The history and influence of the First Opium War Opium War
We can find the description “The First Opium War Opium Wars, also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, were the First Opium War from 1839 to 1842.It is the climax of disputes over trade and diplomatic relations betweenChina under the Qing Dynasty and the British Empire” from Wikipedia.From the description above,we can choose some key word: opium,war,trade,diplomate.
First we should review some history about the 1840s.In the middle of 18 century, Britain first started the industrialrevolution.The sounds of Steaming bring the fast development of commodity productivity.So it shall open foreign markets to realize the dumping of goods.The vast domestic market of China is their preferred destinations.But the low Chinese demand for European goods, and high European demand for Chinese goods, including tea, silk, and porcelain, forced European merchants to purchase these goods with silver, the only commodity the Chinese would accept.And that made British arise the trend to use opium to open the chinese market.To balance the huge merchandise trade deficit and save the result of running out of silver reserves, as well as to satisfy demand of Chinese tea, British decided to trade more opium to China.The East India Co.had started usingopium to trade Chinese commodities instead of silver since the end of 18 century.More and more chinese people indicted to opium, including soldiers and administration officials.And In 1839, Daoguang emperor appointed Lin as imperial commiioner to wipe out opium trade.As a result,it become the trigger for the opium war.In August 1842, the first Opium War was ended with disastrous defeat of China.British authority forced Qing government to sign the first unequal treaty in modern history \"Treaty of Nanjing \".
\"Treaty of Nanjing \"makes British get extraterritoriality and consular jurisdiction.And it becomes a worst start of modern china’s history.In addition, as we know,our customs lost our rights of administration.
As far as i am concerned,Opium War is an important turning point in Chinese history.What the war bring us is not just the sadne,but the experiment that:”Delays are dangerous” .
