The Opium Wars

Asia became an important area of international competition in the 19th century. For many years, China had remained isolated from the very world it was in. They believed that they were superior to everyone else. Sounds familiar? They were not impressed by the European culture. The Finally, China began to trade. The Chinese exported tea, a very trendy leaf, to Britain. Britain was left to only trade gold and silver with China since China was a self sufficient country.

Eventually, Britain began running out of gold and silver, and tried to trade any other product with them, whether it be new inventions or food, but the Chinese weren’t impressed and said no. Britain then did a very sneaky thing. They introduced the addicting narcotic opium to China. Opium was already sold in China, but not for the reasons the Britain wanted. In China, opium was a medicinal product, used for headaches and the such. The British introduced it as a drug, and the Chinese were addicted. Now, the British could trade something other than silver and gold with the Chinese.

Chinese naturally was a very populated country, and opium was killing off most of the population. About ten percent of China was addicted to opium, and China needed a more variety of products to trade with the British. Eventually, the Chinese emperor was sick of it. Opium was weakening them. He sent a letter and asked Britain to stop trading opium with them. The British refused and continued trading opium, even after laws were set up making it illegal to smoke opium.

War ultimately broke out. The Chinese were no match for the British. The Chinese only had old-style weapons and artillery which the British had gun ships and steamboats. The Chinese weren’t prepared for Britain’s technological superiority and faced a humiliating defeat. In 1842, they were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanking. This treaty let Britain use five of the Chinese ports instead of one, gave control of Hong Kong to Britain, and forced the Chinese to legalize opium.