Europe and China - Opium Wars

Europe and China had developed as parallel but separate civilisations. By the birth of Christ in the Western world, China too had domesticated animals, made written records, dug irrigation canals, developed the crossbow and produced bronze, iron and steel.

Subsequent attempts by Europeans (famously including Marco Polo in the late thirteenth century) to acquire Chinese silk, ceramics, art and tea by trade were however largely rebuffed by the isolationist Chinese. They could see no need for the foreign (and thus inferior) goods offered in exchange.

Despite these difficulties, the Portuguese established a foothold in China when they arrived in Macao in the sixteenth century. They were followed by the Spanish, British and French.

Although the partnership of Jardine Matheson & Co was first registered in Canton in 1832, the firm had existed in that city under the names of previous partners, since 1787.

First Opium War (1839-42)

During the eighteenth century, the market in Europe and America for tea, a new drink in the West, expanded greatly. Additionally, there was a continuing demand for Chinese silk and porcelain. But China, still in its pre-industrial stage, wanted little that the West had to offer.

To remedy this, a triangular trade was developed, between Europe, India and China. By the early nineteenth century, the British were selling raw Indian cotton and opium to China, even though the import of opium into China was prohibited. However the traffic was made possible through the connivance of profit-seeking merchants and a corrupt bureaucracy.

In 1839 the Chinese government, after a decade of unsuccessful anti-opium campaigns, adopted drastic laws to inhibit the opium trade. Illegal stocks owned by Chinese traders were seized and destroyed. The British retaliated with a punitive expedition, thus initiating the First Opium War.

Unprepared for war and grossly underestimating European capabilities, the Chinese were disastrously defeated, and their own image of Chinese imperial power was shattered.

The Treaty of Nanking (1842), signed on board the British warship Cornwallis, was the first of a series of agreements with the Western trading nations later called by the Chinese the ‘unequal treaties.’

Under the Treaty of Nanking, China ceded the island of Hong Kong to the British; abolished the licensed monopoly system of trade; opened five ports to British residence and foreign trade; limited the trade tariff to 5%; granted British nationals exemption from Chinese laws; and paid a large indemnity.

In addition, Britain was to have most-favoured-nation treatment, that is, it would receive whatever trading concessions the Chinese granted other powers then or later. The Treaty of Nanking established the character of an unequal relationship for the ensuing century of what the Chinese would call ‘national humiliations’.

Second Opium War (1856-60)

Still attempting to prevent the import of opium in October 1856, Chinese officials boarded the ‘Arrow’ in Canton harbour. She was a Chinese-owned ship, later alleged to have been flying the British flag, and the Chinese crew of 14 was imprisoned. This became known as the ‘Arrow Incident’.

The British under Lord Elgin quickly responded and, supported by French forces, captured and plundered Canton in 1857. This led, at Tientsin in June 1858, to the imposition of another treaty, now also involving France, Russia, and the United States. The principal result was to open 11 more ports to Western trade and force the Chinese to pay reparations.

In June 1859, a force of British Royal Marines attempted to capture the Taku Forts guarding the mouth of the Pei-Ho river. They were severely mauled and forced to withdraw. The following year, in reprisal, an Anglo-French force fought its way past the Taku Forts and landed 11,000 British and Indian troops as well as 6,000 French, who made their way 100 miles inland to Peking.

The Emperor removed himself to the North East, to the city of Chengde, appointing his brother, Prince Gong Yixin, to be in charge of the demanded negotiations (see 1860.11.15 Peter). Peking was occupied. British and French troops set the Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace on fire. The Old Summer Palace was totally destroyed.

The Peking Convention gave further trading rights (specifically including opium); granted Christians full civil rights and rights to propagate Christianity; and once again provided for the payment of an indemnity to Britain and France.