Editing Opium Wars (section)

===First Opium War===
{{main|First Opium War}}

The [[First Opium War]] broke out in 1839 between [[Qing dynasty|China]] and [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] and was fought over trading rights (including the right of [[free trade]]) and Britain's diplomatic status among Chinese officials. In the eighteenth century, China enjoyed a trade surplus with Europe, trading [[porcelain]], [[silk]], and [[tea]] in exchange for [[silver]]. By the late 18th century, the [[East India Company|British East India Company]] (EIC) expanded the cultivation of [[opium]] in the [[Bengal Presidency]], selling it to private merchants who transported it to China and covertly sold it on to Chinese smugglers.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/opium-trade|title=Opium trade – History & Facts|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2018-07-03|language=en}}</ref> By 1797, the EIC was selling 4,000 chests of opium (each weighing 77&nbsp;kg) to private merchants ''per annum''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another|last1=Hanes |first1=William Travis III |last2=Sanello|first2=Frank|publisher=Sourcebooks|year=2004|isbn=978-1402201493|location=United States|pages=[https://archive.org/details/opiumwarsaddicti00hane/page/21 21, 24, 25]|url=https://archive.org/details/opiumwarsaddicti00hane/page/21}}</ref>

In earlier centuries, opium was utilised as a medicine with [[anesthetic]] qualities, but new Chinese practices of smoking opium recreationally increased demand tremendously and often led to smokers developing addictions. Successive [[Emperor of China|Chinese emperors]] issued edicts making opium illegal in 1729, 1799, 1814, and 1831, but imports grew as smugglers and colluding officials in China sought profit.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2008/WDR2008_100years_drug_control_origins.pdf|title=A Century of International Drug Control|website=UNODC.org}}</ref> Some American merchants entered the trade by smuggling opium from Turkey into China, including [[Warren Delano Jr.]] and [[Francis Blackwell Forbes]]; in [[Historiography of the United States|American historiography]] this is sometimes referred to as the [[Old China Trade]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/28/opinion/the-opium-war-s-secret-history.html|title=The Opium War's Secret History|last=Meyer|first=Karl E.|work=[[The New York Times]] |date=28 June 1997 |access-date=2018-07-03|language=en}}</ref> By 1833, the Chinese opium trade soared to 30,000 chests.<ref name=":0" /> British and American merchants sent opium to warehouses in the free-trade port of [[Guangzhou|Canton]], and sold it to Chinese smugglers.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Haythornthwaite, Philip J., ''The Colonial Wars Source Book'', London, 2000, p.237. {{ISBN|1-84067-231-5}}</ref>

In 1834, the EIC's monopoly on British trade with China ceased, and the opium trade burgeoned. Partly concerned with moral issues over the consumption of opium and partly with the outflow of silver, the [[Daoguang Emperor]] charged Governor General [[Lin Zexu]] with ending the trade. In 1839, Lin published in Canton an [[Lin Zexu#Campaign to suppress opium|open letter to Queen Victoria]] requesting her cooperation in halting the opium trade. The letter never reached the Queen.{{sfnb|Fay|1975|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=EgSs61pjvS8C&q=letter%20queen%20victoria 143]}} It was later published in ''[[The Times]]'' as a direct appeal to the British public for their cooperation.{{sfnb|Platt|2018|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=WOExDwAAQBAJ&q=letter%20to%20queen%20victoria online]}} An edict from the Daoguang Emperor followed on 18{{nbsp}}March,{{sfn|Hanes|Sanello|2002|p=43}} emphasising the serious penalties for opium smuggling that would now apply henceforth. Lin ordered the seizure of all opium in Canton, including that held by foreign governments and trading companies (called factories),<ref name=" Haythornthwaite, 2000, p.237">Haythornthwaite, 2000, p.237.</ref> and the companies prepared to hand over a token amount to placate him.<ref>{{Cite book| title = Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another| last1 = Hanes| first1 = W. Travis| last2 = Sanello| first2  = Frank| author2-link = Frank Sanello| isbn = 9781402201493| url = https://archive.org/details/opiumwarsaddicti00hane| url-access = registration| year = 2002| publisher = Sourcebooks}}</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2022}} [[Charles Elliot]], Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China, arrived 3 days after the expiry of Lin's deadline, as Chinese troops enforced a shutdown and blockade of the factories. The standoff ended after Elliot paid for all the opium on credit from the [[Government of the United Kingdom|British government]] (despite lacking official authority to make the purchase) and handed the 20,000 chests (1,300 metric tons) over to Lin, who had them [[Destruction of opium at Humen|destroyed at Humen]].<ref name=GlobalTimes2009>{{Cite web | url = http://news.cultural-china.com/20090604103010.html | title = China Commemorates Anti-opium Hero | date = 4 June 2009 | access-date = 18 March 2014 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131114033733/http://news.cultural-china.com/20090604103010.html | archive-date = 14 November 2013 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>

Elliott then wrote to [[London]] advising the use of military force to resolve the dispute with the Chinese government. A small skirmish occurred between British and Chinese warships in the Kowloon Estuary on 4 September 1839.<ref name=" Haythornthwaite, 2000, p.237" /> After almost a year, the British government decided, in May 1840, to send a military expedition to impose reparations for the financial losses experienced by opium traders in Canton and to guarantee future security for the trade. On 21 June 1840, a British naval force arrived off [[Macao]] and moved to bombard the port of [[Dinghai]]. In the ensuing conflict, the [[Royal Navy]] used its superior ships and guns to inflict a series of decisive defeats on Chinese forces.<ref name="Tsang, Steve 2007 p. 3-13">Tsang, Steve (2007). ''A Modern History of Hong Kong''. I. B. Tauris. pp. 3–13, 29. {{ISBN|1-84511-419-1}}.</ref>

The war was concluded by the [[Treaty of Nanking]] (Nanjing) in 1842, the first of the [[Unequal treaty|Unequal treaties]] between China and Western powers.<ref name="britannica.com">[https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Nanjing ''Treaty of Nanjing''] in''Britannica''.</ref> The treaty ceded the [[Hong Kong Island]] and surrounding smaller islands to Britain, and established five cities as [[treaty ports]] open to Western traders: [[Shanghai International Settlement|Shanghai]], Canton, [[Ningbo]], [[Fuzhou]], and [[Xiamen]] (Amoy).<ref name="Haythornthwaite, 2000, p.239">Haythornthwaite 2000, p. 239.</ref> The treaty also stipulated that China would pay a twenty-one million dollar payment to Britain as reparations for the destroyed opium, with six million to be paid immediately, and the rest through specified installments thereafter.<ref>[https://china.usc.edu/treaty-nanjing-nanking-1842 ''Treaty Of Nanjing (Nanking), 1842''] on the website of the US-China Institute at University of Southern Carolina.</ref> Another treaty the following year gave [[most favoured nation]] status to Britain and added provisions for British [[extraterritoriality]], making Britain exempt from Chinese law.<ref name="britannica.com" /> [[France]] secured several of the same concessions from China in the [[Treaty of Whampoa]] in 1844.<ref>{{cite book|author=Xiaobing Li|title=China at War: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R7qNuIJJsNEC&pg=PA468|year=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=468|isbn=9781598844160}}</ref>

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File:Canton from the Heights.jpg|British [[Battle of Canton (May 1841)|bombardment of Canton]] from the surrounding heights, 29 May 1841. Watercolour painting by [[Cree (surname)|Edward H. Cree]] (1814–1901), Naval Surgeon to the [[Royal Navy]].
File:98th Foot at Chinkiang.jpg|The 98th Regiment of Foot at the attack on [[Battle of Chinkiang|Chin-Kiang-Foo]] ([[Zhenjiang]]), 21 July 1842, resulting in the defeat of the [[Manchu]] government. Watercolour by military illustrator [[Richard Simkin]] (1840–1926).
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