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{{Short description|19th-century conflicts between China and European powers}}
] (]) during the ]]]
The '''Opium Wars''' ({{zh-stp|s=鸦片战争|t=鴉片戰爭|p=Yāpiàn Zhànzhēng}}), also known as the '''Anglo-Chinese Wars''', lasted from 1839 to 1842 and 1856 to 1860,<ref name="dates">{{cite book|last=Hanes|first=William Travis|coauthors=Frank Sanello|year=2002|title=Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another|pages=3}}</ref> the climax of a trade dispute between ] under the ] and the ]. British smuggling of ] from ] into China and the Chinese government's efforts to enforce its drug laws erupted in conflict.


{{About||the 1967 conflict between marooned elements of the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Kingdom of Laos|1967 Opium War|other uses|Opium Wars (disambiguation)}}
China's defeat in both wars left its government having to tolerate the opium trade. Britain forced the Chinese government into signing the ] and the ], also known as the ], which included provisions for the opening of additional ports to foreign trade, for fixed tariffs; for the recognition of both countries as equal in correspondence; and for the giving of ] to Britain. The British also gained extraterritorial rights. Several countries followed Britain and sought similar agreements with China. Many Chinese found these agreements humiliating and these sentiments are considered to have contributed to the ] (1850-1864), the ] (1899-1901), and the downfall of the ] in 1912.{{Fact|date=April 2008}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| partof = the ]
| conflict = Opium Wars
| place = ]
| combatant1 = ]:{{ubl|{{flagicon|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}} ]|{{ubl|{{flagicon image|Flag of the British East India Company (1801).svg}} ]}}}}
]:{{ubli|{{flag|British Empire}}|{{flag|Second French Empire}}}}
| combatant2 = ]
| image = {{multiple image
| border = infobox
| total_width = 300
| image1 = Destroying Chinese war junks, by E. Duncan (1843).jpg
| image2 = La bataille de Palikiao.jpg
}}Naval battle in the ] (left), ] (right)
| result = {{ubli
| First Opium War:{{ubli|British victory, ]}}
| Second Opium War:{{ubli
| Anglo-French victory
| ]
| ]}}}}
| date = {{ubli
| ]: {{nwr|4 September 1839&nbsp;– 29 August 1842}}
| ]: {{nwr|8 October 1856&nbsp;– 24 October 1860}}
}}
| territory = {{ubli
| First Opium War:{{ubli
| ] ceded to Britain}}
|Second Opium War:{{ubli
| ] and ] ceded to ]
| ] ceded to Russia}}
}}
}}
<!-- PLEASE DO NOT ADD MATERIAL HERE THAT BETTER BELONGS TO FIRST OPIUM WAR OR SECOND OPIUM WAR -- SEE DISCUSSION ON TALK PAGE ON MERGE AND CONTENT FORK -->


The '''Opium Wars''' ({{zh|s=鸦片战争|t=鴉片戰爭|p=Yāpiàn zhànzhēng}}) were two conflicts waged between ] and ] during the mid-19th century.
==Background==
Direct maritime trade between ] and China started in the 16th century, after the Portuguese established the settlement of ] in India, and shortly thereafter that of ] in southern China. After Spanish acquisition of the ], the pace of exchange between China and the West accelerated dramatically. ] galleons brought in far more silver to China than the ]. The ] attempted to limit contact with the outside world, only allowing trade through the port of Canton (now ]). Severe red-tape and licensed monopolies were set up to restrict the flow of trade, resulting in high retail prices for imported goods and limited demand. ] began to sell ], along with New World products such as tobacco and corn, to the Chinese in order to prevent a ].


The ] was fought from 1839 to 1842 between China and ]. It was triggered by the ]'s campaign to enforce its prohibition of ], which included destroying opium stocks owned by British merchants and the ]. The British government responded by sending a naval expedition to force the Chinese government to pay reparations and allow the opium trade.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chen |first=Song-Chuan |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5790/hongkong/9789888390564.001.0001 |title=Merchants of War and Peace |date=2017-05-01 |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |doi=10.5790/hongkong/9789888390564.001.0001 |isbn=978-988-8390-56-4}}</ref> The ] was waged by Britain and ] against China from 1856 to 1860, and consequently resulted in China being forced to legalise opium.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Feige|first=Miron |last2=Chris1|first2=Jeffrey |year=2008 |title=The opium wars, opium legalization and opium consumption in China |journal=Applied Economics Letters |volume=15 |issue=12 |pages=911–913 |doi=10.1080/13504850600972295 |via=Scopus}}</ref>
As a result of high demand for ], ], and ] in Britain and the low demand for British goods, and as a result of the Qing dynasty trade restrictions and imperial monopolies, which made it impossible for British merchants to trade, the British were forced to purchase Chinese goods for silver. This was not a viable long term trading dynamic. Britain had been using the gold standard from the mid 18th Century and therefore had to purchase silver from other European countries. The flow of silver into China threatened to cripple British and other European economies and so British traders searched for other trade commodities to try and reverse this trend and balance the trade. The Qing dynasty restrictive trade practices made opium the only viable choice. Against strong protest from the weakened Qing Dynasty, Britain began exporting opium to China from ] in the 18th century to counter its deficit. The opium trade took off rapidly, and the flow of silver began to reverse.{{Fact|date=November 2007}} The ] prohibited the sale and smoking of opium in 1729 because of the large number of addicts, and only allowed a small amount of opium imports for medicinal purposes.<ref name="ban">{{cite book|last=Chisholm|first=Hugh|year=1911|title=The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information|pages=130}}</ref>


In each war, the superior military advantages enjoyed by European forces led to several easy victories over the ], with the consequence that China was compelled to sign the ] to grant favourable tariffs, trade concessions, reparations and territory to Western powers. The two conflicts, along with the various treaties imposed during the ], weakened the Chinese government's authority and forced China to open specified ] (including ]) to Western merchants.<ref name="short">{{cite web |url=http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/heroin/opiwar1.htm |title=A Short History of the Opium Wars |work=Civilizations Past And Present |at=Chapter 29: "South And East Asia, 1815–1914" |via=Schaffer Library of Drug Policy |author1=Taylor Wallbank |author2=Bailkey |author3=Jewsbury |author4=Lewis |author5=Hackett |year=1992}}</ref><ref name="eb">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Opium-Wars |title=Chinese history: Opium Wars |author=Kenneth Pletcher |encyclopedia=]|date=16 April 2024 }}</ref> In addition, China ceded sovereignty over ] to the ], which maintained control over the region ]. During this period, the ] also contracted slightly as a result of the wars, though the ] and ] had a much larger economic effect.<ref>{{cite web|title=Over 2000 years of economic history, in one chart |date=15 September 2017 |first=Jeff |last=Desjardins |work=World Economic Forum |url= https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/09/over-2000-years-of-economic-history-in-one-chart |access-date=28 November 2021}}</ref>
==Growth of the opium trade==
]
The ] pursued a ] on production and export of opium in India after Britain conquered ] in the ] in 1757.


==History==
In 1773 the Governor-General of Bengal pursued the monopoly on the sale of opium in earnest and abolished the old opium syndicate at ]. For the next fifty years opium was the key to the East India Company's hold on India. Importation of opium into China was against Chinese law (although China did produce a small quantity domestically). Thus, the British East India Company would buy tea in ] on credit, carrying no opium, but would instead sell opium at the auctions in ]. Eventually the opium would reach the Chinese coast aboard British ships and be smuggled into China by Chinese merchants. In 1797 the company ended the role of local Bengal purchasing agents and instituted the direct sale of opium by farmers to the company.
British exports of opium to China skyrocketed from an estimated fifteen tons in 1730 to 75 tons in 1773, shipped in over two thousand "chests", each containing 140 pounds (64 kg) of opium.


===First Opium War===
] negotiations with the ] in 1793 to ease trade restrictions between Britain and China were unsuccessful.
{{main|First Opium War}}


The ] broke out in 1839 between ] and ] and was fought over trading rights (including the right of ]) and Britain's diplomatic status among Chinese officials. In the eighteenth century, China enjoyed a trade surplus with Europe, trading ], ], and ] in exchange for ]. By the late 18th century, the ] (EIC) expanded the cultivation of ] in the ], selling it to private merchants who transported it to China and covertly sold it on to Chinese smugglers.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/opium-trade|title=Opium trade – History & Facts|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2018-07-03|language=en}}</ref> By 1797, the EIC was selling 4,000 chests of opium (each weighing 77&nbsp;kg) to private merchants ''per annum''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another|last1=Hanes |first1=Wiliam Travis III |last2=Sanello|first2=Frank|publisher=Sourcebooks|year=2004|isbn=978-1402201493|location=United States|pages=|url=https://archive.org/details/opiumwarsaddicti00hane/page/21}}</ref>
In 1799 the ] again banned opium imports. The Empire issued the following decree in 1810:
:Opium has a harm. Opium is a poison, undermining our good customs and morality. Its use is prohibited by law. Now the commoner, Yang, dares to bring it into the ]. Indeed, he flouts the law!


In earlier centuries, opium was utilised as a medicine with ] qualities, but new Chinese practices of smoking opium recreationally increased demand tremendously and often led to smokers developing addictions. Successive ] issued edicts making opium illegal in 1729, 1799, 1814, and 1831, but imports grew as smugglers and colluding officials in China sought profit.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2008/WDR2008_100years_drug_control_origins.pdf|title=A Century of International Drug Control|website=UNODC.org}}</ref> Some American merchants entered the trade by smuggling opium from Turkey into China, including ], the grandfather of twentieth-century American President ], and ]; in ] this is sometimes referred to as the ].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/28/opinion/the-opium-war-s-secret-history.html|title=The Opium War's Secret History|last=Meyer|first=Karl E.|work=] |date=28 June 1997 |access-date=2018-07-03|language=en}}</ref> By 1833, the Chinese opium trade soared to 30,000 chests.<ref name=":0" /> British and American merchants sent opium to warehouses in the free-trade port of ], and sold it to Chinese smugglers.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Haythornthwaite, Philip J., ''The Colonial Wars Source Book'', London, 2000, p.237. {{ISBN|1-84067-231-5}}</ref>
:However, recently the purchases, eaters, and consumers of opium have become numerous. Deceitful merchants buy and sell it to gain profit. The customs house at the Ch'ung-wen Gate was originally set up to supervise the collection of imports (it had no responsibility with regard to opium smuggling). If we confine our search for opium to the seaports, we fear the search will not be sufficiently thorough. We should also order the general commandant of the police and police- censors at the five gates to prohibit opium and to search for it at all gates. If they capture any violators, they should immediately punish them and should destroy the opium at once. As to ] and ], the provinces from which opium comes, we order their viceroys, governors, and superintendents of the maritime customs to conduct a thorough search for opium, and cut off its supply. They should in no ways consider this order a dead letter and allow opium to be smuggled out!<ref name="fu">{{cite book|last=Fu|first=Lo-shu|year=1966|title=A Documentary Chronicle of Sino-Western relations, Volume 1|pages=380}}</ref>


In 1834, the EIC's monopoly on British trade with China ceased, and the opium trade burgeoned. Partly concerned with moral issues over the consumption of opium and partly with the outflow of silver, the ] charged Governor General ] with ending the trade. In 1839, Lin published in Canton an ] requesting her cooperation in halting the opium trade. The letter never reached the Queen.{{sfnb|Fay|1975|p= }} It was later published in '']'' as a direct appeal to the British public for their cooperation.{{sfnb|Platt|2018|p= }} An edict from the Daoguang Emperor followed on 18{{nbsp}}March,{{sfn|Hanes|Sanello|2002|p=43}} emphasising the serious penalties for opium smuggling that would now apply henceforth. Lin ordered the seizure of all opium in Canton, including that held by foreign governments and trading companies (called factories),<ref name=" Haythornthwaite, 2000, p.237">Haythornthwaite, 2000, p.237.</ref> and the companies prepared to hand over a token amount to placate him.<ref>{{Cite book| title = Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another| last1 = Hanes| first1 = W. Travis| last2 = Sanello| first2 = Frank| author2-link = Frank Sanello| isbn = 9781402201493| url = https://archive.org/details/opiumwarsaddicti00hane| url-access = registration| year = 2002| publisher = Sourcebooks}}</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2022}} ], Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China, arrived 3 days after the expiry of Lin's deadline, as Chinese troops enforced a shutdown and blockade of the factories. The standoff ended after Elliot paid for all the opium on credit from the ] (despite lacking official authority to make the purchase) and handed the 20,000 chests (1,300 metric tons) over to Lin, who had them ].<ref name=GlobalTimes2009>{{Cite web | url = http://news.cultural-china.com/20090604103010.html | title = China Commemorates Anti-opium Hero | date = 4 June 2009 | access-date = 18 March 2014 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131114033733/http://news.cultural-china.com/20090604103010.html | archive-date = 14 November 2013 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>
The decree had little effect because the ] government in Beijing in the north could not stop merchants from smuggling opium into China from the south. This, along with the addictive properties of the drug, the desire for more profit by the ] which had been granted a monopoly on trade with China by the British government, and the fact that Britain wanted silver (see ]) furthered the opium trade. By the 1820s China was importing 900 tons of opium from Bengal annually.


Elliott then wrote to ] advising the use of military force to resolve the dispute with the Chinese government. A small skirmish occurred between British and Chinese warships in the Kowloon Estuary on 4 September 1839.<ref name=" Haythornthwaite, 2000, p.237" /> After almost a year, the British government decided, in May 1840, to send a military expedition to impose reparations for the financial losses experienced by opium traders in Canton and to guarantee future security for the trade. On 21 June 1840, a British naval force arrived off ] and moved to bombard the port of ]. In the ensuing conflict, the ] used its superior ships and guns to inflict a series of decisive defeats on Chinese forces.<ref name="Tsang, Steve 2007 p. 3-13">Tsang, Steve (2007). ''A Modern History of Hong Kong''. I. B. Tauris. pp. 3–13, 29. {{ISBN|1-84511-419-1}}.</ref>
==Napier Affair to the First Opium War (1839–1843)==
[[Image:Letter by Lin Zexu to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Linin this war every one died this website fuckin sux so go fuck yourself & go to another one thank you have a nice day.


The war was concluded by the ] (Nanjing) in 1842, the first of the ] between China and Western powers.<ref name="britannica.com"> in''Britannica''.</ref> The treaty ceded the ] and surrounding smaller islands to Britain, and established five cities as ] open to Western traders: ], Canton, ], ], and ] (Amoy).<ref name="Haythornthwaite, 2000, p.239">Haythornthwaite 2000, p. 239.</ref> The treaty also stipulated that China would pay a twenty-one million dollar payment to Britain as reparations for the destroyed opium, with six million to be paid immediately, and the rest through specified installments thereafter.<ref> on the website of the US-China Institute at University of Southern Carolina.</ref> Another treaty the following year gave ] status to Britain and added provisions for British ], making Britain exempt from Chinese law.<ref name="britannica.com" /> ] secured several of the same concessions from China in the ] in 1844.<ref>{{cite book|author=Xiaobing Li|title=China at War: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R7qNuIJJsNEC&pg=PA468|year=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=468|isbn=9781598844160}}</ref>
==Second Opium War (1856-1860)==
{{main|Second Opium War}}
{{Unreferencedsection|date=April 2008}}
The Second Opium War, or ''Arrow War'', broke out following an incident in October 1856 during which Chinese officials boarded a vessel by the name of ''Arrow'' outside the port of Whampoa. The eponymous ship was owned by a Chinese privateer who had registered the vessel with British authorities in Hong Kong (according to some to facilitate privateering); he had received a one-year permit from the Hong Kong authorities but it was expired when inspected by the official who boarded the vessel. The crew were accused of piracy and smuggling and were arrested. In response, the British consulate in Guangzhou insisted the vessel was under British jurisdiction and accused Chinese officials of tearing down and violating the British flag during the inspection. The war started when British forces attacked Guangzhou in 1856.


<gallery widths="300px" heights="210px">
French forces joined the British intervention after a French missionary ] was killed by a local mandarin in China. Other nations became involved diplomatically, although they didn't provide military personnel.
File:Canton from the Heights.jpg|British ] from the surrounding heights, 29 May 1841. Watercolour painting by ] (1814–1901), Naval Surgeon to the ].
File:98th Foot at Chinkiang.jpg|The 98th Regiment of Foot at the attack on ] (]), 21 July 1842, resulting in the defeat of the ] government. Watercolour by military illustrator ] (1840–1926).
</gallery>


===Second Opium War===
The ] was created in July 1858 but was not ratified by China until two years later; this would prove to be a very important document in China's early modern history as it was one of the primary ].
{{main|Second Opium War}}
]. Book illustration from 1873.]]


In 1853, northern China was convulsed by the ], which established its capital at ]. In spite of this, a new Imperial Commissioner, ], was appointed at Canton, determined to stamp out the opium trade, which was still technically illegal. In October 1856, he seized the ''Arrow'', a ship claiming British registration, and threw its crew into chains. ], Governor of British Hong Kong, called up Rear Admiral ]'s ] fleet, which, on 23 October, bombarded and captured the ] forts on the approach to Canton and proceeded to bombard Canton itself, but had insufficient forces to take and hold the city. On 15 December, during a riot in Canton, European commercial properties were set on fire and Bowring appealed for military intervention.<ref name="Haythornthwaite, 2000, p.239" /> The execution of a French missionary inspired support from France.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MIT Visualizing Cultures |url=https://visualizingcultures.mit.edu/opium_wars_02/ow2_essay02.html |access-date=2023-09-09 |website=visualizingcultures.mit.edu}}</ref> The United States and Russia also intervened in the war.
Hostilities broke out once more in 1859 after China refused to establish a British embassy in Beijing as had been promised by the Treaty of Tianjin. Fighting erupted both in Hong Kong as well as Beijing, where the British set out to destroy the ] and the ].
China ratified the Treaty of Tianjin at the ] in 1860, ending the war. The treaty provided for the creation of ten new port cities, permission for foreigners (including Protestant and Catholic missionaries) to travel throughout the country, and indemnities of three million ounces of silver to Great Britain and two million to France.


Britain and France now sought greater concessions from China, including the legalization of the opium trade, expanding of the transportation of '']s'' to European colonies, opening all of China to British and French citizens and exempting foreign imports from ].<ref>{{cite book|author=Zhihong Shi|title=Central Government Silver Treasury: Revenue, Expenditure and Inventory Statistics, ca. 1667–1899|year=2016|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-30733-9|page=33}}</ref> The war resulted in the 1858 ] (Tianjin), in which the Chinese government agreed to pay ] for the expenses of the recent conflict, open a second group of ten ports to European commerce, legalize the opium trade, and grant foreign traders and missionaries rights to travel within China.<ref name="Haythornthwaite, 2000, p.239" /> This also included China being required to bend to Western diplomatic behaviors instead of their normal way of conducting business through a ] system. This treaty led to the era in Chinese history known as the "". This term refers to China's loss of control of many territories to its enemies after being forced into treaties which they considered unfair. Even though the treaties were signed in 1858, there was still Chinese resistance to the principle clause like the residence of foreign ambassadors in Beijing. The British continued to attack the Chinese.<ref>https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/china-2</ref> After a second phase of fighting which included the sack of the ] and the occupation of the ] palace complex in ], the treaty was confirmed by the ] in 1860.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}
== Hero in the war against opium ==
{{main|Lin Zexu}}


=== The impact of the Opium War on cultural relics ===
{{Copyedit|date=September 2008}}
In February 1860, the British and French imperialist authorities again appointed Elgin and Grotto as plenipotentiaries respectively, leading more than 15,000 British troops and about 7,000 French troops to expand the war against China. The British and French forces invaded Beijing, and the Qing emperor fled to Chengde. The British and French forces broke into the Old Summer Palace, looted jewelry, and burned it. Among the cultural relics that were looted were the well-known ].
].]]
On the morning of 7 October, the French army broke into the Old Summer Palace and began to rob it.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=July 2018 |title=Internationale Studienergebnisse |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/a-0603-1331 |journal=Physiopraxis |volume=16 |issue=7/08 |pages=16–20 |doi=10.1055/a-0603-1331 |issn=1439-023X}}</ref> British soldiers who arrived in the afternoon also joined the robbery, and the most precious things in the Old Summer Palace were looted. All twelve bronze statues of animal heads began to be lost overseas.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=May 2006 |title=Health Canada has warned consumers against using Nasutra because it has been found to contain sildenafil. |url=http://link.springer.com/10.2165/00128413-200615370-00054 |journal=Inpharma Weekly |language=en |issue=1537 |pages=21 |doi=10.2165/00128413-200615370-00054 |issn=1173-8324}}</ref> On 18 October, the ] by British soldiers, and France refused to provide aid. The fire burned for three days and nights, razing the buildings of the Old Summer Palace to the ground and destroying nearby royal properties.


As of December 2020, seven of the twelve bronze statues have been found and returned to China. The whereabouts of the remaining five are still unknown.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2020-12-02 |title=China: Looted horse head returns to Beijing's Old Summer Palace |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55154918 |access-date=2024-05-07 |language=en-GB}}</ref>
Lin Zexu, the Governor-General of ] and ], recognized the consequences of ] and warned the ] of this nationwide problem. The ] emperor authorized him to do so, and Lin Zexu embarked on an anti-opium campaign which saw the immediate arrest of 1,700 opium dealers and confiscation and destruction of 2.6 million pounds of opium.

These actions have earned Lin Zexu fame in the annals of Chinese history as a man of superlative conduct and high moral ground, a shepherd of his people. <ref></ref> Although his war against the illicit drug ultimately failed and he was made the scapegoat for setting into motion events leading to British military retaliation in the ]<ref></ref>, Lin Zexu is popularly viewed as a hero of 19th century China who stood up against European imperialism and whose likeness has been immortalized at various locations around the world.<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref>


==See also== ==See also==
* ]
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*] * ]
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==Further reading==
*Jack Beeching, ''The Chinese Opium Wars'' (1975), ISBN 0-15-617094-9
*], ''Foreign Mud, An account of the Opium War'' (1946), ISBN 0-571-19301-3
*Timothy Brook and Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi, editors, ''Opium Regimes: China, Britain, and Japan, 1839-1952'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000). Collection of well-informed articles.
*Carl A. Trocki, ''Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy: A Study of the Asian Opium Trade, 1750-1950'' (London: Routledge, 1999).
*Yangwen Zheng, ''The Social Life of Opium in China'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). Outstanding comprehensive social history.
*Brian Inglis, ''The Opium War'' (Coronet, 1976), ISBN 0-340-23468-7
*Diana L. Ahmad, ''The Opium Debate and Chinese Exclusion Laws in the Nineteenth-century American West'' (University of Nevada Press, 2007). Drugs and Racism in the Old West.
*Wolseley, GJ., ''Narrative of the War with China in 1860'' (Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts, 1862)
*Waley, A. ''The Opium War through Chinese Eyes'' (George Allen & Unwin, 1958)
*Chesneaux, J. and others. ''China from the Opium Wars to the 1911 Revolution'' (Harvester Press, Sussex, 1977).


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist}} {{Reflist}}


==Cited references and further reading ==
]
* Beeching, Jack. ''The Chinese Opium Wars'' (Harvest Books, 1975)
]
* {{Cite book|last= Fay |first= Peter Ward |year= 1975 |title= The Opium War, 1840–1842: Barbarians in the Celestial Empire in the Early Part of the Nineteenth Century and the War by Which They Forced Her Gates Ajar |publisher= University of North Carolina Press}}
]
* Gelber, Harry G. Opium, ''Soldiers and Evangelicals: Britain's 1840–42 War with China, and its Aftermath''. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
]
* Hanes, W. Travis and Frank Sanello. ''The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another'' (2014)
]
* Kitson, Peter J. . ''Wordsworth Circle'' (2018) 49#3.
]
* Lovell, Julia. ''The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams, and the Making of Modern China''(2011).
]
* Marchant, Leslie R. "The War of the Poppies", ''History Today'' (May 2002) Vol. 52 Issue 5, pp 42–49, online popular history
]
* {{Cite book |last= Platt |first= Stephen R. |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WOExDwAAQBAJ |title= Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age |place= New York |publisher= Knopf |year= 2018 |isbn= 9780307961730}} 556 pp.
]
** ], "Blundering into War" (review of ], ''Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age'', Vintage), '']'', vol. LXVI, no. 10 (6 June 2019), pp.&nbsp;38–41.
]
* Polachek, James M., ''The inner opium war'' (Harvard Univ Asia Center, 1992).
* {{cite book |last = Wakeman |first= Frederic E. |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=NCgXTcXH-3MC |year = 1966 |title = Strangers at the Gate: Social Disorder in South China, 1839–1861 |publisher = University of California Press| location = Berkeley |isbn =0520212398 }}
*U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of State, history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/china-2. Accessed 20 Dec. 2024.
* Waley, Arthur, ed. ''The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes'' (1960).
* Wong, John Y. ''Deadly Dreams: Opium, Imperialism, and the Arrow War (1856–1860) in China.'' (Cambridge UP, 2002)
* Yu, Miles Maochun. ''Military History in the News'', July 3, 2018.

==External links==
* "", ] discussion with Yangwen Zheng, Lars Laamann, and Xun Zhou ('']'', 12 April 2007)

{{British colonial campaigns}}


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Latest revision as of 01:45, 23 December 2024

19th-century conflicts between China and European powers For the 1967 conflict between marooned elements of the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Kingdom of Laos, see 1967 Opium War. For other uses, see Opium Wars (disambiguation).

Opium Wars
Part of the century of humiliation
Naval battle in the First Opium War (left), Battle of Palikao (right)
Date
LocationChina
Result
Territorial
changes
Belligerents
First Opium War: Second Opium War: Qing China

The Opium Wars (simplified Chinese: 鸦片战争; traditional Chinese: 鴉片戰爭; pinyin: Yāpiàn zhànzhēng) were two conflicts waged between China and Western powers during the mid-19th century.

The First Opium War was fought from 1839 to 1842 between China and Britain. It was triggered by the Chinese government's campaign to enforce its prohibition of opium, which included destroying opium stocks owned by British merchants and the British East India Company. The British government responded by sending a naval expedition to force the Chinese government to pay reparations and allow the opium trade. The Second Opium War was waged by Britain and France against China from 1856 to 1860, and consequently resulted in China being forced to legalise opium.

In each war, the superior military advantages enjoyed by European forces led to several easy victories over the Chinese military, with the consequence that China was compelled to sign the unequal treaties to grant favourable tariffs, trade concessions, reparations and territory to Western powers. The two conflicts, along with the various treaties imposed during the century of humiliation, weakened the Chinese government's authority and forced China to open specified treaty ports (including Shanghai) to Western merchants. In addition, China ceded sovereignty over Hong Kong to the British Empire, which maintained control over the region until 1997. During this period, the Chinese economy also contracted slightly as a result of the wars, though the Taiping Rebellion and Dungan Revolt had a much larger economic effect.

History

First Opium War

Main article: First Opium War

The First Opium War broke out in 1839 between China and Britain and was fought over trading rights (including the right of free trade) and Britain's diplomatic status among Chinese officials. In the eighteenth century, China enjoyed a trade surplus with Europe, trading porcelain, silk, and tea in exchange for silver. By the late 18th century, the British East India Company (EIC) expanded the cultivation of opium in the Bengal Presidency, selling it to private merchants who transported it to China and covertly sold it on to Chinese smugglers. By 1797, the EIC was selling 4,000 chests of opium (each weighing 77 kg) to private merchants per annum.

In earlier centuries, opium was utilised as a medicine with anesthetic qualities, but new Chinese practices of smoking opium recreationally increased demand tremendously and often led to smokers developing addictions. Successive Chinese emperors issued edicts making opium illegal in 1729, 1799, 1814, and 1831, but imports grew as smugglers and colluding officials in China sought profit. Some American merchants entered the trade by smuggling opium from Turkey into China, including Warren Delano Jr., the grandfather of twentieth-century American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Francis Blackwell Forbes; in American historiography this is sometimes referred to as the Old China Trade. By 1833, the Chinese opium trade soared to 30,000 chests. British and American merchants sent opium to warehouses in the free-trade port of Canton, and sold it to Chinese smugglers.

In 1834, the EIC's monopoly on British trade with China ceased, and the opium trade burgeoned. Partly concerned with moral issues over the consumption of opium and partly with the outflow of silver, the Daoguang Emperor charged Governor General Lin Zexu with ending the trade. In 1839, Lin published in Canton an open letter to Queen Victoria requesting her cooperation in halting the opium trade. The letter never reached the Queen. It was later published in The Times as a direct appeal to the British public for their cooperation. An edict from the Daoguang Emperor followed on 18 March, emphasising the serious penalties for opium smuggling that would now apply henceforth. Lin ordered the seizure of all opium in Canton, including that held by foreign governments and trading companies (called factories), and the companies prepared to hand over a token amount to placate him. Charles Elliot, Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China, arrived 3 days after the expiry of Lin's deadline, as Chinese troops enforced a shutdown and blockade of the factories. The standoff ended after Elliot paid for all the opium on credit from the British government (despite lacking official authority to make the purchase) and handed the 20,000 chests (1,300 metric tons) over to Lin, who had them destroyed at Humen.

Elliott then wrote to London advising the use of military force to resolve the dispute with the Chinese government. A small skirmish occurred between British and Chinese warships in the Kowloon Estuary on 4 September 1839. After almost a year, the British government decided, in May 1840, to send a military expedition to impose reparations for the financial losses experienced by opium traders in Canton and to guarantee future security for the trade. On 21 June 1840, a British naval force arrived off Macao and moved to bombard the port of Dinghai. In the ensuing conflict, the Royal Navy used its superior ships and guns to inflict a series of decisive defeats on Chinese forces.

The war was concluded by the Treaty of Nanking (Nanjing) in 1842, the first of the Unequal treaties between China and Western powers. The treaty ceded the Hong Kong Island and surrounding smaller islands to Britain, and established five cities as treaty ports open to Western traders: Shanghai, Canton, Ningbo, Fuzhou, and Xiamen (Amoy). The treaty also stipulated that China would pay a twenty-one million dollar payment to Britain as reparations for the destroyed opium, with six million to be paid immediately, and the rest through specified installments thereafter. Another treaty the following year gave most favoured nation status to Britain and added provisions for British extraterritoriality, making Britain exempt from Chinese law. France secured several of the same concessions from China in the Treaty of Whampoa in 1844.

Second Opium War

Main article: Second Opium War
Depiction of the 1860 battle of Taku Forts. Book illustration from 1873.

In 1853, northern China was convulsed by the Taiping Rebellion, which established its capital at Nanjing. In spite of this, a new Imperial Commissioner, Ye Mingchen, was appointed at Canton, determined to stamp out the opium trade, which was still technically illegal. In October 1856, he seized the Arrow, a ship claiming British registration, and threw its crew into chains. Sir John Bowring, Governor of British Hong Kong, called up Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour's East Indies and China Station fleet, which, on 23 October, bombarded and captured the Pearl River forts on the approach to Canton and proceeded to bombard Canton itself, but had insufficient forces to take and hold the city. On 15 December, during a riot in Canton, European commercial properties were set on fire and Bowring appealed for military intervention. The execution of a French missionary inspired support from France. The United States and Russia also intervened in the war.

Britain and France now sought greater concessions from China, including the legalization of the opium trade, expanding of the transportation of coolies to European colonies, opening all of China to British and French citizens and exempting foreign imports from internal transit duties. The war resulted in the 1858 Treaty of Tientsin (Tianjin), in which the Chinese government agreed to pay war reparations for the expenses of the recent conflict, open a second group of ten ports to European commerce, legalize the opium trade, and grant foreign traders and missionaries rights to travel within China. This also included China being required to bend to Western diplomatic behaviors instead of their normal way of conducting business through a tribute system. This treaty led to the era in Chinese history known as the "Century of Humiliation". This term refers to China's loss of control of many territories to its enemies after being forced into treaties which they considered unfair. Even though the treaties were signed in 1858, there was still Chinese resistance to the principle clause like the residence of foreign ambassadors in Beijing. The British continued to attack the Chinese. After a second phase of fighting which included the sack of the Old Summer Palace and the occupation of the Forbidden City palace complex in Beijing, the treaty was confirmed by the Convention of Peking in 1860.

The impact of the Opium War on cultural relics

In February 1860, the British and French imperialist authorities again appointed Elgin and Grotto as plenipotentiaries respectively, leading more than 15,000 British troops and about 7,000 French troops to expand the war against China. The British and French forces invaded Beijing, and the Qing emperor fled to Chengde. The British and French forces broke into the Old Summer Palace, looted jewelry, and burned it. Among the cultural relics that were looted were the well-known Old Summer Palace bronze heads.

Old Summer Palace bronze heads.

On the morning of 7 October, the French army broke into the Old Summer Palace and began to rob it. British soldiers who arrived in the afternoon also joined the robbery, and the most precious things in the Old Summer Palace were looted. All twelve bronze statues of animal heads began to be lost overseas. On 18 October, the Old Summer Palace was burned down by British soldiers, and France refused to provide aid. The fire burned for three days and nights, razing the buildings of the Old Summer Palace to the ground and destroying nearby royal properties.

As of December 2020, seven of the twelve bronze statues have been found and returned to China. The whereabouts of the remaining five are still unknown.

See also

References

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  2. Feige, Miron; Chris1, Jeffrey (2008). "The opium wars, opium legalization and opium consumption in China". Applied Economics Letters. 15 (12): 911–913. doi:10.1080/13504850600972295 – via Scopus.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. Taylor Wallbank; Bailkey; Jewsbury; Lewis; Hackett (1992). "A Short History of the Opium Wars". Civilizations Past And Present. Chapter 29: "South And East Asia, 1815–1914" – via Schaffer Library of Drug Policy.
  4. Kenneth Pletcher (16 April 2024). "Chinese history: Opium Wars". Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
  5. Desjardins, Jeff (15 September 2017). "Over 2000 years of economic history, in one chart". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  6. "Opium trade – History & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  7. ^ Hanes, Wiliam Travis III; Sanello, Frank (2004). The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another. United States: Sourcebooks. pp. 21, 24, 25. ISBN 978-1402201493.
  8. ^ "A Century of International Drug Control" (PDF). UNODC.org.
  9. Meyer, Karl E. (28 June 1997). "The Opium War's Secret History". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  10. Haythornthwaite, Philip J., The Colonial Wars Source Book, London, 2000, p.237. ISBN 1-84067-231-5
  11. Fay (1975), p. 143.
  12. Platt (2018), p. online.
  13. Hanes & Sanello 2002, p. 43.
  14. ^ Haythornthwaite, 2000, p.237.
  15. Hanes, W. Travis; Sanello, Frank (2002). Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another. Sourcebooks. ISBN 9781402201493.
  16. "China Commemorates Anti-opium Hero". 4 June 2009. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  17. Tsang, Steve (2007). A Modern History of Hong Kong. I. B. Tauris. pp. 3–13, 29. ISBN 1-84511-419-1.
  18. ^ Treaty of Nanjing inBritannica.
  19. ^ Haythornthwaite 2000, p. 239.
  20. Treaty Of Nanjing (Nanking), 1842 on the website of the US-China Institute at University of Southern Carolina.
  21. Xiaobing Li (2012). China at War: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 468. ISBN 9781598844160.
  22. "MIT Visualizing Cultures". visualizingcultures.mit.edu. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
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Cited references and further reading

  • Beeching, Jack. The Chinese Opium Wars (Harvest Books, 1975)
  • Fay, Peter Ward (1975). The Opium War, 1840–1842: Barbarians in the Celestial Empire in the Early Part of the Nineteenth Century and the War by Which They Forced Her Gates Ajar. University of North Carolina Press.
  • Gelber, Harry G. Opium, Soldiers and Evangelicals: Britain's 1840–42 War with China, and its Aftermath. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
  • Hanes, W. Travis and Frank Sanello. The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another (2014)
  • Kitson, Peter J. "The Last War of the Romantics: De Quincey, Macaulay, the First Chinese Opium War". Wordsworth Circle (2018) 49#3.
  • Lovell, Julia. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams, and the Making of Modern China(2011).
  • Marchant, Leslie R. "The War of the Poppies", History Today (May 2002) Vol. 52 Issue 5, pp 42–49, online popular history
  • Platt, Stephen R. (2018). Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age. New York: Knopf. ISBN 9780307961730. 556 pp.
  • Polachek, James M., The inner opium war (Harvard Univ Asia Center, 1992).
  • Wakeman, Frederic E. (1966). Strangers at the Gate: Social Disorder in South China, 1839–1861. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0520212398.
  • U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of State, history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/china-2. Accessed 20 Dec. 2024.
  • Waley, Arthur, ed. The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes (1960).
  • Wong, John Y. Deadly Dreams: Opium, Imperialism, and the Arrow War (1856–1860) in China. (Cambridge UP, 2002)
  • Yu, Miles Maochun. "Did China Have a Chance to Win the Opium War?" Military History in the News, July 3, 2018.

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