The Causes And Impacts Of British Imperialism In China

Imperialism was the cause of the economy to beginning to boom in numbers in China. China’s sudden wealth made some eastern nations such as Japan and France very curious. These nations believed that if China was to be colonized that it would make it so much easier for them to have trade routes to and from China. Not only is imperialism impacting the economy but also the culture of China. China’s culture began to change when people all over Europe began to move to China. This is what made the culture of China so diverse. Without Imperialism China would not be the nation that it is today.

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, Chinese government and society faced internal problems. Being a main target for imperialism, China faced much western influence. One of the events that marked the beginning of intense western influence was the case concerning the Opium Wars. A main imperialistic power, Great Britain, began trading China opium, a heavily addictive drug, in exchange for tea and silk. At first, it seemed like a positive idea – the Chinese

What is foreign Imperialism? Foreign Imperialism is when a country (or countries) seeks to expand their nation or sphere of influence into other nations. This usually involves military force and even war. During the 1800s and the early 1900s, both China and Japan were victims of foreign imperialism. Early on, both nations were kept secluded from other powers through various trading and travel restrictions. A closed door policy was created by each nation in fear of western powers invading their land. This restricted trading to specific ports and also the traveling of both citizens and foreigners. These policies did not hold up forever, however with China’s ending after the Opium Wars and Japan’s being abolished by force from other nations and during the Meiji Restoration.

In the 19th Century British planned to invade China for economic reasons. It had no motives to conquer the state rather entice it to accept a free trade. The country was rich in tea which was in high demand not only in Britain but all over the world. China also had porcelain and silk which the Britons envied. The intruders did not have enough silver to buy the commodities thus opted for a barter system. Consequently, a war between the two states occurred. It was fought between 1848 and 1852 with China becoming unsuccessful due advanced military competence of Britons. The signing of an agreement between them then followed, and British was additionally awarded extraterritorial rights by China. However, the imperialism in China was a positive thing to the natives because it introduced trade and much education in the region which opened up opportunities.

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

China was impacted by Imperialism in a big way. The imperialism in china started because of Opium Trade. The british were the start of the Opium Trade. The Chinese people were pulled in to the drug because they were addicted to it. The people who traded the the drug had become aware that it was becoming a problem. So, they thought stopping would solve it but at this point the Chinese people were in need of it because of how high their addiction was. When the Chinese saw that the trade was being pulled back by the british they turned to fight and created a war between the two. Obviously at the time Britain had the most resourceful and powerful military on the planet, so they undoubtedly won the war.

Imperialism was good for China. They gained new things due to imperialism it helped them learn new things and have new technology. They gained new things like education and technology.

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.

     Another country that had imperialistic rule was China. The British forced the Chinese to trade with them. As the result of the Opium War, which China lost, they had to accept extraterritoriality. In 1894, Japanese pressure on China led to war. Japan crushed China and western powers moved quickly to carve out spheres of influences on the Chinese coast. Imperial powers accepted the idea of an Open Door Policy, where trade was open to everyone. Negative effects China had were that there land was carved up, they most many rights and people due to wars. Poverty and misery increased, while no nationalism occurred. Chinese

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

Essentially, the British purchased cotton from India, made textiles and sold it back to India, permitting the British to purchase an abundant amount of opium. This allowed them to smuggle the narcotic into China’s isolated land. Through this new method of trading, opium was steadily flowing into China and into its people, not only as a medicine, but as a recreational drug. Since this particular drug became well-known within China, a sudden increase in demand of this narcotic created a new development in the way to administer this drug: new smoking technique, which eventually made opium not only a medicine or a lousy recreational drug, but a highly-used and effective drug that affected nearly every citizen in China. According to Coburn, since the supply and usage of the opium increased exponentially, opium became a part of the daily lives of the Chinese where “much of the lower-class work force with one-third of

During the 18th century, the British began trading opium to the Chinese. They had finally found a commodity the Chinese were willing to buy. Opium was an illicit drug with addictive properties. As demand on opium increased, the British traders made huge profits and the trade imbalance was reversed. There was now a steady flow of silver leaving China. In 1796, the Ch’ing government banned the importation of opium. This did not stop the British, who continued the trade illegally. As well, extensive corruption amongst Chinese officials allowed the opium trade to flourish.

Before the opium war haven't start, British were shipping the opium to Guangzhou for many hundred years. In 600s chinese have no idea how to use the opium, they used swallowing it whole as a painkiller and a treatment for dysentery. Later on , opium became popular in China, chinese started to smoke opium in pipes. Smoking opium can affects their health, continual use opium resulted in addiction. Later on, opium spread in everywhere in china and the amount of opium chests increased by ship from british. The price of opium increased, only those wealthy people can able to buy it.