Editing Opium Wars

{{Short description|19th-century conflicts between China and European powers}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| partof            = the [[century of humiliation]]
| conflict          = Opium Wars
| place             = [[China]]
| combatant1        = [[First Opium War]]:{{ubl|{{flagicon|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}} [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]|{{ubl|{{flagicon image|Flag of the British East India Company (1801).svg}} [[East India Company]]}}}}
[[Second Opium War]]:{{ubli|{{flag|British Empire}}|{{flag|Second French Empire}}}}
| combatant2        = [[File:Flag of China (1889–1912).svg|23 px]] [[Qing China]]
| image             = {{multiple image
 | border = infobox
 | total_width = 300
 | image1 = Destroying Chinese war junks, by E. Duncan (1843).jpg
 | image2 = La bataille de Palikiao.jpg
 }}Naval battle in the [[First Opium War]] (left), [[Battle of Palikao]] (right)
| result            = {{ubli
  | First Opium War:{{ubli|British victory, [[Treaty of Nanking]]}}
  | Second Opium War:{{ubli
    | Anglo-French victory
    | [[Treaty of Tientsin]]
    | [[Convention of Peking]]}}}}
| date              = {{ubli
  | [[First Opium War]]: {{nwr|4 September 1839&nbsp;– 29 August 1842}}
  | [[Second Opium War]]: {{nwr|8 October 1856&nbsp;– 24 October 1860}}
}}
| territory         = {{ubli
  | First Opium War:{{ubli
    | [[Hong Kong Island|Hong Kong]] ceded to Britain}}
  |Second Opium War:{{ubli
    | [[Kowloon Peninsula]] and [[Stonecutters Island]] ceded to [[British Hong Kong]]
    | [[Outer Manchuria]] ceded to Russia}}
  }}
}}
<!-- PLEASE DO NOT ADD MATERIAL HERE THAT BETTER BELONGS TO FIRST OPIUM WAR OR SECOND OPIUM WAR -- SEE DISCUSSION ON TALK PAGE ON MERGE AND CONTENT FORK -->

The '''Opium Wars''' ({{zh|s=鸦片战争|t=鴉片戰爭|p=Yāpiàn zhànzhēng}}) were two conflicts waged between [[Qing dynasty|China]] and [[Western world|Western powers]] during the mid-19th century.

The [[First Opium War]] was fought from 1839 to 1842 between China and [[United Kingdom|Britain]]. It was triggered by the [[Government of the Qing Dynasty|Chinese government]]'s campaign to enforce its prohibition of [[opium]], which included destroying opium stocks owned by British merchants and the [[East India Company|British East India Company]]. The British government responded by sending a naval expedition to force the Chinese government to pay reparations and allow the opium trade.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chen |first=Song-Chuan |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5790/hongkong/9789888390564.001.0001 |title=Merchants of War and Peace |date=2017-05-01 |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |doi=10.5790/hongkong/9789888390564.001.0001 |isbn=978-988-8390-56-4}}</ref> The [[Second Opium War]] was waged by Britain and [[Second French Empire|France]] against China from 1856 to 1860, and consequently resulted in China being forced to legalise opium.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Feige|first1=Miron |last2=Chris1|first2=Jeffrey  |year=2008 |title=The opium wars, opium legalization and opium consumption in China |journal=Applied Economics Letters |volume=15 |issue=12 |pages=911–913 |doi=10.1080/13504850600972295 |url=http://papers.nber.org/papers/w11355.pdf |via=Scopus}}</ref>

In each war, the superior military advantages enjoyed by European forces led to several easy victories over the [[Military of the Qing dynasty|Chinese military]], with the consequence that China was compelled to sign the [[unequal treaties]] to grant favourable tariffs, trade concessions, reparations and territory to Western powers. The two conflicts, along with the various treaties imposed during the [[century of humiliation]], weakened the Chinese government's authority and forced China to open specified [[treaty ports]] (including [[Shanghai]]) to Western merchants.<ref name="short">{{cite web |url=http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/heroin/opiwar1.htm |title=A Short History of the Opium Wars |work=Civilizations Past And Present |at=Chapter 29: "South And East Asia, 1815–1914" |via=Schaffer Library of Drug Policy |author1=Taylor Wallbank |author2=Bailkey |author3=Jewsbury |author4=Lewis |author5=Hackett |year=1992}}</ref><ref name="eb">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Opium-Wars |title=Chinese history: Opium Wars |author=Kenneth Pletcher |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]|date=16 April 2024 }}</ref> In addition, China ceded sovereignty over [[British Hong Kong|Hong Kong]] to the [[British Empire]], which maintained control over the region [[Handover of Hong Kong|until 1997]].

==History==

===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>

<gallery widths="300px" heights="210px">
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).
</gallery>

===Second Opium War===
{{main|Second Opium War}}
[[File:Capture of the Peiho Forts.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Depiction of the [[Battle of Taku Forts (1860)|1860 battle of Taku Forts]]. Book illustration from 1873.]]

In 1853, northern China was convulsed by the [[Taiping Rebellion]], which established its capital at [[Nanjing]]. In spite of this, a new Imperial Commissioner, [[Ye Mingchen]], was appointed at Canton, determined to stamp out the opium trade, which was still technically illegal. In October 1856, he seized the ''Arrow'', a ship claiming British registration, and threw its crew into chains. [[Sir John Bowring]], Governor of British Hong Kong, called up Rear Admiral [[Michael Seymour (Royal Navy officer, born 1802)|Sir Michael Seymour]]'s [[East Indies and China Station]] fleet, which, on 23 October, bombarded and captured the [[Pearl River (China)|Pearl River]] forts on the approach to Canton and proceeded to bombard Canton itself, but had insufficient forces to take and hold the city. On 15 December, during a riot in Canton, European commercial properties were set on fire and Bowring appealed for military intervention.<ref name="Haythornthwaite, 2000, p.239" /> The execution of a French missionary inspired support from France.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MIT Visualizing Cultures |url=https://visualizingcultures.mit.edu/opium_wars_02/ow2_essay02.html |access-date=2023-09-09 |website=visualizingcultures.mit.edu}}</ref> The United States and Russia also intervened in the war.

Britain and France now sought greater concessions from China, including the legalization of the opium trade, expanding of the transportation of ''[[coolie]]s'' to European colonies, opening all of China to British and French citizens and exempting foreign imports from [[Likin (taxation)|internal transit duties]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Zhihong Shi|title=Central Government Silver Treasury: Revenue, Expenditure and Inventory Statistics, ca. 1667–1899|year=2016|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-30733-9|page=33}}</ref>  The war resulted in the 1858 [[Treaty of Tientsin]] (Tianjin), in which the Chinese government agreed to pay [[war reparations]] for the expenses of the recent conflict, open a second group of ten ports to European commerce, legalize the opium trade, and grant foreign traders and missionaries rights to travel within China.<ref name="Haythornthwaite, 2000, p.239" /> 

China was also required to use diplomacy in the Western, egalitarian style instead of their normal way of conducting business with lesser states through a [[tribute]] system.  This treaty led to the era in Chinese history known as the "[https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/3.10.11Kaufman.pdf Century of Humiliation]".  This term refers to China's loss of control of many territories to its enemies after being forced into treaties which they considered unfair.  Even though the treaties were signed in 1858, there was still Chinese resistance to its principles including the residence of foreign ambassadors in Beijing.  The British continued to attack the Chinese.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/china-2 | title=Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations - Office of the Historian }}</ref>  After a second phase of fighting which included the sack of the [[Old Summer Palace]] and the occupation of the [[Forbidden City]] palace complex in [[Beijing]], the treaty was confirmed by the [[Convention of Peking]] in 1860.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

=== Cultural relics ===
[[File:Poly MGM Museum, December 24, 2024 103.jpg|thumb|Four of the original [[Old Summer Palace bronze heads]] on display in the [[Poly MGM Museum]]]]
In February 1860, the British and French imperialist authorities again appointed Elgin and Grotto as plenipotentiaries respectively, leading more than 15,000 British troops and about 7,000 French troops to expand the war against China. The British and French forces invaded Beijing, and the Qing emperor fled to Chengde. The British and French forces broke into the Old Summer Palace, looted jewelry, and burned it. Among the cultural relics that were looted were the well-known [[Old Summer Palace bronze heads]].

On the morning of 7 October, the French army broke into the Old Summer Palace and began to rob it.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=July 2018 |title=Internationale Studienergebnisse |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1055/a-0603-1331 |journal=Physiopraxis |volume=16 |issue=7/08 |pages=16–20 |doi=10.1055/a-0603-1331 |issn=1439-023X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> British soldiers who arrived in the afternoon also joined the robbery, and the most precious things in the Old Summer Palace were looted. All twelve bronze statues of animal heads began to be lost overseas.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=May 2006 |title=Health Canada has warned consumers against using Nasutra because it has been found to contain sildenafil. |url=http://link.springer.com/10.2165/00128413-200615370-00054 |journal=Inpharma Weekly |volume=1537 |language=en |issue=1537 |pages=21 |doi=10.2165/00128413-200615370-00054 |issn=1173-8324|url-access=subscription }}</ref> On 18 October, the [[Second Opium War|Old Summer Palace was burned down]] by British soldiers, and France refused to provide aid. The fire burned for three days and nights, razing the buildings of the Old Summer Palace to the ground and destroying nearby royal properties.

As of December 2020, seven of the twelve bronze statues have been found and returned to China. The whereabouts of the remaining five are still unknown.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2020-12-02 |title=China: Looted horse head returns to Beijing's Old Summer Palace |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55154918 |access-date=2024-05-07 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Destruction of opium at Humen]]
* [[History of opium in China]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Cited references and further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last=Beeching |first=Jack |title=The Chinese Opium Wars |date=1975 |publisher=[[Hutchinson Publishing|Hutchinson]] |isbn=978-0-09-122730-2 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fay |first=Peter Ward |title=The Opium War, 1840–1842: Barbarians in the Celestial Empire in the Early Part of the Nineteenth Century and the War by Which They Forced Her Gates Ajar |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |year=1975 |isbn=978-0-8078-1243-3 |location=Chapel Hill}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gelber |first=H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tT2HDAAAQBAJ |title=Opium, Soldiers and Evangelicals: England's 1840-42 War with China and Its Aftermath |date=2004 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan UK]] |isbn=978-0-230-00070-4 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Sanello |first1=Frank |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j_NeegcOBWUC |title=Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another |last2=Hanes |first2=W. Travis III |date=2004 |publisher=[[Sourcebooks (publisher)|Sourcebooks]] |isbn=978-1-4022-2969-5 |location=Naperville}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Kitson |first=Peter J. |date=Summer 2018 |title=The Last War of the Romantics: De Quincey, Macaulay, the First Chinese Opium War |journal=The Wordsworth Circle |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=148–158 |doi=10.1086/TWC4903148 |issn=0043-8006 |jstor=45213713|url=https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/68299/1/Accepted_manuscript.pdf }}
* {{Cite book |last=Lovell |first=Julia |authorlink=Julia Lovell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljH9tgAACAAJ |title=The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China |date=2011 |publisher=Picador |isbn=978-0-330-45747-7 |location=London |oclc=730402956}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Marchant |first=Leslie |date=May 2002 |title=The Wars of the Poppies |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/wars-poppies |magazine=[[History Today]] |pages=42–49 |volume=52 |issue=5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Platt |first=Stephen R. |author-link=Stephen R. Platt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WOExDwAAQBAJ |title=Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age |publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf]] |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-307-96173-0 |location=New York}}
** {{Cite magazine |last=Pomeranz |first=Kenneth |author-link=Kenneth Pomeranz |date=6 June 2019 |title=Blundering into War |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/06/06/blundering-into-opium-war/ |magazine=[[The New York Review of Books]] |pages=38–41 |language=en |volume=66 |issue=10 |issn=0028-7504}}
* {{Cite book |last=Polachek |first=James M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3-GILbpJUv0C |title=The Inner Opium War |date=1992 |publisher=[[Harvard University Asia Center]] |isbn=978-0-674-45446-0 |series=Harvard East Asian monographs |location=Cambridge, Mass}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wakeman |first=Frederic Evans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NCgXTcXH-3MC |title=Strangers at the Gate: Social Disorder in South China, 1839-1861 |date=1997 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-21239-8 |location=Berkeley |orig-date=1966}}
* {{Cite web |title=The Opening to China Part II: the Second Opium War, the United States, and the Treaty of Tianjin, 1857–1859 |url=https://www.hoover.org/research/did-china-have-chance-win-opium-war |access-date=20 December 2024 |website=[[Office of the Historian]] |publisher=[[US Department of State]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=Waley |first=Arthur |title=The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes |date=1958 |publisher=[[George Allen & Unwin]] |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wong |first=J. Y. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJA6gvhGJdwC |title=Deadly Dreams: Opium and the Arrow War (1856-1860) in China |date=2002 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-52619-7 |series=Cambridge studies in Chinese history, literature and institutions |location=Cambridge}}
* {{Cite web |last=Yu |first=Miles Maochun |date=July 3, 2018 |title=Did China Have A Chance To Win The Opium War? |url=https://www.hoover.org/research/did-china-have-chance-win-opium-war |website=Military History in the News |publisher=[[Hoover Institution]]}}

==External links==
* "[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00776k9 The Opium Wars]", [[BBC Radio 4]] discussion with Yangwen Zheng, Lars Laamann, and Xun Zhou (''[[In Our Time (radio series)|In Our Time]]'', 12 April 2007)

{{British colonial campaigns}}

[[Category:Opium Wars| ]]
[[Category:Military history of the Pacific Ocean]]