The Chinese Narrative Of The Opium War

In William Kinmond’s “What a newsman found who got into red China” and Mark Salzman’s Iron and Silk, the reader experiences a mental ride of China. Both Salzman and Kinmond use subtlety and skill to write about what they found in Red China. The texts’ have somewhat different subject matters because each writer visited China with different motives and at different time periods. As the title suggests, Kinmond who goes to China in 1957 is there to report for the Canadian newspaper ‘The Globe and Mail’. On the other hand, Salzman goes to China in 1982 to teach English. Nonetheless, both writers’ construction of Red China and its

Documen F is a collection of excerpts from the Treaty of Nanking, which is the document that ended the first Opium War. This document contains various benefits for the British such as the ceding of Hong Kong and the payment of six million dollars for the deaths of British soldiers during the war. This document expresses the actions of the British to extend further control over China by acquiring from them a major port and a significant sum of money. The Treaty of Nanking is one of many “unequal treaties” that the British employed to provide favorable conditions for themselves. Document G is written by Feng Kuei-Fen and articulates his discontent of British power over China.

In 1927, a war commenced between the Nationalist administration of China, headed by Christian official Chiang Kai-shek, and the Communist Chinese, headed by Mao Tse-tung. Thus, war was waged between the Nationalists, representatives of freedom; and the Communists, representatives of the soul-crushing oppression of Communism. Conversely, in America, the sides were interchanged, as liberal American reporters referred to Mao Tse-tung a “true man of the people” and an “agrarian reformer”; however, patriot of freedom, Chiang Kai-shek was prejudicially labeled as “power-hungry” and “corrupt”. Because assistance was not given from the United States to an ally in desperate need, the toxin of Communism invaded China and remains a parasite on a formerly great land.

Macartney is capable of giving an objective description of the Qing Empire because he is not a Chinese citizen. He has the ability to witness the faults of the government that the Chinese might not see themselves. Macartney’s work might also provide historians with some idea of the opinions of Europeans towards outsider, non-European empires. He includes moments of bewilderment towards the grandeur nature of the royal palace, as well as the Emperor himself, which help give an indication of his emotions towards a foreign nation. Despite these possibilities, there also exists some limitations with the primary source.

The Qing dynasty (1916-1912) is the last imperial dynasty of China, it was consider as the most powerful country during the “golden age” ruled by Kang Xi and Qian Long, and it has over 400 million population and has the 1st ranked GDP in the world at the moment. The Qing has the supreme power at the time and has the significant influence in East Asian. However, the collapse of the Qing Dynasty made a humiliate history of China. The Qing dynasty doesn't fall suddenly, and the collapse of Qing is not just simply because domestic revolution and alien invasion. The failure of the Qing government is worthy to study, we need to take a deep step and explore the root cause of the collapse of Qing.

In the text, “Letter to Queen Victoria”, written by Lin Zexu in 1839, he implores the Queen of Great Britain, Queen Victoria, to stop her subjects from selling opium to the Chinese public. Zexu does so by exemplifying the past relationship of China and Britain, by moral persuasion, and by warnings and threats. However, Lin Zexu’s assumption of calling British subjects as Barbarian and compliant to Chinese rule ineffectively persuades.

The opium culture was already rampant before the CIA began their secret war in Laos, but the agency also facilitated the trade. A correspondent for Christian Science Monitor reported in 1970 that the CIA “is cognizant of, if not party to, the extensive movement of opium out of Laos.” A pilot also told the reporter that “opium shipments get special CIA clearance and monitoring on their flights southward out of the country.” One former CIA agent stationed in Laos, Anthony Poshepny aka “Tony Poe,” went on the record many years later. He said, “It was all a contractual relationship, just like bankers and businessmen. A wonderful relationship. Just a mafia. A big organized mafia.”

I agree to a larger extent that the Qing Government was primarily responsible for causing the Taiping Rebellion. However, other underlying factors leading to the Taiping insurrection cannot be ignored. This essay will discuss how corruption in the Qing bureaucracy, the incompetent leadership, the closed mentality of the Qing Government, shortage of land and impact of an alien Manchu regime highlighted the Qing Government as the main cause of the rebellion. The essay would also include the other causes of the rebellion, such as the opium war and natural disasters.

China has been a communist country. Despite persistent debate over an extended period of time, the question whether which Chinese government is the most responsive to its people has never been permanently settled. However, I dare to claim that Qing Dynasty was the most open and receptive to its people among several Chinese governments. Some people might contend that Republic of China, Warlords, and Chinese Communist Party were the most responsive to its people. However, a close examination throughout this essay will clearly reveal the fallacious nature of their argument. My line of reasoning will derive its support from the most fundamental sources of human wisdom and history.

It was a failure for the Qing in the long term for it aroused Western

Of course Lin had been a man of morale’s and didn’t take suspect that an entire government would have been supporting an illegal activity. However it was obvious that war was the inevitable outcome following this incident, thus the begging of the Opium Wars. The British then sent a small fleet of ships from India, which would occupy Shanghai, and penetrated deeper into China

BIBLIOGRAPHYBarnett, A. (1965), 'Multiple factors', in Pichon Loh (ed.) 'The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949: Conquest or Collapse?' D.C. Heath & Company, BostonBianco, Lucien. (1971), 'Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949' Stanford University Press, StanfordChang, Carsun. (1965), 'Chiang Kai-shek and Kuomintang dictatorship', in PichonLoh (ed.) 'The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949: Conquest or Collapse?' D.C. Heath& Company, BostonChang, Kia-Ngua. (1965) 'War and Inflation' in Pichon Loh (ed.) 'T

China came to realise that it was no longer at the centre of the world after being invaded multiple times by ‘barbarians’ from the outside who were stronger and possessed an intimidatingly sturdy culture and religion which threatened the Chinese culture and world order (Zhimin, 2005:38). China felt threatened and took to nationalism as a non-Chinese solution to the survival of China (Zhimin, 2005:38). However, “Chinese nationalism was a modern idea, seeping in from Europe. It was bolstered by the resentment of European imperialists, with their own ignorant and ruthless

At the same time however, China’s battered history with the West since the Opium war of the mid 19th century was emphasized to demonstrate how Chinese has been constantly abused and mistreated by the imperialist powers. The CCP was portrayed as the right government to help

The Qing Dynasty led by the Manchus was in midst of a chaotic time from 1850 to 1864. The Taiping Rebellion was one of the rebellions the dynasty had to face against during this time period, however this rebellion almost caused the dynasty to collapse. One of the contributing factors that helped the Manchu led dynasty stayed in power in China was an American mercenary turned Chinese commander, Frederick Townsend Ward. Frederick T. Ward was a man of questionable motives as many historians have wrote about him, such as Ralph D. Paine and Jonathan Spence in their respective writings of Ships and Sailors of Old Salem and Ward and Gordon: Glorious Days of Looting. Paine and Spence’s readings about Frederick Townsend Ward have some contradicting