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The effects of opium on the imperialism of China

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The effects of opium on the imperialism of China

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By: Shriya Peddu

Opium played a major role in Chinese imperialism. The British wanted to trade with China for teas, silk and porcelain. But China was an isolated country and didn’t want to trade with the British. As a result, the British offered to trade opium. The British opium was grown in India which was then sent to China on British ships. The use of opium in China started off as light recreational use but soon the entire country had gotten addicted to it. But when the Chinese tried to ban opium and confiscated 20,000 cases, the British were far from happy which brought the start of the first opium war. After the war the Chinese were forced i to an unfair treaty called the treaty of Tientsin which legalized opium, allowed foreigners to move freely, open up new trade ports and more.

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The Qing dynasty was first established in 1644 by a group called the Manchurian. The reason that the Qing Dynasty took control of China is because the Ming Dynasty was declining as the Manchus were slowly gaining northern cities in China. After seizing control of China they discriminated the Han people, the native people of China. One of the things that they were made to do is cut their hair like Mongolians and anyone who did not follow was executed. Some Hans’ tried to rebel by writing literature to criticize the Qing dynasty but in the end they were beheaded. During this time the one of the greatest Chinese emperors lived, his name was Kangxi. Kangxi was known as one of the greatest emperors because he was emperor of China for longest amount of time anyone has ever ruled. He also favored by his people because he helped increase the economics of China while also uniting the different people of China. An example of this would be when he created a dictionary to best standardize the Han language. He also stopped many invasions from Russia and claimed Taiwan during his reign. During the dynasty there were also many rebellions. One of these rebellions was the Taiping Rebellion which was known as the deadliest one. There was also many troubles in the beginning of the 19th century. One of these problems was opium addiction because once the British began their trade of opium within China people became addicted and started to spend all their money on it which caused the economy to collapse. With all these problems the Qing Dynasty started to grow weaker which led to them losing many wars and battles against foreign nations which in the end led to them having to open up or give certain parts of China to these foreign nations. Slowly towards the end of the 19th century the Qing Dynasty started to reach the end of the line. Finally, after a revolution that had been brewing since 1894 the Qing Dynasty fell in 1911. After this the first Republic of China was established with a man named Sun Zhongshan becoming the first President of China.
https://www.history.com/topics/asian-history/qing-dynasty#emperor-kangxi
By Brandon Anand

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By Yejvan Madhanlal
China had a surplus of items and they were not really interested in trading with other countries.  During the late 1700s, Britain started trading silver with China, but after a while, they were running out of silver and requested to trade for Opium instead, which was an addictive drug. Britain got tea, silk, and spices from China in return. China started getting very addictive to this drug and this ruined their economy. The first Opium War was held from 1839 to 1842 and British won the war, leading to the Treaty of Friendship, Peace and Commerce. The second Opium war was held between 1856 and 1860 and Britain destroyed China for the second time. This loss led to the Treaty of Tientsin and it forced China to open up additional ports for trade, legalize the use of opium, and more.

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This was the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin/ Treaty of Tianjin.

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Treaties of the First & Second Opium War

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Treaties of the First & Second Opium War

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Treaty of Nanking/ Treaty of Friendship, Peace, & Commerce/ Treaty of Nanjing: This was a peace treaty from the First Opium War that China lost against the British. They were forced to sign this treaty. This treaty allowed the British to further infiltrate China. This treaty also made China repay all of the wasted resources, opium. As well as giving Hong Kong up, which was turned into a second Britain. The British also opened up 5 treaty spots for trade.

Treaty of Tientsin/ Treaty of Tianjin: This was a treaty signed after China was defeated by Britain in the Second Opium War. This treaty allowed the British to open more ports for trade, on top of the other ports already opened. As well as allowing them to remove restrictions on Christian missionaries activities in China. They also legalized the use of opium. On top of that they allowed foreigners to travel freely without any restrictions throughout all of Chinese territory

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Nanjing

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Treaties-of-Tianjin

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Aarav Patel

17th to 19th centuries
During these times China started to advance and become more civilized. China did not like to share so they did not import any items because they had a steady stream of resources and food. They also had high in demand items like silk, tea, porcelain, and spices. China refused to trade with any other foreign countries. Other European powers were in need or wanted the resources like silk from China. China was only interested in silver but the European powers did not have much silver to offer. Europeans started to trade with opium. Sonnet or later China soon became hooked to Opium which is a drug. China was exploited by exchanged their valued good for opium. Even though China banned opium the Europeans ' still found a way to smuggle in opium to keep China hooked on Opium.

https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/opium-war-1839-1842

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Opium and tea

The roots of the Opium War (or First China War) lay in a trade dispute between the British and the Chinese Qing Dynasty. By the start of the 19th century, the trade in Chinese goods such as tea, silks and porcelain was extremely lucrative for British merchants. The problem was that the Chinese would not buy British products in return. They would only sell their goods in exchange for silver, and as a result large amounts of silver were leaving Britain.

In order to stop this, the East India Company and other British merchants began to smuggle Indian opium into China illegally, for which they demanded payment in silver. This was then used to buy tea and other goods. By 1839, opium sales to China paid for the entire tea trade.

Chinese resistance

The Chinese wanted to stop the trade. Although opium was valued as a medicine that could ease pain, assist sleep and reduce stress, by 1840 there were millions of addicts in the country. Illegal opium imports were also eroding what had once been a favourable balance of trade.

Chinese efforts to end the trade were initially successful. In May 1839 they forced the British Chief Superintendent of Trade in China, Charles Elliott, to hand over the stocks of opium at Canton for destruction. This outraged the British, and was the incident that sparked conflict.

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The roots of the Opium War (or First China War) lay in a trade dispute between the British and the Chinese Qing Dynasty. By the start of the 19th century, the trade in Chinese goods such as tea, silks and porcelain was extremely lucrative for British merchants.

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Opium and its impact on the Imperialism of China

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Opium and its impact on the Imperialism of China

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By Adarsh Chandramouleeswaran

China wars a nation that did not trade with other nations as they were well supplied in every aspect.  Britain wanted to trade with the Chinese.  China did not really want to trade with them.  However, During the late 1700s, they then decided to trade their goods for silver from Britain as it would result in a trade surplus, building a stronger foundation of the economy.  Britain replied saying that they did not have much silver.  Britain then asked China if they wanted to trade for opium, an addictive drug produced in India and exported by the East India Company (the Chinese did not know that it was an additive drug).  China agreed to trade with Britain for opium whilst giving Britain silk, tea, spices, etc.   During the late 1700s, British merchants began making huge profits by trading opium grown in India for Chinese tea.  However, many Chinese people got addicted to the drug.  This disrupted China’s economy.  China outlawed opium and and tried to convince Britain to stop the trade, resulting in China and Britain to be at loggerheads and led to the first opium war from 1839 to 1842.  The British won the war with superior military technology.  This led to the Treaty of Friendship, Peace and Commerce.  This treaty forced the Chinese having to cede Hong Kong to British control, open up five ‘treaty ports’ for trade, and required the payment of reparations (China would pay back to the cost of the war on Britain’s end).  The second opium war was fought between 1856 and 1860.  Unfortunately for China, Britain won the war with superior military strength once again.  This resulted in the Treaty of Tientsin.  This treaty forced China to open up additional ports for trade, remove restrictions on Christians missionary activity, legalized the use of opium and grant foreigners permission to travel freely throughout China.

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The Qing dynasty, established by the Manchus in 1636, was used by the Manchus as a face empire to rule the the northeast portion of China. In 1944, the Qing dynasty had a major opportunity of increase their strength, when the Ming dynasty was invaded by rebels. This commotion allowed the Qing to swoop in, under the cover of helping the Ming dynasty, and take the capital of Beijing for themselves establishing themselves within China. When ruling over China, the Manchus showed a form of government that allowed them to stabilized the government. The government consists of a divide between leaders from the conquered region and leaders from the conquers region. This fills the government with people citizens can trust while still having many top rank officials be leaders from the Qing dynasty. The military officers and other leaders that stepped down and surrenders to the Qing were given titles of nobility to keep the happy and lower the chance of future uprisings. The dynasty was very powerful and conquered many regions forcing them into unfavorable treaties; these regions included the Russians, the Dzungar Mongols as well as many others. This caused them to develop all sorts of things including paintings, printmaking, and porcelain manufacturing. Philosophies were developed as well such as different scientific methods and freedom of religion was mostly tolerated throughout the dynasty’s history as well. However, soon corruption spread and leaders were unable to handle it such as funds being diverted from the military to build a palace instead. On top of this widespread corruption, opium was introduced causing the opium wars and further damaging the infrastructure causing it to collapse.

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By Ahanna Sehgal

Between 1856 and 1860, China was the scene of the Second Opium War, sometimes referred to as the Arrow War. Tensions over commercial and diplomatic ties between China and Western nations, particularly Britain, served as the catalyst for the war. The British confiscation of the Chinese-owned ship Arrow on the grounds that it was engaged in piracy was the immediate cause of the conflict. Although the Chinese government protested, the British exploited the incident as justification to attack China militarily. The Chinese soldiers were defeated in the bloody fighting and crimes that characterized the conflict. China was compelled to make considerable concessions to the foreign powers as a result of the Treaty of Tientsin, which was signed in 1858.

Website
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Opium-Wars

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By: Ashwika Bodicherla

https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/opium-war-1839-1842

-The roots of the Opium War lay in a trade dispute between the British and Chinese during the Qing Dynasty
-By the start of the 19th century, the a British was greedy for Chinese goods such as tea, silks, and porcelain
-However, the Chinese decided they would not buy British products in return, and only sell their golds in exchange for silver causing large amounts of silver to leave Britain
-the East India Company and other British merchants began to smuggle Indian opium in to China illegally, for which they demanded payment in silver
-This silver was then used to buy tea + other goods
By 1839, opium sales to China paid for entire tea trade
-Chinese efforts to end the trade were initially successful, and forced the British chief of trade in China to hand over the stocks of opium at Canton for destruction outraging the British and sparking serious conflicts
-Due to China backing off on the trade with the British, the first and second opium wars occurred to which the British forced China to sign a treaty that would allow the British to trade in China
-This destroyed China’s balance of economy as the Qing Dynasty became weaker and more people in China were relying on the British rather than China

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Opium and tea

The roots of the Opium War (or First China War) lay in a trade dispute between the British and the Chinese Qing Dynasty. By the start of the 19th century, the trade in Chinese goods such as tea, silks and porcelain was extremely lucrative for British merchants. The problem was that the Chinese would not buy British products in return. They would only sell their goods in exchange for silver, and as a result large amounts of silver were leaving Britain.

In order to stop this, the East India Company and other British merchants began to smuggle Indian opium into China illegally, for which they demanded payment in silver. This was then used to buy tea and other goods. By 1839, opium sales to China paid for the entire tea trade.

Chinese resistance

The Chinese wanted to stop the trade. Although opium was valued as a medicine that could ease pain, assist sleep and reduce stress, by 1840 there were millions of addicts in the country. Illegal opium imports were also eroding what had once been a favourable balance of trade.

Chinese efforts to end the trade were initially successful. In May 1839 they forced the British Chief Superintendent of Trade in China, Charles Elliott, to hand over the stocks of opium at Canton for destruction. This outraged the British, and was the incident that sparked conflict.

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The roots of the Opium War (or First China War) lay in a trade dispute between the British and the Chinese Qing Dynasty. By the start of the 19th century, the trade in Chinese goods such as tea, silks and porcelain was extremely lucrative for British merchants.

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Gunboats kept in the harbor to threaten nations who didn’t want to trade

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GunBoat Diplomacy and how it effected the imperialism of China

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GunBoat Diplomacy and how it effected the imperialism of China

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By: Avika Sancheti

GunBoat Diplomacy was a major fact that was used to mobilize trade and imperialize in China. For a long time China didn’t openly trade with European nations due to their mercantilist economy. Stock piling in silver, gold, and other precious metals that made China’s economy so stable they had no need to trade anything. The European’s, specifically the British, wanted in on China’s resources but didn’t want to give away all of their silver and gold due to its high value. To overcome this problem Britain used a tactic which today is called Gunboat diplomacy. In this strategy when a nation refuses to trade with the nation bringing in the offer, they bring in their Gun boats, hence the name of the tactic, purely to intimidate the country with a threat of war. This leads the unwilling country to forcefully let down their guard and commence trade with the European nation. China had a very weak military due to the heavy loses dealt through the First and Second Opium wars. Even after that millions of people were still addicted to Opium which made their economy and political power to slip. This was how Britain was able to over power all resistances between trade and exploitation of China’s resources, to finally imperialize them.

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A painting of British soldiers easily beating the Chinese soldiers in the Opium Wars because of their superior technology.

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By Tanush Siva

-The first and second Opium Wars between China and Britain were major events during the imperialization of China.

The First Opium War:

-The first Opium War started for one main reason, which was because China wanted to ban the opium trade. China had already taken many preventive measures to stop the opium trade in China (since it caused many Chinese citizens to become addicted), but through gunboat diplomacy, Britain forced China to continue the opium trade.

-In retaliation, the Chinese destroyed 20 thousand cases of opium in 1838. This ultimately triggered the first Opium War, which lasted from 1839-1942.

-Britain was easily able to defeat China because of their advanced technology.

The Treaty of Nanking:

-Because of their loss in the war, China was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanking, which forced China to pay many concessions.

-Under the Treaty of Nanking, China was forced to give Hong Kong to Britain, open 5 treaty ports for trade, and paid reparations.

The Second Opium War:

-Britain slowly wanted more restrictive power over the Chinese, but China refused, which led to the second Opium War, lasting from 1856-160.

-Once again, Britain’s technology was far superior to the Chinese, resulting in China getting demolished once again.

The Treaty of Tientsin:

-Because of their loss in the Second Opium War, China had to sign the Treaty of Tientsin.

-Under this treaty, more Chinese ports were opened for trade, restrictions on Christian missionaries in China were removed, opium was legalized, and foreigners could freely travel in China.

-The two Opium Wars ultimately caused China’s great economy to slowly diminish, with Britain eating away at their money and resources.

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Depiction of a battle during The Opium War

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By Ryan Prince:
From the years 1839-1842, The British and the Chinese fought a war around the trade rights of the drug Opium. The British had a major use for it because it was sold for high prices in China due to many getting addicted, and the British wanted to keep selling it. The Chinese government tried to ban the selling of the drug because it was disrupting the economy and too many addicts were an issue, but the British needed to intervene so they could continue profiting off of it. The Chinese force the British to turn in some of the Opium supply to be destroyed, which anger the British and lead to the war. The British easily beat the chinese, however, and an unfair treatment is made that the Chinese are forced to agree to. They had to compensate the British for the destroyed opium and the price of war. Also, they had to open up many ports to the British and allow new relations with other international countries. The British had barely and casualties compared to the significantly higher casualties of the Chinese.
Links: https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/opium-war-1839-1842

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Opium and tea

The roots of the Opium War (or First China War) lay in a trade dispute between the British and the Chinese Qing Dynasty. By the start of the 19th century, the trade in Chinese goods such as tea, silks and porcelain was extremely lucrative for British merchants. The problem was that the Chinese would not buy British products in return. They would only sell their goods in exchange for silver, and as a result large amounts of silver were leaving Britain.

In order to stop this, the East India Company and other British merchants began to smuggle Indian opium into China illegally, for which they demanded payment in silver. This was then used to buy tea and other goods. By 1839, opium sales to China paid for the entire tea trade.

Chinese resistance

The Chinese wanted to stop the trade. Although opium was valued as a medicine that could ease pain, assist sleep and reduce stress, by 1840 there were millions of addicts in the country. Illegal opium imports were also eroding what had once been a favourable balance of trade.

Chinese efforts to end the trade were initially successful. In May 1839 they forced the British Chief Superintendent of Trade in China, Charles Elliott, to hand over the stocks of opium at Canton for destruction. This outraged the British, and was the incident that sparked conflict.

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The roots of the Opium War (or First China War) lay in a trade dispute between the British and the Chinese Qing Dynasty. By the start of the 19th century, the trade in Chinese goods such as tea, silks and porcelain was extremely lucrative for British merchants.

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Imperialism of China and The Effects of Opium Today. 

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Imperialism of China and The Effects of Opium Today. 

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Arav Kumar

- The second opium war led to a Chinese defeat and France, Russia, and the United states were able to sign more treaties at Tianjin in 1858
- The treaties granted Western powers more rights and privileges
- These included an increase in the number of ports open to Western trade and the opening of the Yangtze river allowing access to the interior of China
- The British also demanded the right of Chinese citizens to emigrate on British ships
- Set a low tarrif for imported goods
- Chinese fought for two years but ratified the treaty in 1858
- The British and French would continue to use their military power to maintain control, an the US would secure a diplomatic treaty which allowed the US to take advantage of the Treaty of Tianjin
- Overall the treaties were unequal because it gave foreigners privileged status and extracted concessions from China
- https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/china-2

- After 1856, the second opium war, the importation of opium is legalized in China
- In 1878 San Francisco bans smoking opium in the city and is confined to neighboring Chinatowns, already the impacts of opium in the US is being seen
- By 1890 the US Congress imposes a tax on narcotics like opium and morphine
- By 1903 heroin addiction rises and by 1905 opium is banned in the US
- https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/heroin/etc/history.html

- Today the opioid epidemic has reached North America with 600,000 deaths from an opioid overdoes in just the US and Canada in the past two decades
- https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(22)00043-3/fulltext#:~:text=The%20opioid%20epidemic%20is%20one,from%20opioid%20overdoses%20by%202029.

Overall the spread of opium to China helped popularize it internationally and has led to massive problems for many countries in modern times.

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-Sarah Perlmutter
Opium had a huge impact on the imperialism of China. This all started when the British found opium and decided to trade it with the Chinese. Eventually, they would become addicted to this, which would make them willingly trade for it. The Chinese government was able to recognize this addiction problem and made an attempt to ban it, but the British didn’t let it happen using gunboat diplomacy. This forced the Chinese to continue trading and meet British demands. In 1832, the Chinese destroyed 20,000 cases of British opium. This triggered the First Opium War. Britain went on to defeat the Chinese in both wars and impose unfair treaties that allowed the British to further invade on their society. The Treaty of Friendship, Peace, and Commerce forced the Chinese to give up Hong Kong, open up ports, and pay back money from the war. The Treaty of Tientsin opened up even more ports, removed restrictions on Christian missionary activity, granted foreigners permission to travel in China, and legalized opium once again. This furthered the ultimate goal of imperialism by imposing these views, values, and beliefs on the Chinese. These imperialistic actions all stemmed from the British first trading the addictive opium over to the Chinese.

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How Opium helped the Imperialism of China

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How Opium helped the Imperialism of China

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Saharsh Medichalam:

Before the 1800s, China rarely participated in trade with others, but pushed for more exports than imports to strengthen the economy. European countries wanted China to trade more freely to gain exotic items & income but China still refused. Britain started to sell it’s new highly profitable cash crop, opium into China, causing multiple problems for them. Firstly, opium caused major economic problems since large amounts of Chinese people were getting addicted, not working as much and they were trading silver for an otherwise useless crop. Secondly, the struggles caused by opium caused a governmental movement to weed it out. This included apprehending drug dealers but more importantly having Britain stop importing the drug. Britain refused as they were profiting greatly from the new trade so the Chinese government and British government went to war in the wars over opium. China with less military power inevitably loses and gets forced to sign one of many unequal treaties that gives more power to imperializing nations. This along with its prior affects on the economy is why opium helped cause China to be imperialized.

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By: Sarvesh Anand

• The Qing empires lasted 3 centuries and was the leading govt body during Western Imperialism.

• Waged two wars against the Western Trade policies, the first and second opium war.

• Anti Western ideas became more common and the dynasty sided with the rebels.

• After siding with the rebels multiple foreign armies fought to occupy Beijing leading to a govt without any central control.

• The vacuum of authority led revolutionary ideas partially introduced by Western influences.

• Sun Yat-sen was a physician who created three principles against the Qing dynasty, democracy, nationalism and livelihood in China.

• The new emperor was a young child leading to a lot of unrest and the end of the Qing Dynasty.
Source: https://www.wondriumdaily.com/china-western-imperialism-and-the-end-of-qing-dynasty/

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Motivators for the Imperialism of China 

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Motivators for the Imperialism of China 

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By Karan Vijayakumar

China was a country that practiced Isolationism, the idea of self-sufficiency without reliance on other countries for trade or economic success. However, it had many goods valued by the British. Some desired Chinese products were silk, tea, spices, precious metals (gold and silver, and porcelain. Regarding this, China expressed its desire to stay isolated and not encourage trade between it and other countries. Nevertheless, it was ultimately forced into trade. In this time period, mercantilism was a central idea that tied countries around the world together. Mercantilism is the idea that precious materials such as gold and silver carry an almost universal value. Because of this, Britain expected China to trade with its abundance of silver, a metal China was unwilling to part with because of the excessive amount of labor necessary for its production.  Britain wanted trade opium from India, exported by the East India Company, to China for silk, tea, and other items.

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An image showing the addiction that the Chinese people underwent as a result of Britain’s attempt to Imperialize China through the use of Opium

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How Opium Impacted the Imperialism of China Greatly

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How Opium Impacted the Imperialism of China Greatly

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-Aditya Kaushik
At first, China was an isolationist country, which is a country that was completely shut off from other countries because they can make all of their necessities. China was then slowly forced into trading with Britain, because of Gunboat Diplomacy. When Britain was trading with China, they mostly paid in silver, which is very hard to obtain, because it is a very long process to process silver into its ingot form. Instead, Britain offered to trade opium. Opium is an addictive drug which at the time, China did not know. Opium made China’s people addicted to the substance, which greatly boosted Britain’s trade and economy. The Chinese Govt. then realized its effects on their people, so the Chinese Government set fire to 20,000 crates of Opium on a British ship, the British people took that as an act of war. This is because the Chinese people burned Opium that was not yet bought, so it was a loss from Britain’s side. This led to the first and second Opium war, which obliterated China, and eventually led to China becoming a country that it equally open to trade from any country (The open door policy, proposed by America). To recap, Opium impacted the Imperialism of China by making the Chinese people addicted to it, while also boosting Britain’s economy. This led to the Opium wars, in which China got obliterated, and shared by the other countries.

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This picture is not specifically Britain but shows the same idea as the US also used its navy for gunboat diplomacy.

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Chinese resistance and Gunboat diplomacy

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Chinese resistance and Gunboat diplomacy

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By: Nirnay Bhattacharya

Since China was self-reliant on goods, they rarely imported goods and exported more. This led to high demand being created for spices, porcelain, tea, and silk from China. Since Britain did not want to pay silver for trade, they used opium to get people addicted.

This eventually led to the Qing Dynasty confiscating opium in 1838. This ultimately led to the first opium war between Britain and China.

While the now weakened empire still tried to go against the trade, Britain used gunboat diplomacy to keep the trade going. They used their navy to show off their might and force the Chinese resistance from fighting back.

With Britain's stronger military and more Chinese becoming addicted to opium, the west eventually agreed to the Open Door Policy from the US to open up trade and destroy China's economy.

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By: Srinath Sundara
The opium war was fought between the British and the Chinese. The British were irritated because the Chinese wouldn’t but British products in return for their tea, silks, and porcelain. Instead, the Chinese only accepted silver and large amounts of silver were leaving Britain. The East India Company and other British merchants began to smuggle Indian opium into China illegally and they demanded payment in silver which was used to buy tea and other goods. Chinese forced Charles Elliot to hand over the stocks of opium at Canton for destruction in May, 1839. British were then outraged and sparked conflict. Many British politicians and merchants viewed the dispute as an ideal opportunity to open up China. Fighting began in November 1839 and on 21 June, a naval force commanded by Sir Gordon Bremer arrived off Macao. Chinese refused to give the island off coast for use as a trading station to the British and on January 7, 1841, the British captured the Bogue forts of Chuenpi and Tycocktow which guarded mouth of Pearl River. The Chinese fleet consisted of 13 war ships in which 10 were captured and their flagship was destroyed. The Chinese Admiral, Kuan Ti, asked for a truce and faced with overwhelming British strength, signed an agreement on 18 January 1841 and they gave up Hong Kong which became British territory as compensation for the war.

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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By: Anvi Kumar

To stop the opium trade, the Opium War started in China. Opium was illegally smuggled by traders from India to China, where it sparked a massive addiction. This ultimately resulted in social and economic issues. The Chinese officials removed and destroyed about 20,000 opium chests one day! Tensions between China and Britain erupted over this. Fights persisted, particularly after British warships at the Pearl River estuary damaged Chinese property. The British defeated the Qing army once more. The battle was over when Nanjing was taken. After that, China and Britain signed the Treaty of Nanjing, which required China to compensate Britain, give Hong Kong to the British, and expand the number of trading ports. Other Westerns places heard about this and also asked China for things.

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A cartoon showing how the British abused the China, and shows the addiction of opium for the chinese

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The impact of Opium during the Imperialism of China

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The impact of Opium during the Imperialism of China

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By: Advait Baijulal

From the 17th to 19th centuries, China's economy was very well advanced, and they didn't export much items. This was because they didn't feel the need to gain anything new, and that they were happy with the products they already had. To make it better the items the Chinese had were in high demand, and they costed silver, which no one had. However, the British needed to get these Chinese items and possibly make silver in some way, so they were able to initiate a short trade, including opium. Luckily for the British, they got hooked on the addictive drug, and their whole nation completely abused it. This results in the British gaining so much silver from China, and ruining China's silver economy almost completely. This played even a bigger part is it caused China to let their guard down, on something that may not seem as a threat, the British. They believed the British only want to trade, but they really wanted to take over China, and imperialize it for their own good, and even use it as a colony. This caused them lose control of their nation, and lead to the exploitation of China by the British.

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A cartoon representing Britain’s gunboat, showing how modern and technological it is compared to the rest of the world

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By: Abhiram Maganti

Gunboat diplomacy is defined as the actual or threatened use of limited naval force to secure a benefit in an international dispute. Britain used this threat so that China will keep trading opium with them and China gave in since they knew they couldn’t have a fair fight with Britain in a war. By definition, if the threat did not work and a war between China and Britain breaks out, then the gunboat diplomacy threat did not work. This is proved to be so, since Britain and China had two Opium Wars. Britain wanted to trade Opium with China in the first place because of the amount of raw materials and resources China had and were not willing to trade. The British thought that trading silver was not worth it, so they traded a drug named Opium and if China ever wanted to stop trading this drug, Britain will use this threat. In 1838, the Ching empire confiscates 20,000 cases of Opium to show that they were not interested in any more Opium so the British use their gunboats and the First Opium War began.

Source: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/072924700791201630

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A cartoon representation of how China was imperialized.

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Silver Vs. Opium and how Opium Impacted Imperialized China

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Silver Vs. Opium and how Opium Impacted Imperialized China

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By Shrihan Kodati

Opium played a very big part in the imperialism of China. The overall effect of opium in China allowed Western powers and Japan to open up and split China between themselves. The opium crisis started when Europe became reluctant to trade away their silver for the various and inaccessible resources of China, such as silk and spices. In substitution for silver, Europe decided to instead trade opium as it was plentiful in British India. As more and more Chinese people succumbed to addiction as more opium was imported into China, Chinese people became inclined to ban opium. However, Europeans resorted to gunboat diplomacy to intimidate the Chinese into trading for opium. This resulted in anti opium campaigns and eventually the First Opium War (1839 - 1842), British won this war and forced  the treaty of Nanking. Political differences were the reason for the Second Opium War (1856 - 1860), which resulted in another British victory and another treaty called the “Treaty of Tientsin” which was also imposed on China. Both of the treaties focused on opening up China to commerce.

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By: Eshwar Mohankumar
The war started as the Chinese were attempting to suppress the opium trade. The British had been exporting opium from India and the trade increased greatly around 1820. Due to opium being exported to China, many people started to be addicted to the substance and in 1839 the Chinese government confiscated and 20,000 chests of opium were destroyed. When some drunken British sailors killed a Chinese sailor the tension between the Chinese and British increased. Fights broke out after British warships destroyed a Chinese blockade of the Pearl River estuary and after months of negotiations, the British occupied the city. There were other British campaigns need when they captured Nanking, the fighting stopped with the Treaty of Nanjing. China had pay many war reparations, cede Hong Kong to the British, and the amount of treaty ports increased, In 1843, British citizens were granted extraterritoriality after the Treaty of Bogue.

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By: Aditya Mote

The First Opium war was started with China’s attempts to suppress opium trade by Britain. Britain had been illegally importing opium into China for Chinese products, but this opium had a dreadful impact on Chinese society. This opium was being imported from the British colony of India, where it was causing several problems such as starvation, because people were forced to grow cash crops. In China people became addicted to it and this caused social and economical disruptions. In 1839 the Chinese government confiscated 20,000 cases of opium which were warehoused in Canton by the British and destroyed it, which caused tensions to rise between the two countries, and for war to ensue. It first started when British warships destroyed a Chinese blockade of the Pearl River. Another reason that this war was started is because the British government did not want its subjects to be tried in the Chinese legal system, and refused to turn over men accused of crimes to the Chinese government. When the fighting ensue the British to no surprise were successful against the inferior Qing forces. The capture of Nanjing put an end to the fighting. The Treaty of Nanjing was then signed soon after. This treaty said that China was required to pay Britain indemnity, cede Hong Kong to the British, and increase the number of trading ports. Other Western countries soon started to demand similar privileges from China and those too were granted. Resistance then led to the second opium war, which had devastating impacts on China.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Opium-Wars

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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Political cartoon representing the open door policy.

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By: Hersh Bindra

The open door policy was initiated by the US in 1899 and 1900  to try and acquire equal privileges for countries trying to trade with China. This was issued by the US Secretary of State, who at the time was John Hay, addressing to countries willing to trade with China. The idea was that all countries will have equal access to ports to trade in China. This idea essentially saved China from British rule. This is due to how Britain would essentially lose its economic power in trade with china, making it equal with all the other countries. This also let the Chinese government have some power of Britain, who was controlling them by giving them the right to collect taxes on trade, and can raise them as much as they like. This also gave them access to more types of taxes such as harbor tax or railroad tax as each country would have to follow the guidelines of the Open Door policy, which this is included in. The first country to break this policy was japan in 1915, with the presentation of 21 demands. Soon after, other countries started falling out of this, but China was saved and able to become independent again due to this policy.

Link:https://www.britannica.com/event/Open-Door-policy

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Illustration depicting Manchu hairstyles, called queues. By Internet Archive Book Images.

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Gwendolyn Singer
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/whp-1750/xcabef9ed3fc7da7b:unit-1-the-world-in-1750/xcabef9ed3fc7da7b:1-2-scaling-to-two-places-in-the-world/a/read-qing-dynasty-beta
The Manchu took over the Qing empire in China from 1644 to 1912 CE. The Manchu where a minority in China at the time. They enforced a strict dress code upon China to make the majority ( Hans) understand the legitimacy of their government presence. If someone did not adhere to the dress code, they would be sent to execution. Part of the reason being forced to dress code was to keep unity in China. By the 18th century, the empire had a massive territory and a strong centralized government. A centralized government was ruled by the emperor. Who is the absolute monarch, and had appointed a variety of ethnic officials to keep diversity over the such a large land. The dynasty also had a very well set economy, and its economy, mostly revolved around farming, villages and towns. They also had a cash crop which was growing tea. Their economy also was one of the most commercialized economies at the time with the farmers buying and selling surplus is of food and other things. However, there was a strict trade policy with foreign countries, such as western countries.

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An illustration of a chinese man abusing opium.

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Silver and Opium’s relationship during the Imperialism of China

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Silver and Opium’s relationship during the Imperialism of China

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Abhinav Toti

During the 17th-19th centuries, China began developing a civilized and advanced civilization. The chinese did not have a need to import any goods, as they had a steady stream of food, as well as “high demand” items. These highly demanded goods included goods such as: tea, silk, spices, and porcelain. This meant that they had no intrinsic desire to trade with any other countries. Meanwhile, European powers were highly interested in the goods that China had to offer. However, the chinese were not interested in anything other than silver (which the Europeans lacked). As a result, the British began to cultivate opium in order to trade with China. Over a brief period of time, China was hooked to this addictive drug. Before long, the entire population of China was forced to trade their exotic goods for opium. This eventually began the manipulative cycle in which China was exploited continuously.