The Opium Wars

A detailed Summary of The Opium Wars


The Opium Wars were really not about Opium. Instead, they were a result of Western (especially British) desires to further their economic interests in China. In addition to rigid restrictions under the Canton System of trade, the British suffered from a negative trade deficit with China. Therefore, I feel that Opium was only a symptom of a much larger problem, that problem being that the Westerners wanted a virtually unrestricted trading environment that served their interests.

The Chinese had little use for Western goods for as they saw it, China was the "Middle Kingdom",

the center of everything civilized. The opposite was true of Westerners. Westerners, especially the British, loved tea. In addition to tea, they also purchased " large quantities of silk and rhubarb" (Hsu, 150) along with beautiful Chinese porcelain. This deficit was reduced once the sale of the Indian Patna and Malwa Opium commenced around 1820. Even though opium trade was forbidden by imperial decree, the Opium trade continued and flourished, especially along China's South Coast. Addiction was so bad by the 1830s that most men u


In addition, in the eyes of Chinese officals, trade with the China was not a right but a privilege that could be revoked at any time. The Chinese never though that Westerners would want to be treated in a manner that put them on an equal footing with China. Instead, they felt as if they were doing the Westerners a favor by allowing them to trade, for China was the center of all civilization and it was completely understandable for barbaric outsiders to want to have contact with the pinnacle of civilization. Therefore, foreign merchants were subject to rigid restrictions and to Chinese justice while conducting their business, restrictions that had to be adhered to in order to keep the privilege. The merchants were not allowed to learn Chinese (God forbid they would be able to communicate with the locals and pollute their minds with ideas of a barbarian world outside of the culturally superior China). Westerners could not purchase Chinese books. Foreigners could not stay in Canton past the sanctioned trading season. Foreign merchants were forbidden from bringing their wives and families to Canton. Perhaps the most galling

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Approximate Word count = 764
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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