The Opium Wars

The Opium Wars

From 1839 to 1842, China fought what we now call the "Opium Wars" with Britain. There are many ways to look at a problem. Here are two views of the situation from the perspective of the Chinese and the British:

China is a very old country with ideals that have lasted more than two thousand years. The Chinese people were satisfied with their way of life and had little interest in the nations of the Western Hemisphere.
Tea, grown in China, had become a very popular drink in Great Britain. China would have rather not traded with the British at all, but they were willing to sell the British tea only if they used the port in Canton. They were not willing to allow western ideas in their society.
The British decided they needed to "balance their trade." That means that they must buy and sell to China, not just buy. They decided to sell Opium.
Opium is a drug grown in India. Opium is used to make morphine and heroin. The Chinese government outlawed the import of Opium because of the debilitating effects of the drug and because of the silver leaving China to pay for it.
In 1838, China ruled that anyone dealing in Opium would be put to death. Shortly after that, government official began to destroy any opium coming into their land. / Western Civilization has grown and prospered in the past millennium because of trade.
The Chinese government attempted to keep their people from finding out how advanced the rest of the world was. They allowed the British access only to the port in Canton. That made it impossible for their people experience new ideas.
Tea from China had become the national drink of Britain. The Chinese rulers were making a great profit by selling tea, but they were unwilling to allow the Chinese people to buy products they wanted from the British.
Opium is a medicine grown in India. It is used to relieve pain, help with sleeplessness, and reduce hunger and thirst. It is true that opium can be dangerous, but the British felt the rulers in China had no right to keep opium from their people.
In 1838, Chinese officials confiscated and destroyed the opium held by foreign firms and refused to pay compensation.

The Opium War lasted from 1839 to 1842. The British firepower was far and China faced a humiliating defeat. The governments signed a peace treaty that allowed the British to use five ports instead of one. The Chinese also lost control of the important island of Hong Kong. Eventually, China was also forced to legalize the selling of opium.

The treaty that ended the Opium War was the first of many "unequal treaties" with the west. It began a century of invasion and humiliation for a very proud nation.