The Opium Wars

The Opium Wars were two wars fought between the Chinese Qing dynasty and European powers. Both the wars were a result of the Qing Dynasty’s attempts to curb the opium trade. 

The first was fought from 1839-1842 and the second one from 1856 – 1860. Both the times the Qing Dynasty was defeated by the technologically superior Europeans forcing the Qing to grant concessions and territory. These wars would have a profound effect on the future of China.

Opium Wars is an important topic covered in the world history segment of the UPSC Mains Exam.

Background of the Opium Wars

The medicinal properties of opium were known to the ancient Chinese for centuries but it was never referred to as a recreational substance until the 18th century. Foreign merchants began selling the drug for recreational purposes in the late 18th century. But the British themselves would exploit this growing demand to the fullest.

Following the British East India Company’s conquest of Bengal after the battle of Plassey in 1757, the British would lay the foundation of the opium industry. Rather than developing it fully, the began passing laws that would allow for the cultivation of opium at the expense of the sustainable farming practices of India farmers

The opium grown would then be sold in Chinese markets at exorbitant prices. At first, the Qing Emperors would tolerate the import of opium as it provided a form of indirect taxation in its consumption but the increase in its consumption led to social instability in Chinese society. 

The Chinese Jiaqing Emperor issued edicts that made the manufacture and consumption of opium illegal, but this was circumvented by illegal traders and greedy Chinese officials looking to make a profit off the trade. By 1833, the opium traffic soared to 30,000 chests

The East India Company (December 31, 1600) sent opium to their warehouses in the free-trade region of Canton (Guangzhou) and sold it to Chinese smugglers.

Partly concerned at the moral decay of Chinese society and party with the outflow of silver, the Emperor charged High Commissioner Lin Tse-hsu with ending the trade. Lin seized all the opium in Canton including those owned by foreign trade companies. Despite a token amount being promised by the trading companies Lin still enforced a shutdown and blockade of their warehouses

The standoff ended after Charles Elliot, Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China paid for all the opium on credit from the British Government (despite lacking official authority to make the purchase) and handed the 20,000 chests (1,300 metric tons) over to Lin, who had them destroyed at Humen. But this would not be the end of it. Knowing fully well that the Chinese would not stop in their quest to destroy the opium trade completely, Charles advocated military action in order to protect their monopoly.

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First Opium War

A small skirmish occurred between British and Chinese vessels in the Kowloon Estuary on 4 September 1839. After almost a year, the British government decided, in May 1840, to send troops to impose reparations for the financial losses of the British traders in Canton and to guarantee future security for trade. On 21 June 1840, a British naval force arrived off Macao and moved to bombard the port of Dinghai. In the ensuing conflict, the Royal Navy used its superior ships and guns to inflict a series of decisive defeats on the Chinese Empire.

The war was concluded by the Treaty of Nanking (Nanjing) in 1842, the first of Unequal Treaties between China and Western powers. The treaty forced China to cede in perpetuity Hong Kong Island and surrounding smaller islands to the United Kingdom, and it established five treaty ports at Shanghai, Canton, Ningpo (Ningbo), Foochow (Fuzhou), and Amoy (Xiamen).

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The treaty also imposed a twenty-one million dollar payment to Great Britain, with six million, paid immediately and the rest through specified instalments thereafter. Another treaty the following year gave most favoured nation status to the British Empire and added provisions for British extraterritoriality. France secured the same concessions in treaties of 1843 and 1844.

Second Opium War

During the late 1800s, a series of rebellions had upset the power-balance of the Qing dynasty, with one, in particular, the Taiping rebellion of 1853, establishing a parallel government. Still, the Qings were determined to stamp out the opium trade, still illegal under Chinese law. In October 1856, a British registered ship, Arrow, was seized with all of its crew thrown into jail. This prompted the British Governor of Hong Kong, Sir John Bowring, to summon the British Navy on October 23. The British Navy proceeded to capture the Pearl River forts and bombarded Canton itself. 

On 15 December a riot broke out in Canton that set fire to many European establishments in the city. As a result,  the Europeans, including the B, including the legalisation of the opium trade and exemption from import duties. The British Empire, France and Russia banded together and sought greater concessions. Upon Chinese refusal, they declared war. The war again ended in a Chinese defeat.

The war resulted in the Treaty of Tientsin (26 June 1858), which forced the Chinese to pay reparations for the expenses of the recent war, open a second group of ten ports to European commerce, legalize the opium trade, and grant foreign traders and missionaries rights to travel within China. After the second phase of fighting which included the sack of the Old Summer Palace and the occupation of the Forbidden City palace complex in Beijing, the Treaty was confirmed by the Convention of Peking in 1860.

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The aftermath of the Opium War

The result of the Opium Wars resulted in the weakening Qing Dynasty. In the eyes of the Chinese people, the losses to European was a humiliation for which they held the Qing Emperors directly responsible through mismanagement and rampant corruption.

The wars marked the start of what 20th-century Chinese nationalists called the “Century of Humiliation”

The damage to the Qing Empire’s prestige would lead to a series of rebellions in which the final one in 1912 would result in its demise. The Opium Wars in itself would become an example of flagrant imperialism on part of the colonial powers, which would be their mainstay policy until the end of World War I in 1919.

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