The Opium Wars- Ryan Moeller Period 5

             The Opium Wars also known as the Anglo- Chinese Opium wars were conflicts between Britain and China starting in the 1830’s. A direct result of these conflicts was that China had opened its trading ports, which had been closed up until this point. Before the conflicts over opium erupted China had been very self- dependent and attached to the mindset that their goods were much better and that they needed nothing to do with western trade goods. The only product China had accepted for trade previous to the Opium Wars was silver and the lone port that China used to trade silver with was Guangzhou.  Europe traded copious amounts of the Spanish silver coin, the Carolus, for the prized Chinese goods. Britain as well as America was urgently searching for trade goods that China lacked in to balance out the trade between the continents. As soon as Britain discovered the trade item that fit that very description was opium, Britain’s East India Trading Company flooded the market with cheap opium. China as a country became quickly addicted to this new narcotic that Britain was able to provide for them. During the 1830’s, 90% of all Chinese males under forty, or about 12 million countrymen smoked opium.  Moreover by 1839, Chinese smokers consumed 100 million taels’ worth of opium whereas the imperial government that year only spent 40 million taels.

            In 1838 Emperor Dao Guang sent an official to confiscate and destroy all the imports of opium at Guangzhou. The Chinese government was trying to stop the new addiction but it was extremely difficult because Britain was illegally importing the drugs making the consumption of opium very hard to control. Between the years 1821 and 1837 the illegal importation of the narcotic increased by five times. Most of the country was defying the government and China need to put a stop to it. Chinese officials began arresting the British merchant ships and taking their millions of dollars worth of opium and burning it publicly to make a statement.  A British superintendent, Charles Elliot, tried to make a compromise but was bluntly declined.  China ordered its port of Guangzhou to be closed to all foreign trade. After a series of naval battles after Britain blockaded the Pearl River British ships sank a number of Chinese ships and won a couple land battles as well. By 1841 Britain had control over Zhenjiang and part of Southern China. And later after the end of the first Opium War the Second Opium War followed. This conflict began because Britain ordered that China open all of its ports to foreign trade as well as other guarantees. The Chinese government tried to stall and buy time before agreeing to the terms. Later a British- French force attacked Emperor Xianfeng’s summer palace in Hong Kong. Furthermore on October 18^th 1860, the ports of Hankou, Niuzhuang, Danshui, and Nanjing were opened to foreign trade; as well China opened the Yangtze waters and paid Britain and France reparations. The opium wars were significant because it opened up the western world to a whole new target for trade which affected everyone greatly. 

Works Cited 

Allingham, Philip V. "England and China: The Opium Wars, 1839-60." The Victorian Web: An Overview. Web. 09 Nov. 2011. <http://www.victorianweb.org/history/empire/opiumwars/opiumwars1.html>.

Tiedemann, R. G. "Opium Wars." Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding (SACU). Web. 09 Nov. 2011. <http://www.sacu.org/opium2.html>.

Wallbank. "A Short History of the Opium Wars." DRCNet Online Library of Drug Policy. Web. 09 Nov. 2011. <http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/heroin/opiwar1.htm>.