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Opium and the Opium Wars

Opium and the Opium Wars. The Western Traders. Community of traders in Guangzhou Trade tea and silk through a monopoly The trade expands rapidly in 1830s Traders want End to the monopoly To be allowed to trade in other ports A fixed rate of tax. Lin Zexu.

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Opium and the Opium Wars

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  1. Opium and the Opium Wars

  2. The Western Traders • Community of traders in Guangzhou • Trade tea and silk through a monopoly • The trade expands rapidly in 1830s • Traders want • End to the monopoly • To be allowed to trade in other ports • A fixed rate of tax

  3. Lin Zexu • Proposed ending opium trade to solve currency problems • Understood the Western traders as pirates • 1839 arrived in Guangdong • Destroyed opium • Imprisoned traders in their compound to make them promise not to trade opium again → CRISIS

  4. The Opium War 1840 • British fleet sent from India • British troops beseiged Guangzhou then paid off • British fleet sailed up the coast and threatened Tianjin →Treaty of Nanjing

  5. The Treaty of Nanjing 1842 • End of the Cohong monopoly • Open 5 more ports to foreign trade • New system of fixed tax rates • Hong Kong ceded to Britain • The Qing made a large payment to the British

  6. Problems after the Treaty of Nanjing • The Chinese saw it as a rebellion that had been pacified • The British saw it as a war they had won • Factional disputes at court about what to do • Trouble in Guangzhou because some people had lost out from the treaty → The Second Opium War

  7. The Treaty of Tianjin 1858 • Ten more ports opened to foreign trade • Foreigners allowed to travel in China • Chinese internal customs duties fixed for foreigners • Extraterritoriality ie foreign law used for foreigners • Foreign diplomats allowed to reside in Beijing

  8. Educational images of the Opium War from the People’s Republic of China’s Southern Daily (Nanfang ribao) in 2004

  9. Interpretations • Imperialism • J.A. Hobson and Vladimir Lenin • Argument very influential in 1910s and 20s • Impact of the West • John K. Fairbank • China as the centre of the world • Spread of psychoactive substances

  10. Opium and the Spread of Psycho-active Substances • Listed from 8th C as a medical drug • Recreational consumption spread from the Philippines in the 17th C • Large scale imports tied to British consumption of tea

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