Opium Wars
Yesterday, the 29th, was a delightful day to us all, so much as it witnessed the signing of the treaty between Great Britain and the Chinese empire, and the proclamation of unrestricted and perfect peace between the two nations.- Letter of a British officer of China expedition, 1842
Britain had been suffering huge deficit in trade with China. Although there was high demand for tea in Britain, Chinese exhibited lack of interest towards British goods. The situation, however, reversed when opium trade was initiated.
"The opium trade was of vital importance to British Imperialism at this time...The smuggling of opium turned a large British trading deficit with China into a substantial surplus, paying for British tea imports from China...The opium trade was "the hub of British commerce in the East."-Britain’s Opium Wars, by John Newsinger |
In March 1839, the Emperor sent Commissioner Lin to eradicate the opium trade. Lin seized and destroyed 10000 chests of opium.
"We have heard that in your own country opium is prohibited with the utmost strictness and severity:---this is a strong proof that you know full well how hurtful it is to mankind. Since then you do not permit it to injure your own country, you ought not to have the injurious drug transferred to another country, and above all others, how much less to the Inner Land! Of the products which China exports to your foreign countries, there is not one which is not beneficial to mankind in some shape or other...Our celestial empire rules over ten thousand kingdoms! Most surely do we possess a measure of godlike majesty which ye cannot fathom! Still we cannot bear to slay or exterminate without previous warning, and it is for this reason that we now clearly make known to you the fixed laws of our land."-Letter from Commissioner Lin to Queen Victoria.
In May 1841, Britain open fired and the Opium War started. The advanced military weaponry of the British forces (muskets, artillery, and gunboats) were far superior than that of the Chinese. Chinese suffered atrocious and devastating losses and British relentlessly advanced.
"The British had an overwhelming technological superiority that turned every battle into a one-sided massacre. As one British officer observed: "The poor Chinese" had two choices, either they "must submit to be poisoned, or must be massacred by the thousands, for supporting their own laws in their own land.""-Britain's Opium War, by John Newsinger |
On August 29, 1842, the war ended with signing of the Treaty of Nanking, first "Unequal Treaty".
“ARTICLE I. There shall henceforward be Peace and Friendship between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the Emperor of China… ARTICLE II. His Majesty the Emperor of China agrees that British Subjects, with their families and establishments, shall be allowed to reside, for the purpose of carrying on their Mercantile pursuits, without molestation or restraint at the Cities and Towns of Canton, Amoy, Foochow-fu, Ningpo, and Shanghai… ARTICLE IV. The Emperor of China agrees to pay the sum of Six Millions of Dollars… ARTICLE X. His Majesty the Emperor of China agrees to establish at all the Ports which are by the 2nd Article of this Treaty to be thrown open for the resort of British Merchants, a fair and regular Tariff of Export and Import Customs and other Dues”-Treaty of Nanking, Source: UCLA Institute. |
"By the treaty, signed before. Nanking, August 29th, 1842, the spell which gave this government its fancied elevation was broken, its wall of seclusion breached, and a highway projected, whereupon the sons of Han may enjoy free intercourse with those of every race and in every clime"-The Chinese Repository, quarterly issued by missionaries in Canton William Kirby, professor at Harvard University dicusses the impact of the Treaty of Nanking.
|
"Behold that vile English nation!...its people are at one time like vultures, and then they are like wild beasts, with dispositions more fierce and furious than the tiger or wolf, and natures more greedy than anacondas or swine."-paper that was agreed to at a great public meeting in Canton, 1842
In 1856, joint forces of Britain and France, waged yet another war with the Qing Empire. The forces bombarded the Tagu forts and seized Tientsin. Chinese forces resisted to no avail and the troops advanced to Beijing, the capital of the empire and Yuan Ming Yuan, the Imperial Court of the empire, was utterly destroyed.
The war ended with signing of the treaties of Tien-tsin:
“The following is an official summary of the Treaty between her majesty and the Emperor of China, signed at Tien-sin, June 26:-Act. I. Confirms the Treaty of Nankin of 1842, and abrogates the Supplementary Treaty and General Regulations of Trade... Art. VIII.-The Christian religion as professed by Protestants or Roman Catholics to be tolerated and its professors protected…Act IX.-British subjects to travel for pleasure or trade into all parts of the interior…Art. XI.-In addition to the present ports, New Chwang, Tan Chow, Tai Wan (Formosa), Chow Chow (Swatow), and Kiung-Chow (Hainan) are to be opened and the right of residence and holding landed property is conceded…Art. XVIII.-Provides for the protection of the personal property of British subject… Art. XXXV.-British merchant vessels to be at liberty to engage pilots to take them into any of the open ports… Separate article provides that a sum of 2,000,000 taels, on account of the losses sustained by British subjects through the misconduct of Chinese authorities at Canton, and a further sum of 2,000,000 tales on account of the expenses of the war, shall be paid to the British Representatives in China by the authorities of the Kwang Tung province.”-The Treaty with China, The Examiner, Saturday 02 October 1858
The Second Opium War signified unspeakable humiliation for China. Not only was China defeated by the foreign "savages", but the "savages" sacked and destroyed the Imperial Court of the "Middle Kingdom". The Western powers would rapidly expand its political and economic prestige in the Qing Empire.
Interview with Gungwu Wang discussing the significance of the second Opium War, excerpt from the documentary, China's Century of Humiliation
|
Interview with Richard Baum, discussing the legacy of the second Opium War, excerpt from the documentary, China's Century of Humiliation
|