trade. Xu advocated for the relaxing of anti-opium laws as a means of reducing illegal smuggling, while Zhu contends that more stringent enforcement of anti-opium laws is the preferable policy, which Commissioner Lin supports in his edict to foreign traders.

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.

The Opium War was a conflict between Great Britain and China that began in 1839 and lasted until 1842. At the beginning trade between China and Britain was good tea was shipped to Britain, China had little interest in gaining items from Britain so the trade was unbalanced. After a lack of trading from Britain, a new item was found known as opium; this product was greatly sought after by China. The sale of opium despite it being addictive had a benefit of balancing trade between Britain and China. After the British began trading they took advantage of the high demand for opium in China and began to distribute exports illegally. Now a new conflict had arisen the British were pushing extraterritorially in China. What that means is it’s a law

You may be asking yourself, why did opium even become an object of trade? Well, Opium originally started becoming an object of trade when, "Western traders, including those from the United States, had long sought a variety of Chinese products (including furniture, silk and tea), but found there were few products that China wanted from the West."(The Opening to China Part I: the First Opium War, the United States, and the Treaty of Wangxia, 1839–1844) Before the war, Opium was very highly used in trade, because the British couldn't find any other values which China wanted from them. The opium started to become addictive to the Chinese creating a greater connection between Canton and Guangxi Guangdong region. But Opium soon became unwanted in China because of the addictions, a majority of the population, was just lethargic and also all of the silver in China was being poured into the British banks through the Opium trade. "The sums of money circulating in the southeast because of the opium trade and the stock piling of silks and teas for export in turn brought heightened official corruption and a rise in state revenues from transit dues and from taxation of legitimate foreign trade”. (Spencer

The Qing emperor wanted to get rid of the Taipings so he asked the British for help. The British tried to negotiate for more trade ports and to legalize opium, but the Qing emperor turned them down. Britain and France joined forces in the Second Opium war. Britain and France defeated China. China

The Opium War was a war fought by two countries Great Britain and china in 1839. The war was fought over the drug opium which was used by the Chinese for hundreds of year to relieve pain. opium is a habit forming narcotic made from the poppy plant. In the late 1700’s the British was smuggling the drug into China for non-medical use. The navies of the two countries mostly fought the battles of the opium war at sea. Within three years the Chinese’s old ships were simply no matches for the brand new British ships. In 1843 the Chinese and the British signed the treaty of Nanjing. This treaty gave the British the island of Hong Kong. In 1844 the United States of America and other countries gained extraterritorial rights. Which this

Opium- an addictive drug originally used as a painkiller. It is obtained from the unripe seeds of the opium poppy and can be made into substances that a person can smoke causing relaxation, alleviated anxiety, and a state of euphoria. Continued use of the drug also induces deterioration to the mind and body of a person eventually causing death. The substance was therefore stated illegal in China during the late 18th Century yet consistently smuggled into the country via British merchant ships. As the Chinese placed more restrictions on trade in an effort to abolish the importation of opium, the battle against the drug raged on until war was unavoidable between England and China. It is this war that lasted from 1839-1842

Throughout Chinese history, political and economic events have almost always led to drastic changes in China itself. Many of these events have been internal struggles with China. Some events have been external, such as the First Opium War. The First Opium war, which lasted from 1839 to 1842, led to several economic and political changes in China. The Opium War is considered more that just a war, the results created a deep impact on China and the Western World. For hundreds of years, China had isolated themselves from the world and from foreign trade, but a single dispute over trading rights led to a huge war, which dictated the future of China. The first Opium War was because of the trade imbalance between England and China. This paper will discuss what caused the first Opium War and its after effects on China.

The Opium War was a war between the United Kingdom and Imperial China. Smoking opium for the stimulating impacts is not noted in China until the eighteenth century, but rather likely started at some point before. The Chinese Imperial Government in the mid eighteenth century turned out to be progressively concerned with the spreading dependence on opium and its crippling impact. The Imperial Government disallowed the offer of opium blended with tobacco and banned opium-smoking houses (1729). The Government classed offering opium for smoking "was classed with burglary and affectation to kill, and rebuffed with expulsion or passing." The Government found, be that as it may, extremely hard to stop the exchange, particularly as the British consistently