Opium Wars

The causes

In the 19th century, the British bought large quantities of Chinese tea and silk but sold little to China, which created a trade deficit. To close it, they sold opium grown in India, which spread through China, caused heavy addiction and drained money from the country. Emperor Daoguang entrusted Lin Zexu with the fight against this trade, and in 1839 Lin seized the stocks at Canton.

Trade is already tightly regulated. The Canton System reserves foreign trade to a single city, under the control of licensed Chinese merchants, the cohong. In 1793, the mission of Lord Macartney, sent by King George III, fails to win wider access to trade. Since 1729, the sale of opium has been banned in China, but it is traded illegally, often with the complicity of corrupt officials. The British East India Company, which controls opium production in Bengal, profits handsomely from it and wants to defend this trade against the Chinese authorities.

The course of the war

Lin Zexu had the opium held by foreign merchants at Canton seized and destroyed, and demanded that they end the trade. The United Kingdom sent a naval expedition: its steamships bombarded the coasts and took several cities, before sailing up the Yangtze to near Nanking. In 1842, the Treaty of Nanking ended the war: China ceded Hong Kong, opened five ports to trade and paid a large indemnity.

In 1856, the Arrow incident, involving a merchant ship registered in Hong Kong and boarded by Chinese authorities, served as a pretext for a new war. The United Kingdom was joined by France, which also wanted to protect Catholic missionaries. In 1860, Anglo-French troops took Peking; Emperor Xianfeng left the capital, and they burned the Summer Palace, a vast complex of imperial palaces and gardens. The Convention of Peking, signed the same year, confirmed the concessions granted to the European powers.

The first fighting takes place mainly on the coast, between 1840 and 1842. British steamships seize Zhoushan, then Amoy, Ningbo and Shanghai. The Chinese negotiator Qishan concludes the Chuanbi Convention with the British in January 1841, which cedes Hong Kong, but Beijing repudiates this agreement. In July 1842, the capture of Zhenjiang, at the junction of the Yangzi and the Grand Canal, cuts off the supply of rice to the capital, which pushes the court to negotiate.

In May 1858, a Franco-British expedition seizes the Dagu forts, at the mouth of the Peiho, and the Treaty of Tianjin, signed in June, opens new ports. The treaty also allows missionaries to travel into the interior of the country. The execution, in 1856, of the French missionary Auguste Chapdelaine had already strengthened France's resolve to intervene. In 1859, an attempt to force the passage past the forts fails. In 1860, the expedition resumes the offensive, defeats the Chinese troops at Palikao, near Beijing, and leads to the Convention of Beijing.

The Treaty of Tianjin also legalizes the importation of opium, whose trade becomes lawful, subject to customs duties. The European powers obtain the right to permanent representation in Beijing, and in 1861 the Chinese government creates the Zongli Yamen, an office responsible for foreign affairs. After 1860, Chinese officials, including Li Hongzhang, champion a self-strengthening movement, which aims to modernize the army and industry without challenging the regime. The opium trade nonetheless continues to grow in the following decades.

The consequences

China had to accept the opening of many ports, the presence of foreign concessions and legal privileges for European nationals. Hong Kong remained in British hands. The weakening of the Qing dynasty encouraged domestic revolts, such as the Taiping Rebellion, and these wars opened a long period of foreign pressure that Chinese historiography often calls the "century of humiliation".

Historians debate the nature of these wars: some see them as an episode in the expansion of free trade, others as an aggression against Chinese sovereignty. In China, Lin Zexu becomes a national figure, and the destruction of the opium is often commemorated as an act of resistance. Hong Kong, ceded in 1842, remains British until 1997. In 1906, the Qing government itself launches a campaign to eradicate opium consumption.

Timeline

1. 1839Imperial commissioner Lin Zexu has the seized opium destroyed at Canton
2. 1842Treaty of Nanking: Hong Kong is ceded to the United Kingdom
3. 1856The Arrow incident opens the Second Opium War
4. 1860Anglo-French troops take Peking and burn the Summer Palace
5. 1860Convention of Peking confirms the concessions granted to the European powers

Key figures

• Lin Zexu, imperial commissioner who had the opium destroyed at Canton
• Charles Elliot, British representative at the time of the first war
• Daoguang, emperor who ordered the fight against the opium trade
• Xianfeng, emperor who left Peking during the second war