Opium Wars In China Research Paper

Opium Wars in China

It is widely acknowledged and respected that China is one of the most modernized and advanced countries in the world. However, this has not always been the case for this great nation. Nowadays referred to as the People’s Republic of China, it is booming economically, technologically, et cetera. Yet, prior to the Opium Wars that began in 1839, China could not compare to the prominent countries at that time that were primarily European. China is located in East Asia and did not have the same culture, traditions, or technology that the majority of Europeans possessed and used in everyday life. The Europeans and Americans on the western hemisphere were leading the world in terms of all areas of innovation. Preceding the Wars,

China was a merely a means for trade and Asian influence; however, after the Opium Wars, China began to take a greater position in the world as a nation.
To what extent did the Opium Wars effect and catalyze the industrialization of China?

This question can be analyzed and answered through exploring and understanding a series of criterion. The first step is to comprehend the causes and effects of the Wars, and to see how treaties demonstrated what certain countries stood for politically and economically, as well as how the Chinese reacted to interacting with hostility to and from the European nations. Once the historical events that occurred during the Opium Wars are laid out, it is clear to see how these instances caused a significant jumpstart in the industrialization of China. In addition, the incidences of the Wars were an enzyme in the formation of China’s foreign policy and relation with the European nations. Much can be said about the way the Opium Wars affect how the Chinese people viewed the Europeans, especially the English. The scars left on the Chinese due to the issues of the Wars are irreparable damage to the pride and culture of the country, and severely tarnished the image of the westerners following God’s will and helping other countries hasten their rate of increasing civilization. Even though the Opium Wars took a toll on China and the Chinese people as a whole, they have come back with a storm in all manners of

development.
Summary of Events
The Opium Wars began when Westerners had extreme discontent with China’s policy regarding ports for other countries. The Europeans saw China as the perfect opportunity to use the possible spread of Christianity to rationalize exploiting the Chinese in order to import to a large number of ready consumers. In opposition the Chinese firmly believed that they were capable of self-sufficiency without the intervention of Western influence.1 This conflict of interest and motive early on in their relationship foreshadows later problems between the nations. The Europeans insisted on China yielding to their wishes but China rebuked such an idea.
In the early 1800s the Europeans heavily relied on the Chinese Tea, and western frustrations rose as China and there was no equivalent product wanted by the Chinese so a trade imbalance grew. Money was flowing only one way – from Britain to China. Britain formulated a plan to avenge the loss of vast amounts of silver by taking advantage of the addictive nature of Opium and marketing this drug in the Chinese ports. Little did they know they were launching war that would take years to cease, and have irreversible effects. India was a British colony and had an abundance of poppies and cheap labor. The British harvested the crop and began marketing Opium in China; soon after Americans imitated this successful trade with poppies from Turkey.1
As soon as the Chinese government – the Qing dynasty – figured out what was happening, legislature was immediately put in place in order to attempt to halt the trade of Opium. Due to persistent European merchants and addicted Chinese consumers, there became immense black market trade operations and smuggling of the drug into China. When both sides reached their boiling points, war was immediately declared. After a vast series of tumults and struggles, the Chinese succumbed to Western demands to prevent European ships from coming to take the capital.2 This act of submission from China reinforced Westerners mindset of having a hold on China and resuming the leading role that decided the terms of business.
History of the First and Second Opium Wars
The only place where the Chinese government allowed trade with Britain was Canton.3
One immediate effect of the opium war was the sending of Commissioner Lin “to investigate port affairs.”4 In other words, he was sent to determine what was going on with Opium in the ports, and answer the questions of how and why the British smuggling was so successful.
Lin was a capable man for the job in terms of intelligence and experience. In his youth, Lin tested as one of the top of his classes, and exemplified “an immense capacity for acquiring knowledge.” While serving as governor of Kiangsu he “had learnt something about the complications of European Mentality.” He at the time had no idea what a huge impact it would play later in his career. In previous dealings with Europeans, the East India Company used suspicious circumstances to dock at a port, and they were claiming bad weather. Later it was discovered to be quite the contrary, in actuality the East India Company had circulated pamphlets in the ports searching for “fresh outlets for trade on the Chinese coast.” Such trade is blatantly illegal due to the limitations of the British to only trade at one Chinese port, Canton. While stationed at Canton, Lin “worked on the hypothesis that nothing the English said could be relied upon.” 4 This action foreshadowed a stronger distrust and disgust aimed towards foreigners and westerners.
Reports about the ports written by Lin included extensive information about the purchase of opium by wholesale brokers then sold retail to “opium dens” or other purchasers.4 An adviser, Pao Shih-ch’en who was not an official but he was “regarded as a great authority on cultural affairs.” In 1828 he predicted the danger to China that the “seizure of Singapore by the British” posed. This was part of his anxiety at the chance of Britain using Chinese from Singapore go to and spy back in China. Due to the abundance of struggles and tension because “the opium traffic was a full-time job” the Chinese government concluded that it was necessary to implement a Special Commissioner to solely dedicate time to the opium issues.5
Lin also believed that the trade with foreigners, opium smoking, and importation of opium were all related and therefore all needed to be shown attention. Without Chinese who were addicted to smoking opium, the importation and smuggling of the drug would no longer be an issue.6 A cease of demand will lead to decreases profits and a smaller margin of successful smuggling because there will be a smaller market for the drug. Without so many greedy consumers with open purses, the supply flow of opium would definitely decrease. In addition, if the Chinese no longer spent vast silver amounts on the addictive narcotic, it would prohibit the constant flow of silver out of China.6
The Effect on Foreign Policy
Almost all Chinese dynasties shared the belief that any property owned by the dynasty ruler was eminent land that could be considered the most important land or “domain” was the most important in the immediate region, perhaps even the whole world”. This reflects on a point made earlier about the mentality of the China pre-war, the idea of complete self-sufficiency without Western aid or invasion. A lot of foreign policy before the Opium War fluctuated depending on the current dynasty ruler. Some rulers were welcoming towards European missionaries and scholars; yet others were skeptical towards foreigners and deemed that “contact with foreigners was unnecessary and perhaps dangerous.”7
The Effect on the Mentality of the Chinese towards Caucasians as a Result of the Opium Wars
As the war was forming in the early stages, the extreme tension forced the Westerners to view the Chinese and Qing government as “barbarically denying them” and were insistent that if given full permission to trade at Chinese ports then they would infuse other goods into their trade quantities.2 It can be insinuated that the Westerners were being hypocritical since what they were demanding as compromise was to continue doing as they wished, forcing an addicting narcotic upon innocent Chinese people, in and of itself is barbaric.

The Chinese “decried the Westerners for the villainy of flouting local laws and bringing a dangerous substance into the country.”

2
Foreign opium was a major issue in the Chinese black market, it is not widely recognized that opium could be produced within China. This is because of the Chinese mentality that lands under western control were “less happy lands” and that “China’s pure soil could not produce anything so deadly as less happy lands produced.”