Opium War 1839-1860

Sichao Liu

Before the Opium War

• For centuries, British merchants had eagerly exported silks, fine porcelains, tea, and other products from the Chinese Empire.

• The British were forced to trade growing amounts of silver bullion.

• Unhappy about the unfavorable terms of trade in China, British merchants hit on a possible solution in the form of opium.

Before the Opium War

• The Indian variety was far more potent and was soon in great demand

• By the early 19th century an annual average of 4500 chests of opium, each weighing 133 pounds, were sold

• The Chinese soon realized that the opium traffic was a major threat to their economy and social order.

Effect on China

• China’s favorable trade balance with the outside world was reversed, and silver began to flow in large quantities out of the country.

• Agricultural productivity stagnated or declined• Unemployment spread, especially in the

hinterlands of the coastal trading areas.• Wealthy Chinese squandered increasing

amounts of China’s wealth to support their opium habits.

Effect on China

• Opium dens spread • Strung-out officials neglected their

administrative responsibilities• The sons of prominent scholar-gentry

families lost their ambition• Laborers and peasants abandoned their work

Chinese Response• Qing emperors issued edicts forbidding the opium traffic• When serious efforts were finally undertaken in the

early 1820s, they only drove the opium dealers from Canton to nearby islands

• Lin Zexu was sent to use every means available to stamp out the trade.

• Lin ordered the European trading areas in Canton blockaded, their warehouses searched, and all the opium confiscated destroyed.

• These actions enraged the European merchants

British Response

• The British ordered the Chinese to stop their antiopium campaign or risk military intervention.

• War broke out in late 1839.• The Chinese were first routed at sea, then

soundly defeated in their attempts to repel an expeditionary force the British sent ashore.

• The Qing emperor was forced to sue for peace and send Lin into exile

Second Conflict

• Erupted in the late 1850s, allowed the European powers to force China to open trade and diplomatic exchanges.

• After China’s defeat the drug poured unchecked into China

• By the mid-19th century, China’s foreign trade and customs were overseen by British officials

A Civilization at Risk• China’s defeat greatly contributed to a building crisis

that threated not just the Qing dynasty but Chinese civilization as a whole.

• The Taiping rebellion increased the already considerable stresses in Chinese society and further drained the diminishing resources of the ruling dynasty.

• Widespread peasant uprisings such as the White Lotus• Boxer Rebellion’s failure led to even greater control

over China’s internal affairs by the Europeans

Works CitedCorfield, Justin. "Opium Wars." In Ackermann, Marsha E., Michael

Schroeder, Janice J. Terry, Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur, and Mark F. Whitters, eds. Encyclopedia of World History: Age of Revolution and Empire, 1750 to 1900, vol. 4. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http:// www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE53&iPin=WHIV020&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 15, 2012)."First Opium War." Modern World History Online. Facts On File,

Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE53&iPin=mwhi229&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 15, 2012).Phillips, Charles, and Alan Axelrod. "Second Opium War." Encyclopedia

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Essential Reference to China, Its History and Culture. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2000. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE53&iPin=china01698&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 15, 2012).