Lesson 1: The Opium War

Opium Smuggling and Lin Zexu's Smoking Ban

Before the outbreak of the Opium War, China under the Qing Dynasty was in crisis. The West had already entered the era of capitalism, and Britain had become the number one industrial power and was constantly expanding its colonialism and plundering its colonies. In order to open up overseas markets, Britain shipped tweed and cloth to China, but they were rejected by the natural economy of Chinese men and women, and were badly delayed. In contrast, China exported tea and raw silk to Britain, which sold well. In the legitimate trade, China was in an obvious position to outperform. In order to change this unfavorable situation, Britain smuggled large quantities of opium into China. From the end of the 18th century to the eve of the Opium War, more than 400,000 boxes of opium were smuggled into China and 300 million to 400 million silver dollars were stolen from China.

The opium epidemic brought deep disaster to the Chinese nation. The massive outflow of silver directly threatened the Qing government's finances; many officials and soldiers consumed opium, which not only seriously damaged their health but also led to political corruption and weakened the army's combat power. At the end of 1838, the Daoguang Emperor sent Lin Zexu, a strong advocate of the ban on opium, to Guangdong to investigate the ban on opium.

After arriving in Guangzhou, Lin Zexu sent his men to investigate and arrest the tobacco dealers. The British and American traders were forced to surrender more than 1.1 million kilograms of opium one after another. Under the auspices of Lin Zexu, the seized opium was destroyed in public at Humen Beach from June 3 to 25, 1839. The destruction of opium at Humen was a great victory for the Chinese people in their struggle against smoking and showed the strong will of the Chinese nation to resist foreign invasion.

Britain launches a war of aggression

When news of China's smoking ban reached London, the British government openly supported the criminal drug smuggling and launched a war of aggression against China, which broke out in June 1840. After blocking the mouth of the Pearl River, the British army went north to capture Dinghai in Zhejiang Province and then went straight to Tianjin, threatening the Qing government. The Daoguang Emperor was panic-stricken and dismissed Lin Zexu from his post and sent Qishan to Guangdong to negotiate with the British in the name of "improper handling".

In the process of negotiation between the two sides, the British forces forcibly occupied Hong Kong Island in early 1841. When the news reached Beijing, Emperor Daoguang issued an edict to fight against the British. The British attacked the Humen Fortress, and Guan Tianpei, the governor of the Guangdong navy, was killed in battle. Then, the British occupied the Sifang Fortress in the north of Guangzhou.

In the autumn of 1841, the British army went north again and captured Xiamen, Dinghai and Ningbo, and in 1842, the British army invaded Wusong, the gateway to the Yangtze River. Chen Huacheng, a veteran general in his seventies, led the resistance and waved the flag to supervise the battle even though he was seriously wounded, and died of exhaustion. In early August, the British army reached the river at Shimonoseki, Nanjing. The Qing government yielded to the invaders.

In the Opium War, despite the heroic resistance of the people and some patriotic officers and soldiers, most of the rulers of the Qing Dynasty were ignorant, hostile to the people internally and compromised and surrendered externally, and because of the backward economy, the old weapons such as swords, spears, bows and arrows, and guns could not resist the new rifles and cannons of the British.

The signing of the Treaty of Nanking

In August 1842, the Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanking with Britain, the first unequal treaty in modern Chinese history that humiliated the country.

The main contents of the Treaty of Nanking were: the opening of Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo and Shanghai as five ports of commerce; the cession of Hong Kong Island to Britain; the payment of 21 million silver yuan in compensation; and the tax payable by British merchants for importing and exporting goods, which had to be agreed by both sides.

In 1843, Britain forced the Qing government to sign the Treaty of Humen, from which it obtained consular jurisdiction, one-sided MFN treatment and the right to rent land and build houses at the ports of commerce.

In 1844, the Qing government was forced to sign the Sino-American Treaty of Wangxia and the Sino-French Treaty of Huangpu with the United States and France respectively. Through the treaties, the United States and France expanded their aggressive rights and interests in addition to enjoying various privileges acquired by Britain in China.

The Opium War changed the course of China's historical development. China no longer enjoyed complete and independent sovereignty, the natural economy of Chinese society was destroyed, and it began to change from a feudal society to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The Opium War became the beginning of China's modern history.（863words）