The First Opium War Between Britain and China, Research Paper Example

General Diplomatic Issues during the First Opium War between Britain and China

Introduction

When the Chinese came to the conclusion of forbidding the opium trade, the consequence had been a collection of conflicts which led to the outbreak of war between China and Great Britain. The goal of this research paper is to review the reasons for the First Opium War.  This research will explore the conditions in China with regards to Britain during the era of the First Opium War. The review will explore what were the causal attributes that led to war. This investigation will explore the fundamental and basic points of the conflict by means of resources which are credible in addition to documents which had been written by Chinese intellectuals. The primary information which will be applied in order to investigate this background will be derived from the works of Chan (2013), Guifen (1809- 1874), Li (1956) and Zexu (1840).The reasons for the First Opium War which erupted between Britain and China in 1839 will be explored.

Opening Imperial China to Trade with Europe

The initial profound and significant intellectual cultural and intellectual communication between the Europeans and the Chinese was started by the Jesuit missionaries at the latter part of the sixteenth century. The Jesuits had spread ideas of European culture which included medicine, geography, astronomy and mathematics to the Chinese. The Chinese became alerted that they had not been the only advanced civilization in the world at that time. The elements of the Chinese civilization were simultaneously presented to Europe. Matteo Ricci was the first intellectual envoy who demonstrated a map of the world as it had been known at that era to the Chinese (Cox 59).

The Jesuits had been instrumental in negotiating a peace accord with Russia in the late seventeenth century. This had been the Treaty of Nerchinsk. The Jesuits had been non- threatening to the Chinese. This infers that the Jesuits demonstrated that they had no economic or political interests aside from the dissemination of the Christian perspective. This encounter with the Jesuits had not caused the perception of the Confucians to become imperilled. The supremacy of European society had not yet been established during the period of the Jesuits interventions in China during the late sixteenth and seventeenth century (Cox 59).

The initial Qing dynasty era had been what was acknowledged as the period of the greatest prosperity in China. The Qing dynasty reached its apex during the rule of Emperor Qianlong who ruled from 1736- 1795. Toward the end of 1793, a convention occurred which would prove to be the initial substantial interaction between the eastern empire of china and the Western empire of Britain. King George III gave a duty to Lord Macartney who was a diplomat for the British Empire to form an embassy in the Chinese empire, enhance British commerce with the Chinese and present the British perspective of Christian religion to the Chinese (Thompson 4). China had perceived itself as being the middle kingdom, which inferred that the Chinese believed themselves to be between the heavens and the Earth. This is represented in the Chinese letters which are used to represent the Chinese nation. In the seventieth century, the Chinese dominated Mongolia, Taiwan and Korea. The Chinese were the masters of Asia during that time (Thompson 4).

Lord Macartney’s Responsibilities

Lord Macartney had been given the duty of establishing relations with mainland china. Lord Macartney arrived at the palace of Emperor Qianlong and refused to bow. Lord Macartney demonstrated an equal position between King George III and the Chinese Emperor Qianlong. Prior to the arrival of Lord Macartney, trade relations with China had been established only through Chinese intermediaries who wanted a large percentage of any profits which had been derived. The western traders had been only allowed to stay in Canton which is presently Guangzhou for half of the year (Thompson 5).

The Chinese Emperor Qianlong accepted Lord Macartney into his court. Emperor Qianlong did not concede a trade agreement or welcome any of the Christian missionaries who arrived with Lord Macartney. The Chinese response to Lord Macartney and King George III was that there had been nothing that they were lacking (Thompson 5). Upon the arrival of Lord Macartney on 14 September 1793 to the Emperor Qianlong’s court, a number of distinctions had occurred. It is perceived by many historians that Emperor Qianlong rejected Lord Macartney’s request to establish cultural and diplomatic trade relations with China due to Lord Macartney’s refusal to acknowledge the Chinese customs and to kowtow to the Emperor (Cox 59).

This aspect had been the initial assault on the perceptions of the Chinese being a superior people who were founded between the heavens and the earth. The second encounter with Lord Macartney in 1816 did not triumph for the same reasons. Aside from requesting preferential treatment with the Chinese people, Lord Macartney refused to submit to Chinese sovereignty in their own domains. The second rejection of Lord Macartney by the Chinese Imperial court had set the stage for the introduction of the British with foreign opium in the early nineteenth century and the First Opium War which ensued as a result (Cox 60).

Feng Guifen: On the Chinese Requisite for Western Knowledge

The Chinese were eager to learn about the west during the time of the Qing dynasty. One of the more credible primary sources Feng Guifen (1809 – 1874) wrote:

If we wish to use western knowledge, we should establish official translation bureaus in Guangzhou or Shanghai. Brilliant students not over fifteen years of age should be selected from those areas to live and study in these schools on double allowances. Westerners should be appointed to teach them…At the same time they should learn mathematics (note: all Western knowledge is derived from mathematics…if we wish to adopt Western knowledge, it is natural that we learn mathematics) …China has many brilliant people. There must be some who can learn from the barbarians and surpass them (Feng 67; Chan 237).

Conditions in China which Caused the Opium Trade

China had been faced with rebellion from within its borders. The White Lotus Society caused a civil insurrection which endured for over ten years. China’s government administration was stretched thin while attempting to control the civil insurrection of the White Lotus Society. At the same time, China’s people had been facing a famine. The nineteenth century signaled the end of Imperial China (Thompson 6).The Scottish traders noticed that the Chinese had no interest whatsoever in their manufactured goods from Britain. The Scottish traders did notice that the Chinese had adoration for opium. The British gave the Chinese access to the opium by means of India (Thompson 6).

Trade with China was a lucrative opportunity for the British. China represented a place where the British could satisfy their desire for goods which had been produced in China. China produced a substantial quantity of tea. The British have adoration for tea. The problem is that China would only accept silver in exchange for its products. The British found it difficult to procure silver as their economy had been based on gold since the eighteenth century. In order for the British to procure the Chinese products, they had to procure silver and trade through the East India Company which had a monopoly on the Chinese import market (Elman 5).

British and Chinese Commercial and Diplomatic Relations before the First Opium War

The First Opium War had been viewed as attributed by the opium trade by the Chinese. From the perspective of the British diplomatic relations, the First Opium War was not attributed to the opium trade. It had been attributed to the various insults and irregularities which had been suffered by the British in China. China had been isolated from a political point of view. China did not exercise any membership in any of the international diplomatic or commercial organization (Li 12).In the Chinese system of international commerce there had been three irregular customs which irritated the British. The first custom was to collect tributes from foreign merchants with regards to imports. The second irregularity which inflamed the British was that the merchants had been restricted to Canton. This restriction gave the Chinese officials the opportunity to extract large percentages of the profits from the international merchants (Li 12).

The third irregularity which inflamed the British had been the application of Hongs. The Hongs were unions which had initially been established by the government in a formal manner. The Hongs had a monopoly on the foreign commerce and as a result, the officials used the customs tariffs for personal enrichment. The Hongs caused many of the merchants to become insolvent. Complaints could not be made to the Chinese government; they had to be made through the Hongs (Li 13).

East India Trading Company and Opium

The East India Company controlled the Indian areas where opium had been grown. Opium was grown alongside cotton in the Indian regions of Bengal and Malwa. The region had been affected by the foreign competition of cotton from Egypt. Opium was farmed in the Bengal and the Malwa areas with the condition that it could be marketed to the British traders who had been on their way to China. The Chinese recognized the benefits of opium as a component of medicines. The use of opium outside of medicinal use had been strictly limited by the Chinese administrators (Elman 5).

Establishing the Trade Balance in Favor of Britain

The British had been anxious to balance the trade imbalance with China. After all, in order to procure tea which had been grown in China, they had to sell gold in order to acquire silver and then take the silver to China. This caused a trade imbalance which had not been favorably viewed by the British (Elman 5). As a result of the introduction of opium by the British from India, a serious opium addiction developed in China. The Chinese perceived that the opium addiction had developed into a public health crisis. In 1840, The Chinese Emperor Tao Kwang sent an official from his court Lin Zexu to stop the trade of opium in China (Thompson 6). Lin Zexu sent a letter entreating Queen Victoria to put an end to the opium importation to China (Zexu 130). The letter had been disregarded and opium dealers in China were ordered to be executed (Zexu 186).

Lin Zexu and the Treaty of Nanjing

In the First Opium War, the British retaliated for the seizure of their opium. Lin Zexu’s official action had been perceived as a threat by the British to the ability of conducting commerce with the Chinese. The British attacked Canton by sea and placed Shanghai under siege. As a result, the Treaty of Nanjing was signed. The Treaty of Nanjing gave the British what they had been seeking since the envoy of Lord Macartney. The British had been given access to the five coastal port cities of China. The British were given control of Hong Kong Island forever (Thompson 6).

British Naval and Military Power

As a result of the First Opium War, opium initiated its poisoning of the Chinese population. The opium would cause physical injuries and drain the wealth from the Chinese people. The Qing court feared the naval power of the British while there had been an uncontrollable civil unrest and famine within their country.  Consequently, the Chinese sued for peace (Baumler 108).

Effects of Opium Addiction in China

In the second decade of the nineteenth century, the balance of commerce had been shifted in favor of Britain. This had been attributed to the aspect of the opium imports into China increasing 1000% between the years of 1800 and 1840. The opium commerce had caused severe social, economic and political challenges in China. Chinese intellectuals have inferred that the opium addictions substantially affected the Chinese economic systems by the concept that the opium addiction would damage the future heirs to China. Many of the Chinese progeny perished as an outcome of opium addiction (Chaurasia 59; Zheng 98).

Lin Zexu’s Plea to Queen Victoria and Subsequent Reaction

Lin Zexu wrote a letter to Queen Victoria which pled for the Queen to acknowledge the damage that the opium trade had been inflicting upon Chinese society. Lin Zexu stated that opium is outlawed in Britain due to its adverse effects on the population (Zexu 130). He debated that the British monarch should attempt to understand and cease the opium traffic in China. Lin Zexu’s letter fell upon deaf ears (Zexu 145).

Conclusion

The reason behind the First Opium war was had been that Britain wanted the ability of accessing the Chinese markets in order to sell its products and purchase the Chinese resources. One of the primary resources which the British wanted from China had been tea. The British have always had an enormous craving for tea. As the envoy which had been sent to request access to free trade which had been led by Lord Macartney was unsuccessful, the British felt compelled to protect the advantages which they had gained since the introduction of opium by the British East India Company into China. This allowed the wealth to flow freely from China and caused the British Empire to regain the trade stability which it sought. The British and Chinese commercial and diplomatic relations had become strained as a result of irregular Chinese practices in customs tariffs and trade restrictions. The outcome of the First Opium War caused China to have to negotiate with the British and the Treaty of Nanking had been concurred by both nations in 1842. As a result of the First Opium war, Britain received what it had long desired, access to the Chinese markets and safe harbor for their ships in Asia.

Works Cited

Baumler, Alan. Modern China and opium: A reader. U.S.A.: University of Michigan Press, 2001. Print.

Chaurasia, Radhey S. History of modern China. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 2004. Print.

Cox, Michael, Tim Dunne & Ken Booth. Empires, systems and states: Great transformations in international politics.Cambridge, UK; Cambridge University Press, 2001. Print.

Elman, Benjamin, A. A cultural history of modern science in China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006. Print.

Guifen, Feng. “On the adoption of Western learning (Jiaobuinlu kangyi lai xixue yi).” In Chan, Wing Tsit & Joseph Adler, eds. Sources of Chinese tradition: Volume 2: From 1600 through the twentieth century. USA: Columbia University Press,   2013. Print.

Li, Chien- Nung. The political history of China, 1840- 1928. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1956. Print.

Zexu, Lin. Portfolio Chinesis or a collection of authentic state Chinese papers illustrative of the history of the present position of affairs in China with a translation, notes and introduction. Trans. J. Lewis Shuck. Macao, China: New Washington Press of F. F. de Cruz, 1840. Print.

Thompson, Robert S. Empires of the Pacific: World War II and the struggle for mastery of  Asia. New York: Basic Books, 2002. Print.

Zheng, Yangwen. Social life of opium in China. Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print.