First Opium War

First Opium War, armed conflict in 1839–42 between China’s Qing dynasty and Britain over the dynasty’s restrictions on British trade and, more broadly, Britain’s dissatisfaction with its diplomatic relationship with the Qing. The catalyst for the conflict was the dynasty’s efforts to suppress the smuggling of opium into China by British traders. The result of the conflict was a British victory and the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing, the first of the unequal treaties imposed by Western powers upon the Qing. The conflict and its aftermath helped weaken that dynasty, which would be replaced by a republic in the early 20th century.

Prelude to war

The First Opium War stemmed from Qing distrust of Western powers and from Western powers’ unhappiness with the limits that the Qing imposed on their trade with China. In 1757 the Qianlong emperor (reigned 1735–96) restricted all Western sea trade to one port, Canton (Guangzhou). The Qing further restricted Western trade by keeping Western traders outside the city walls.

British merchants were especially dissatisfied with their situation, as there was a great demand for Chinese tea, porcelain, and silk in Britain. The attempt to meet this demand resulted in a large trade deficit for the British, because China did not import many British goods. The difference was paid to China in large amounts of silver.

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A History of War

To reduce the trade deficit, the British East India Company and other British merchants turned to opium. The nonmedical use of that drug had been illegal in China since the early 1700s, though this prohibition had not been successfully enforced. Over the next several decades, China repeatedly tried to ban the opium trade. In response, in the early 19th century the East India Company agreed to stop selling opium in China. In reality, however, the company aided other British merchants in smuggling opium into China, primarily from India. The trade was so profitable that not only did it eliminate the British trade deficit but vast amounts of silver now flowed out of China into British hands.

The growing number of Chinese addicted to opium as well as the growing amount of silver flowing from China caused the Daoguang emperor (reigned 1820–50) and the Qing court to take action. In 1839 the court sent Lin Zexu, the special imperial commissioner, to Canton to end the smuggling of the drug into China. Lin arrested several Chinese who were involved in the smuggling. In addition, he forced Charles Elliot, the British chief superintendent of trade in China, to instruct British merchants to give up their opium inventory, which they did. More than 20,000 chests of opium—about 1,400 tons of the drug—were then destroyed. This represented a massive financial loss for the British merchants that the British government could not, and the Qing would not, make good. In July 1839 tensions between Britain and China increased when one or more British sailors killed a Chinese villager. The British government refused to turn over the accused men to the Chinese legal system, which the British considered to be barbaric. However, Elliot did pay reparations to the victim’s family, set up a court of inquiry into the incident, and eventually tried several sailors suspected of being involved but on the lesser charges of rioting and assault. His actions did not appease Lin.

War breaks out

The First Opium War began in late 1839 when two British warships broke the Chinese blockade of the Pearl (Zhu) River delta. They destroyed 29 Chinese vessels, setting the tone for a war dominated by the vastly superior British navy. The Chinese did have an advantage on land, but land fighting was limited. In early 1840 the British government sent a large naval fleet to China, which arrived in June. Joining that fleet later in the year was a new and advanced warship called the Nemesis.

After British negotiators’ peace proposals regarding compensation for the destroyed opium and the opening of additional trading ports were rejected by the Qing in 1841, hostilities continued. The British navy advanced up the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), capturing forts and eventually cutting off the Grand Canal. In August 1842 the British captured the city of Nanjing (Nanking), and the Qing were forced to resume negotiations.

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The end of the war and the aftermath

The war was ended by the Treaty of Nanjing, signed on August 29, 1842. In addition to having to pay heavy war reparations to Britain, China had to open five trading ports. One of these ports was Shanghai, which would be transformed into one of China’s major commercial entrepôts. In addition, China ceded Hong Kong to Britain, and the island would remain under British control until 1997. In 1843 the Treaty of Nanjing was supplemented by the British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue (Humen), which gave British subjects extraterritoriality in China and gave Britain most-favoured-nation status. Soon other Western countries, such as France and the United States, forced China to give them similar privileges.

After the First Opium War, Britain remained dissatisfied with its position in China. Opium remained illegal (although British merchants continued to smuggle it into the country), Canton was still highly restrictive toward Western traders, British imports in China were heavily taxed, and only five ports were open. All of these factors contributed to the start of the Second Opium War, in 1856. (See Opium Wars: The Second Opium War.)