Gregorio Lopez
Mr. Locks
British Lit
4/7/14
The First Opium War and its aftermath on Chinese
To the normal Chinese man during the early 19th century, opium was nothing more than a luxury that only those of higher power or influence could indulge themselves in. Yet by the middle of the 19th century opium had become a commodity that everyone could have and that at the same time they seemed to need. Even though it was now such a big part of the normal chinese culture, it did not benefit the people nor Chinese culture, it did not benefit the people or the government. The only benefit it did seem to have was towards the British. The British were flourishing from the new Chinese market for opium, where the Chinese were beginning to turn into addicts of a drug that was slowly poisoning their way of life. The people no longer were concerned about their advancement and safety of their family but about how and when they would be able to get more opium. The Chinese government was not pleased about this and decided to take a stand that would, in the long run, only damage the very people they were trying to protect. This stand came to be known as the First Opium War (1839-1842). By the end of the First Opium War China had begun to lose its sense of identity through the use of treaties and encroachment of foreign countries, starting with the British and their Treaty of Nanking.
Throughout the years Britain had always tried to use the Chinese markets to their advantage. This is what was seen as the biggest and only cause towards starting the First Opium War. Although the British were gaining a profit from selling their own goods to Chinese consumers, they were not making enough to counter the massive amount of spending they were doing on Chines...
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... to the Treaty of Nanking creating new ports for foreigners and allowing them to live lives contrary to what was expected of the people of China. The Chinese man had become addicted and it was just getting easier for him to get the opium he needed to satisfy his need, but in order to attain the opium he was leaving behind everything that his country had taught him about his sense of self. The man was no longer the one that would be instilling the traditional Chinese values into the youth of his country; it would be the new foreigners like the British traders who had come to China to profit from the trade. The same traders who were selling the opium, that would have a greater influence on shaping China from a traditionally isolated country from foreign influence, to a country that would later become a major power in foreign trade and open to most foreign influence.
...had gotten a document about China from the Europeans, and that wasn't just about their type of government, but what the government did, and what their economy and social life was like.
Sara Rose begins her story For All the Tea in China by saying, “There was a time when maps of the world were redrawn in the name of plants, when two empires, Britain and China, went to war over two flowers: the poppy and the camellia.”(Prologue). The purpose of this book is to explain the growing tensions between Britain and China and how that tension then shaped the world. Sarah Rose stresses the importance of the opium and tea trade to the British Empire in this story. When the Chinese began the process to stop the sale of the opium to its citizens and closed the port of Canton to the India Tea Company, the British reacted with anger. They then decided it might would be a smart business move to create a source
Ancient world civilizations always had, or still have, a tendency to place themselves at the center, or superior position. One of the biggest civilizations to do so is China, being the biggest trading post in the world at one time. One country that wanted to trade with China more than anyone else was Great Britain. British men wanted one thing, tea. But unfortunately the British didn’t have anything in return worth trading, so the idea of selling opium to Chinese men for silver and then giving the silver back to China as a trade deal came alive. The opium started to cause a social problem in China, causing Commissioner Lin (Lin Zexu) to write a letter to Queen Victoria in 1839, to fix the issue. In this letter, it is present that Commissioner Lin is sinophilic, and proves that China believes they are the center of every. Context clues of the words, “the Central land” being used multiple times in ways that put China on top of the world.
Allingham,, Philip V. "England and China: The Opium Wars, 1839-60." The Victorian Web: An Overview. 24 June 2006. Web. 06 Apr. 2011.
§ Aldcroft, D. H. (ed.) The Development of British Industry and Foreign Competition, 1875-1914 (1968), London: Allen and Unwin
The French and Indian War impacted the trans-Atlantic economic relationship between the motherland and her colonies. Before the war colonists were rushing to buy new British manufactured goods resulting from the early stages of the industrial revolution. To pay for these manufactured goods, colonists increased their export of raw materials for sale to Britain. Although the exports were able to pay for a significant portion of cost of British imports, a significant shortfall was covered by British loans. This economic relationship saturated much of pre-French and Indian War colonial America and became normal. After 1763, Britain was in dreadful need for revenue to pay for the French and Indian War. Britain was clever on finding ways to raise revenue from the colonies. From 1650 to the end of the French and Indian War was a period of "salutary neglect." Britain had very little involvement in the lifestyle of the colonies. After the French and Indian War, mercantilism became strictly enforced. Merc...
At the end of the eighteenth century, China’s goods were much desired by Britain. However, the Chinese saw Europeans as savages and did not want to trade with them. During trade, there was an imbalance in China’s favor, because the Europeans were forced to buy Chinese goods using silver. The Western Imperialists began to grow opium poppies from in India, and then smuggle them into China. China soon became addicted to the drug and spent most of it’s money on the purchase of it from the Europeans and Americans. This shifted the balance of power to be in Europe’s favor.
The Chinese empire had once been one of the greatest and most powerful empires in the world. Before the 19th century, China had a large population and was ruled by families or dynasties. It was considered technologically advanced as China had a history of many miraculous inventions, such as: writing, magnetic compasses, movable sails, porcelain, abacus and paper money. Although China was isolated from the rest of the world, it coped well on its own, and saw no need to begin trading with the west, (as Lord McCartney proposed in 1793), since it was a self-sufficient nation. At that particular time, the Chinese empire was still able to exclude the ‘barbarians’, thus forcing them to only trade at one port. However, China soon took a turn for the worst as important ...
One of the most important aspects of imperialism is the take over of government. The English accomplished this in several ways. Some of the “Unfair Treaties” forced the Chinese to allow the English ships into their ports and to allow them to have a major role in the trade market. The English wanted tea, porcelain, and silk from china. The Chinese however didn’t want to gods the English offered in return. The English began trading opium in return for the goods. Although it was illegal, many of the money hungry merchants excepted the opium in return for the things that were valuable to the English. Because of this, the first Anglo-Chinese war erupted. China underestimated the power of England and was defeated. At the end of the war, they were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing (1842). The treaty was one of the first treaties known as the “Unfair Treaties.” Under this treaty, china gave up the island of Hong Kong, abolished the licensed monopoly system of trade, granted English nationals exemption from Chinese laws, and agreed to give England whatever trading concessions that were granted to other countries then and later.
The Industrial Revolution brought social change and economic growth for Great Britain. This era provided the perfect environment for a new social class to emerge from urban squalor. During the Industrial Revolution a group of citizens who breathed polluted air, drank toxic water, worked fourteen-hour days in dimly lit factories and lived in close quarters. This group is known as the working class. In Karl Marx’s Manifesto of the Communist Party he predicted that the development of Modern Industry cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie (the upper class) produces and appropriates products. The bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its gravediggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat (the working class) are equally inevitable (Marx, 5). However Marx’s predict revolution of the working class never comes to be in England. It is a wonder why a large social group composed of a huge majority of a countries population never triggered rebellion within the cities streets. A huge contributing factor of the era was the large amounts of mind-altering “drugs” readily available to the nations poorer peoples. If it wasn’t for the Industrial Revolution, we may not have been as technologically advanced in the modern world. However, opium provided the solution to all of these men and their troubles. Opium created an escape and made life tolerable for working class preventing them from rebelling, making the industrial revolution successful.
At the end of the Opium War, China was left defeated. While the loss severely undermined the Qing Dynasty's power, little did they know that their loss would have serious repercussions. The emperor signed a treaty with the British that would later be known as one of the “Unequal Treaties” made in China during this period. The treaty in question was named the treaty of Nanjing (also known as the treaty of Nanking). This treaty would have lasting effects even into recent history.
Life for Fariba Nawa after 18 years was an eye opener and a very tragic experience. Nawa coined a way to narrate a story of an Afghan society, she once knew. The multibillion drug trade now ruled her country. In 1999 they made between $25 million and $75 million just from taxing opium farmers and traffickers (106). It was surrounded with opium, crime, smugglers and opium brides. Opium brides were sold to traffickers to pay off a pervious opium debt. The opium have taken over and damaged the lives of many Afghanistan residents.
The early nineteenth century was the beginning of the Qing Dynasty’s downfall. During this century multiple issues, including economic pressures, corruption, domestic rebellions and foreign wars, challenged ...
The geography of China was something like a fence. This isolation made the people of China feel like their country was prestigious and secluded from the rest of the world. With deserts and the Himalayas running along most of the border, it was extremely difficult to cross over one of the most dangerous mountain ranges in the world and a few other scorching deserts with the little transport they had during that time. The only way merchants could come into the country was the southeastern coast of China where most of the prosper cities resided. What led China to become conceited was because they had an abundant of goods that most of the world wanted. In 1760-1830s, China was famous for its porcelain (rich Europeans loved it), silk, and of course, tea. Since this Eastern Powerhouse’s goods were so popular, therefore, there were only a few things that interested them to trade with. It seemed as if tea was a drug for the Europeans because for them it was just so addicting, to the point they would do anything just to get more and more. The only things that were worthy for trading with the Chinese were gingko (type of plant), shark fin, a soft type of wood (used for incense) and silver. As the demand for tea rose, Britain gradually ran out of silver to trade with, and was desperate to find what China wanted. Then, the British resorted to trading opium. China was very picky of their opium. There was a certain kind of make they wanted, it was a compact ball wr...
One of the darker causes for the Industrial Revolution was the slave trade with overseas colonies at the time. For many merchants who saw the easy money to be made from the voyages, the merchants became extremely rich – and as it is in human nature – these rich merchants wanted to become even more rich, the seemingly best way to do this was to invest profits from the slave trade into the new factories that were arising, this is called “Commercial Revolution”. Britain was one of the few countries that was able to bring in profits from other countries and keep profits in their country, aiding them into being the first country to Revolutionise Industrially.