Opium wars were fought between United Kingdom and china in the mid of nineteenth century when Chinese authorities tried to put a curvature on the incursion of foreign opium and its trade in Chinese territory. The first opium war was fought from 1839 to 1842 while second opium war was fought from 1856 to 1860. This paper discusses the opium wars and several other related aspects of the subject matter.
Opium had been used in the china since a long time to alleviate various ailments and for other medicinal purposes but when the influx of opium was increased and it became a medium of making money, the imperial government of China prevented opium import in the year of 1799. Further death penalty was provisioned for any kind of illegal drug trafficking in the Chinese country land. Several shops, storages that were involved in the opium trade were raided and seized by the Chinese authorities. This prevention and declaration angered the traders of western countries as it affected their 500 million pound trade. The traders and the affected countries opposed this step of Chinese imperial government. In the year 1839 Chinese custom authorities seized a huge consignment of opium which was brought by the English traders near the sea beach of canton city. England reacted very strongly on this act and refused to respect the opium laws that were implemented by the Chinese imperial government. England further threatened to use force if the seized assignment was not freed immediately. China refused to free the shipment and the British naval forces captured the coastal territories near canton. The war was stopped and seize was open only when A treaty of Nanking was signed between the Britain and china. Chinese authorities agreed all the humiliating terms and conditions imposed by the Britain and to compensate the loss that occurred to the British traders due to seize and raids. Further china was compelled to grant a number of favors and exemptions in taxes to the British traders, Britain got the status of most favored nation from china. Hong Kong was also handed over to Britain. Seeing all these France and America also pressurized china in order to get all the facilities which were provided to England till the date.
Opium war II begun in the year of 1856 for the same reasons that were behind the first opium war. The Chinese authorities seized a British ship named ‘Arrow’ along with twelve crew members for smuggling and illegal trade of opium. Again British forces started penalizing action against Chinese and this time France was also with British in attacking Chinese. French and British forces entered into the Chinese territories, Chinese again bowed before the invaders. Again a treaty of Tientsin was signed and war came to an end but imperial court of China refused to accept the terms and conditions of the treaty and again British captured the Peking in the year 1860. Again Chinese hinterland was hit severely by British and French forces. The china was not capable to prevent these powers. After this attack, the foreigners were allowed to establish their embassies in the Peking. They were allowed to travel into interior parts of china and more than a dozen centers were opened for them to trade opium. A number of several other privileges were also given to the foreign forces including the proselytize right and also the right to own property throughout the china. Taxes and import duties were also lowered at very minimum rates for the British and the same facilities were claimed by the other foreign powers like France, America and Russia in the year 1860. Having no options, all these facilities were given to the claimants.
The forced trade of opium by the foreign powers was an act of unfair trade practice. It was very well thought, designed and strategically implemented. The British used to trade in opium and they traced china as a good market. They used to grow the opium in the India and supplied the same into the Chinese territories. When Chinese authorities attempted to stop them, they waged two wars and succeeded in their mission. They achieved all that they wanted from the china. They imposed their own terms and conditions on the Chinese government and grabbed a number of facilities, favors and exemptions for them. China was repeatedly invaded and compelled to compromise by the British and other European forces. China was never in the favor of opium trade in its own hinterlands but the country was forced to allow not only the opium trade in the Chinese territory but also provided a number of other favors to the invaders which caused harm to the china. The European powers did not care about any ethics, other’s rights and did everything that ensured their own benefits. It is good to conclude saying that the opium wars and the foreign invasions affected the traditional Chinese political system in a very substantial manner.
Works Cited
Group, Compilation. The Opium War. Hawaii: university press of pacific, 2000.
Waley, Arthur. The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes. California: stanford university press, 1958.
