IGNOU HISTORY NOTES : History Of China and Japan (1840-1949) - The Opium Wars in China

IGNOU HISTORY Study Notes for IAS, UPSC Exams

History Of China and Japan (1840-1949)

The Opium Wars in China

Structure

6.0 Objectives
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Background
6.2.1 Some Feanues of Traditional Chinese Foreign Relations
6.2.2 Early Cont~ct Betwem China and the WesS and the Canton System
6.2.3 The Opium Trade
6.3 The First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanking
6.4 The Chinese Response to the Western hsence
6.4.1 Vecillating Official Policy
6.4.2 Popular Chinese Resistance
6.5 The Second Opium War and the Treaty of Tientsin
6.6 Conflicting Interpretations of the Opium Wars
6.7 Let Us Sum Up
6.8 Key Words
6.9 Answers to Check Your Rogress Exercises

6.0 OBJECTIVES

The aim of this Unit is to make you familiar with the dramatic events of the Opium Wars in
China (1840-42 and 1858-60) and to place these events in the context of the evolution of
Sino-Western relations in the 19th century.
After reading this Unit, you will be able to:

learn about the background to, and the main events of, the Opium Wars,
understand the nature of the Chinese response to the Western presence in China in this period, and
assess the nature and impact of these wars and tbeir significance in modern Chinese

history.

6.1 INTRODUCTION

The Opium Wars represent the first major anned confrontation between China and the
modem West. But, more than that, they were a watershed in Chinese history. This was
because they exposed in a startling way the military, technological and political weaknesses
of the Chinese Empire. They set off a chain of developments in China's relations with the
West, in which the Western powers used their superior military smgth to wrest concession
after concession from the Chinese Empire and to consolidate and expand their own interests
there. In addition, they hastened the pmcess of the disintegration of the Chinese Empire, and
stimulated the forces of reform, modernization and nationalism which were to be
instrumental in the shaping of a new China. In fact, it is common among scholars to date the
beginning of modem Chinese history to the period of the Opium Wars. For all these reasons.
it is important for any student of Chinese history to know about the Opium Wars. The
following sections deal with various aspects related to these Wars.