Chinese Opium War Essay

Today at 2016, China has risen to a level where it became known as such a dominant and highly economic nation that oversees many other countries. As it is presently well known that China is very powerful, the history of this nation had many downfalls almost destructing the major empire. For example, the British opium trade is one very important time period in China’s history the marked the beginning of a dark era. The British Opium Trade was major turning point in China’s history that lasted from 1839 til 1860. Even though 20 years may not seem a long period of time, but the opium trade had long-lasting effects on China’s empire weakening it. If China hadn’t take a stand against the British by terminating the illegal exporting of opium, isolation
of foreign trade which resulted in a peace treaty, and warfare. China wouldn’t be a prosperous and dominant country it is today.
To begin with, China had to take a stand by ceasing the illegal exporting of opium because of the negative effects opium commenced to produce.For instance, because of the excessive amount of opium in China, the use of this drug started to rapidly increase causing serious social and economic conflicts.(The Opium Trade,1) Therefore, the Chinese government had to destroy a colossal amount of opium. In the 1800s in China, opium started to spread throughout and many workers started to get addicted to opium affecting the economy .(Opium Wars, 1) “The resulting widespread addiction in China was causing serious social and economic disruption there. In March 1839 the Chinese government confiscated and destroyed more than 20,000 chests of opium—some 1,400 tons of the drug.” (Opium Wars, 1)

As we can see, opium started to spread quickly among the Chinese population that soon started to cause a disruption in the political and economic system. Because of the opium addiction, they soon started encounter with the British because the Chinese government weren’t satisfied with opium trade. Not only did the opium trade affect the Chinese system, the British were exporting a huge amount of opium into China. Due to the problems in China, they had to destroy chest of this harmful substance. Soon China banned export of this drug, which angered the British.
“By the 1820s the traffic in opium began to increase dramatically with over 12 thousand chests being smuggled into China in 1824, rising to 19 thousand in 1830, 30 thousand in 1835 and to 40 thousand chests (2,500 tons of opium) in 1838.” (Britain’s Opium Wars,1)

In just a 4 years span, over 12 thousands chests were illegally smuggled into China and rapidly increased year by year, This was the first step towards the destruction of the empire and economic system in China because addiction of the drug increased at the same rate. British were the largest drug suppliers at that time. Not only did the addiction of opium affect the political and commerce system of China, it affected the way of life that the nation was built on. The major philosophies that were developed in China and many people went against them by smoking opium. “Opium addiction was particularly disastrous for the old way of Chinese life because Confucianism set such great stress on self-discipline and duty to life.”(Imperialism began in a pipe dream, 18)

It is evident that opium was a negative product to be in the commerce system and it had the capability to demolish many systems and reduce China’s power to an extreme level.
Overall, China prohibition of opium helped reduce the problems that commenced when the drug was first brought into the nation. Another way China took a stand was by isolating their trade with foreigner mainly the British due to dilemmas that were growing out of the opium trade. Since the trade between the Chinese and British were banned, it angered the British.Therefore, China was attacked by British forces and the emperor had a hard time fighting against them which resulted in a peace treaty.(Kickin the Gong, 3)
“The emperor had had enough, and the resulting Treaty of Nanjing firmly established the British victory. The Chinese agreed to open five major ports to trade, pay millions of pounds in indemnity, allow free trade, and cede Hong Kong to the British in perpetuity.”(Kickin the Gong, 3)

After a few revolts of the British, China signed the document which represented the victory of the British. China soon came under their control in terms of commerce because mainly the British overpowered the trading system. As China tries to isolate itself with the British, there was a peace treaty that connected these two countries together known as the Treaty of Nanjing. Even though this treaty was made for peace, the document aided the British more than it did to China. At the time of the opium trade, China was in a disastrous state, but the document made them pay a huge amount to the British. “The Qing had no effective tactics against the powerful British navy. They retaliated merely by setting burning rafts on the enemy’s fleet and encouraging people to take the heads of the enemies.”(The First Opium War and its aftermath, 1)

The Treaty of Nanjing was only produced because China could not retaliate against the British forces. As said above, China had no strategies to go against them resulting in this peace treaty to aid both countries.China had tried to take a stand against opium trade by isolating their trade with the British but it did not successfully work out due to the powerful British army.

Ultimately, China took a stand by going into war with British to conclude the end of the disastrous opium trade to make its nation thrive once again.
Soon China started to face plethora of problems, and decided to fight the British. There were only two wars that took place and China didn’t succeed in either of them. The first war is called “The First Opium War” and the second is called the “Arrow War.” China failed epicly in these two wars.(The Chinese Opium Wars,24.)(Opium War, 1)
“The First Opium War shattered that belief. It was such a catastrophic defeat that more than a decade later U.S. Navy commodore Matthew Perry, in Tokyo Bay to open up a similarly inaccessible Japan, not only threatened the Japanese with American military power but also warned them that if they did not negotiate with him, the British would show up and treat the Japanese the same way.” (Kickin the gong,3)

The First Opium War was such a tragic loss and it damaged everyone’s hopes in China. The Chinese forces were no match for the British competent army therefore resulting in such an unfortunate defeat. Other effects of the loss included neighboring countries to attack other Asian countries near China. Since China had such a catastrophic defeat, other countries threatened Asian countries that if they did not negotiate, they will bring the British upon them. Since the British was very powerful at that time, many countries were fearful of
them.
“The Second Opium War (or the Arrow War) was a dispiriting rerun of the first and occurred in the middle of near-total societal breakdown in China. In 1850 an apocalyptic Chinese cult called the Taipings revolted against the government. The resulting civil war lasted from 1850 to 1864 and cost the lives of about 20 million Chinese.”(Kickin the gong, 3)

The Arrow War resulted in being worse than the first war because the effects of the loss was a social breakdown. The Arrow War was able to almost demolish the government in China and there were revolts that occurred against the political system. Furthermore, the war costed over 20 million Chinese lives. The Chinese had taken a stand by going into war even though it wasn’t successful and had mainly negative effects.

In conclusion, the opium trade was a devastating time period in Chinese history that left an unforgettable mark. The Chinese tried to stop the trade by annihilating the opium commerce, isolation from the British, and warfare. Many of these tactics weren’t successful as one would have thought it to be. But if China had not taken a stand like this, China would not have been a prosperous country it is today and with such high a economic system. The three ways China took a stand still had an impact on their if not a major one .