The Opium War:
Watershed between Ancient
and Modern China
Session 2
Table of Contents
I. Britain’s Efforts to Open China’s Door for Free
Trade before the Opium War
Diplomatic action
Opium trade
Military force
II. The First Opium War
III. The Second Opium War
IV. Acceleration of Imperialism in China after the
Opium War
V. The Consequences of the Opium War
VI. Deep Roots of the Opium War
VII. Discussion
I-1. London’s Efforts to Open
China’s Door before the War
 The Macartney Mission in 1793
 To acquire a place near the tea & silk-producing area
 To negotiate a commercial treaty
 To release abuses at Canton
 To create a desire in China for British products
 To arrange diplomatic representation at Beijing
 To Open Japan, Cochin China to British commerce
 Amherst Mission in 1816
 Failure of the mission because of refusal to comply to
China’s ritual ceremonies
I-2. The Opium Trade
 Favorable trade imbalance to China
 90% of East India Company’s shipment to China is gold
and silver, and only 10% were commodities.
 From 1781-1970, 16.4 million taels of silver flowed into
China, and from 1800-1810, 26 million.
 The opium trade
 Britain took a lead in opium trade from 1773
 Favorable trade imbalance to Britain
 1800-1810: 26 million taels of silver to China
 1831-1833: 10 million taels of silver out of China
The Opium trade and China’s response
 Young men from rich families-
officials, merchants, soldiers,
literati, women, servants, even
monks, nuns and priests
 If opium was not suppressed,
China would have no soldiers to
fight the enemy and no fund to
support the army.
 Commissioner Lin Zexu took
actions in 1839 and banned
opium trade
I-3. Military ForceII. The First Opium War from 1839 to 1842
 The abolish of the monopoly of East Indian Company in
1834 escalated conflict between Chinese government and
British government. British government coordinated the
China trade by appointment of Superintendent of Trade
in China.
 Lin’s determination & actions to stop opium trade
 Under pressure from Lin, Charles Elliot, Chief
Superintendent of Trade, agreed to submit Lin 21306 chest
of opium on behalf of the British government.
 Lin’s letter to Queen Victoria in January 1840
Letter to Queen Victoria
• ……
• I have heard that the smoking of opium is very strictly
forbidden by your country; that is because the harm
caused by opium is clearly understood. Since it is not
permitted to do harm to your own country, then even
less should you let it be passed on to the harm of other
countries—how much less to China!
• Suppose there were people from another country who
carried opium for sale to England and seduced your
people into buying and smoking it; certainly your
honorable ruler would deeply hate it and be bitterly
aroused.
• This letter was carried by Captain Warren in Jan., 1840
Discussion
 Would Great Britain change its policy to invade China
through military force if Commissioner Lin would not
confiscate English merchants’ opium?
 Do you think that Queen Victoria would accept Lin’s
argument against opium trade?
 Watch the movie: The Opium War
The Immobile Empire: the first great collision of
East & West - Alain Peyrefitte
“The pastoral world of mills driven by donkeys was gone,
and the horse gave way to the steam engine.” Great
Britain became the most powerful industrial county in
the world. In this way:
 “He who controls trade controls the world’s wealth, and
therefore the world itself.”
– Lord Walter Raleigh to Elizabeth.
 “Shortly after 1763 Lord Clive, flushed with his recent
victories over the Mogul Empire and the French,
proposed that he be sent to conquer China by armed
force.”
Continue:
 “Every British citizen knew the words to the anthem
of that ambition: Rule, Britannia/Britannia rules
the waves.” As rulers of the waves, eight million
Britons were confident that they could speak as
masters to three hundred million Chinese.”
 “The fact was that the East was going to have to
open its doors to the West, whose masters now
proclaimed, asserting their own power and
interests, that the world was on and that they
intended to travel it and trade in it freely.”
II-2. Military Defeats
 May 24, Elliot urged London to take action and
Palmerston informed Elliot to dispatch an
expeditionary army to China
 June 1840, the British Expeditionary army arrived in
China
 The First Opium War from 1839-1842
 Movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R44wJZqy6W8
II-3. The Nanking Treaty in 1842
 An
indemnity of $21 million
Abolish of the Canton trade system
 Opening of five ports for trade &
residence of English officials, merchants
and their families
 Concession of Hong Kong

 “A great change in more than three
thousand years of history” – Li Hongzhang
II-4. The Wangsha Treaty & Huangpu Treaty
 The Wangsha Treaty with the US in July 184
 The Huangpu Treaty with France in October 1844
 Extraterritoriality allowed foreigners to have exempt from
the jurisdiction of Chinese laws
 The Most Favored Nation to allow all the foreign countries
to share benefits and privileges from any treatie
 The right to maintain churches and hospitals in the five
port cities
III. The Second Opium War 1856-1860
 In an effort to expand their privileges in China, Britain
demanded the Qing authorities renegotiate the Treaty of
Nanking (signed in 1842), citing their most favoured
nation status. The British demands included opening all
of China to British merchants, legalising the opium
trade, exempting foreign imports from internal transit
duties, suppression of piracy, regulation of the coolie
trade, permission for a British ambassador to reside in
Beijing and for the English-language version of all
treaties to take precedence over the Chinese.
 The Qing rejected the demand of Britain. An AngloFrench force invaded China from 1856-1860.
III-2. Treaties of Tianjing
 Britain, France, Russia, and the U.S. would have the right to
establish diplomatic legations (small embassies) in Peking
(a closed city at the time)
 Ten more Chinese ports would be opened for foreign trade,
including Niuzhuang, Tamsui, Hankou, and Nanjing
 The right of all foreign vessels including commercial ships
to navigate freely on the Yangtze River
 The right of foreigners to travel in the internal regions of
China, which had been formerly banned
 China was to pay an indemnity to Britain and France in 8
million taels of silver each
III-3. Treaty of Aigun
 On 28 May 1858, the separate Treaty of Aigun was
signed with Russia to revise the Chinese and Russian
border as determined by the Nerchinsk Treaty in 1689.
Russia gained the left bank of the Amur River, pushing
the border back from the Argun River. The treaty gave
Russia control over a non-freezing area on the Pacific
coast, where Russia founded the city of Vladivostok in
1860.
瑷珲条约中中国丧失的领土
III-3. Yuan Ming Yuan Was Looted & Destroyed
IV. Acceleration of Imperialism in China after the Opium War
IV. Acceleration of Imperialism in China after the Opium War
 The Sino-French War from 1883-1885
 China lost Vietnam to France
 The Sino-Japanese War from 1894-1895
 China recognized the independence of Korea
 ceded Taiwan to Japan
 Pay an indemnity of 263,176,701 taels of silver (about 150
million U.S.dollars )
 Offered most favored nation trade status and
 opening of Shashi, Chungking, Soochow and Hangzhou.
 China vs. 8 Powers in 1900 (the Boxer Rebellion)
IV-2. Acceleration of Imperialism in China after the Opium War
V. Consequences of the Opium War
 Politically, China became a semicolonial country because
of the loss of the three national rights: fixed tariff,
extraterritoriality and the most favored nation
 Militarily, foreign gunboats were allowed to navigate
freely in Chinese inland waterways.
 Economically, the fixed customs rates deprived China of
a protective tariff, which damaged China’s self-sufficient
economy.
 Socially, the collapse of China’s agrarian economy led to
caused social disturbances and rebellions.
 Diplomatically, China took the first step in its long
journey to membership of the international society
V-2. Self-sufficient Economy Disintegrated &
Domestic Rebellions
The Taiping Rebellion broke out from 1850-1864.
It ravaged 17 provinces, destroyed more than 600 cities, took an estimated
20 million lives, it weakened the Qing rule significantly.
The Nian Rebellion from 1851-1868
The Moslem Rebellion from 1855-1873
VI. Deep Roots of the Confrontation
 Conflict of the Chinese claims of universal
overlordship with the Western idea of national
sovereignty.
 Conflict between self-sufficient agrarian China and
the expansive and industrial Britain.
 Conflict between the Chinese tributary relationship
with the Western system diplomatic intercourse.
 Conflict between Smithsian idea of free trade and
China’s contempt for trade
Questions
 Why did Great Britain request/demand free trade with
China?
 Why did Qing rulers refuse to have free trade with the
West?
 Why did British merchants sell opium to China?
 What are the consequences of opium trade in China?
 What were Chinese rulers and elite' attitude to challenges
from the West?
 What were China's strategies to deal with challenges from
the West?
 Any other questions?
Thank you!
Questions?