Imperial China and the Opium Wars

This section explains how the Qing empire, China's last imperial dynasty, was weakened in the nineteenth century, and how two Opium Wars forced it into unequal treaties that began what the Chinese call the "Century of Humiliation".

The sub-lessons begin with the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), a Manchu-led empire that was large and long-lasting but, by the 1800s, was troubled by corruption, a fast-growing population and a reluctance to modernise. They then turn to the Opium Wars (1839–1860). The First Opium War (1839–1842) broke out when the Qing government tried to stamp out the opium that British merchants were bringing in from India, and it ended in the Treaty of Nanjing. The Second Opium War (1856–1860), fought against Britain and France, ended in further treaties that opened more ports and placed foreign diplomats in Beijing. Together they explain why resentment of foreign domination fed the Chinese nationalism studied in the rest of the chapter.

"Imperial China and the Opium Wars" sets the scene for the whole chapter on de-colonisation in China. Its sub-lessons move from the empire itself to the wars that exposed its weakness.

1.1 The Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). The Qing were a Manchu dynasty that ruled China for more than two and a half centuries and greatly enlarged its territory. By the nineteenth century the dynasty faced serious problems at home: corruption in government, pressure from a rapidly growing population, rebellions, and an unwillingness to adopt Western technology and ideas. At the same time, Western powers were pressing China to open its markets. The sub-lesson shows how these internal and external pressures together brought about the dynasty's decline and, in the long run, the rise of nationalism and revolution.

1.2 The Opium Wars (1839–1860). British merchants bought large quantities of Chinese tea and silk, and they paid for them increasingly by selling opium grown in British India. As addiction spread and silver drained out of China, the Qing government tried to end the trade. The two wars that followed ended in defeat for China and in a series of "unequal treaties", agreements imposed by force that gave foreign powers ports, territory and special privileges.

1.2.1 First Opium War (1839–1842). In 1839 the imperial commissioner Lin Zexu seized large stocks of British opium at Canton (Guangzhou) and destroyed it at Humen on the Pearl River. Britain sent warships, and its stronger navy defeated the Qing forces. The Treaty of Nanjing (1842) opened five ports to British trade, handed Hong Kong Island to Britain and made China pay a large indemnity. In the settlement that followed, British subjects also gained extraterritorial rights, which meant they were tried under British rather than Chinese law. This war is generally seen as the beginning of the "Century of Humiliation".

1.2.2 Second Opium War (1856–1860). New disputes led Britain, now joined by France, to go to war again. The Treaties of Tianjin (1858) and the Convention of Beijing (1860) opened more ports, allowed foreign envoys to live in Beijing, let foreigners travel and trade more widely, made the opium trade legal and gave Kowloon to Britain. In 1860 British and French troops looted the Old Summer Palace near Beijing, which was then burned on British orders. These humiliations deepened resentment of foreign powers and weakened the Qing's authority still further.

Taken together, the sub-lessons explain the background to the next section, which follows the fall of the Qing dynasty and the 1911 Revolution.