The Opium Wars or the Anglo-Chinese Wars were two wars fought in the mid-1800s

that were the climax of a long dispute between China and Britain. These wars led
to fall of Qing Dynasty, Treaty of Nanjing' in favor of Britain; as China agreed
to open several low-tariff trade ports to Britain, yielded Hong Kong to Britain,
and allowed British missionaries to work in China.

In the second war, France fought alongside Britain. The conflict began with the
growing trade deficit Britain had with China and the smuggling of opium to China
by the British.

Direct maritime trade between Europe and China started in the 16th century, after
Portuguese settlement of Goa in India, shortly followed by Macau in southern
China. After Spanish acquisition of the Philippines, the pace of exchange between
China and the West accelerated dramatically. Manila galleons brought in far more
silver to China than the ancient land route in interior Asia. The Qing government
attempted to limit contact with the outside world to a minimum for reasons of
internal control. Qing only allowed trade through the port of Canton (now
Guangzhou). Severe red-tape and licensed monopolies were set up to restrict the
trade flow. The result was very high retail price for imported goods after myriads
of tax collectors and middlemen had their take. That led to limited demand for
imported goods. In order to prevent a huge balance of trade deficit, Spain began
to sell opium to the Chinese, along with new products such as tobacco and corn.

As a result of high demand for tea in Britain and the low demand for British
commodities in China, Britain had to trade tea for silver. Britain was on the gold
standard, so it had to buy silver from the European continent. Turmoil on the
continent after the French Revolution and subsequent Napoleonic Continental System
put a restriction on that trade. To find alternative goods for exchange with
China, Britain began exporting opium to China from British India. The opium trade
took off rapidly, and the silver flow began to reverse. China had few silver mines
of its own; the drop in silver inflow caused a consternation at the court. The
Qing Emperor (Dao Guan) had banned opium in China, citing its harmful effects on
health and deleterious impact on societal productivity.

THE EAST INDIA COMPANY

In 1773, the Governor-General of Bengal pursued the monopoly on the sale of opium
in earnest, and abolished the old opium syndicate at Patna. For the next 50 years,
opium would be key to the East India Company's hold on India. Since importation of
opium into China was against Chinese law, the British East India Company would buy
tea in Canton on credit, carrying no opium, but would instead sell opium at the
auctions in Calcutta leaving it to be smuggled to China. In 1797, the company
ended the role of local Bengal purchasing agents and instituted the direct sale of
opium to the company by farmers.

British exports of opium to China skyrocketed from an estimated 15 tons in 1730,

to 75 tons in 1773, shipped in over two thousand "chests", each containing 140
pounds of opium.

In 1799, the Chinese Empire reaffirmed its ban on opium imports, and in 1810 a
decree was issued stating; "Opium has a harm. Opium is a poison, undermining our
good customs and morality. Its use is prohibited by law. Now the commoner, Yang,
dares to bring it into the Forbidden City. Indeed, he flouts the law!"

The decree had little effect; The Qing government was located in Beijing, in the
north, too far away to control the merchants who smuggled opium into China from
the south. The lack of governmental action, the addictive properties of the drug,
the desire for more profit by the British East India Company and merchants, and
the fact that Britain wanted silver combined to further the opium trade. In the
1820s, opium trade averaged 900 tons per year from Bengal to China.

FROM THE NAPIER AFFAIR THROUGH THE FIRST OPIUM WAR

In 1834, to accommodate the revocation of the East India Company's monopoly, the
British sent Lord Napier to Macao. He attempted to circumvent the restrictive
Canton Trade laws, which forbade direct contact with Chinese officials, and was
turned away by the governor of Macao, who promptly closed trade starting on
September 2 of that year. The British were not yet ready to force the matter, and
agreed to resume trade under the old restrictions, even though Lord Napier
implored them to force open the port.

Within the Chinese mandarinate, there was a debate on legalizing opium trade
itself, but this was rejected in favor of continued restrictions. In 1838, the
death penalty was imposed for native drug traffickers; by this time the British
were selling 1,400 tons annually to China. In March of 1839, a new strict
Confucianist commissioner, Lin Zexu was appointed by the emperor to control the
opium trade at the port of Canton. He immediately enforced the imperial demand
that there be a permanent halt to drug shipments into China. When the British
refused to end the trade, Lin imposed a trade embargo on the British. On March 27,
1839, Charles Elliot, British Superintendent of Trade, demanded that all British
subjects turn over opium to him, to be confiscated by Commissioner Lin Zexu,
amounting to nearly a year's supply of the drug. After the opium was surrendered,
trade was restarted on the condition that no more drugs were smuggled into China.
Lin demanded that British merchants had to sign a bond promising not to deal in
opium under penalty of death. The British officially opposed signing of the bond
but some British merchants that did not deal in opium were willing to sign. Lin
then disposed of the opium, by dissolving it with water, salt and lime and
flushing it out into the ocean.

To avoid direct conflict, Lin also attempted diplomacy. In 1839, Lin wrote a
letter to Queen Victoria, questioning her royal government's moral reasonings for
enforcing strict prohibition of opium trade within England, Ireland, and Scotland
while reaping profits from such trade in the Far East.

Side stepping the moral questions, the British government and merchants accused
Lin of destroying their private property, roughly three million pounds of opium.
The British responded by sending warships and soldiers, along with a large British
Indian army, which arrived in June of 1840.

British military superiority was evident during the armed conflict. British
warships attacked coastal towns at will, and their troops, armed with modern
muskets and cannons, were able to easily defeat the Qing forces. The British took
Canton and then sailed up the Yangtze and took the tax barges, slashing the
revenue of the imperial court in Beijing to just a small fraction.

In 1842, the Qing authorities sued for peace, which concluded with the Treaty of
Nanjing negotiated in August of that year and accepted in 1843. In the treaty,
China agreed to open several low-tariff trade ports to Britain, yielded Hong Kong
to Britain, and allowed British missionaries to work in China.

SECOND OPIUM WAR (1856-1860)

The Second Opium War, or Arrow War, broke out following an incident in which
Chinese officials boarded a vessel near the port of Whampoa, the Arrow in October
1856. Arrow was owned by a Chinese privateer. The Chinese owner registered the
vessel with the British authorities in Hong Kong with the purpose of making
privateering easier in mind. He received a one year permit from the Hong Kong
authorities, but it had already expired when inspected by the Chinese officials
who boarded the vessel. Therefore, it was a Chinese national matter and not
related with the British in any way. The crew of the Arrow were accused of piracy
and smuggling, and were arrested. In response, the British consulate in Guangzhou
insisted that Arrow was a British vessel. The British accused the Chinese
officials of tearing down and insulting the British flag during inspection. The
Second Opium War was started when British forces attacked Guangzhou in 1856.

The Treaty of Tientsin was created in July 1858, but was not ratified by China
until two years later; this would prove to be a very important document in China's
early modern history, as it was one of the primary unequal treaties.

Hostilities broke out once more in 1859, after China refused the establishment of
a British embassy in Beijing, which had been promised by the Treaty of Tientsin.
Fighting erupted in Hong Kong, and in Beijing, where the British set fire to the
Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace after considerable looting took place.

In 1860, at the Convention of Peking, China ratified the Treaty of Tientsin,

ending the war, and granting a number of privileges to British subjects within
China.