The+Opium+War

[|The Opium War] was a conflict between Britain and [|China]. This event was significant because China was no longer seen as a powerful country. It was becoming vulnerable and many countries were taking advantage of it and its resources. This left room for other countries to become more powerful, including England. They had become very efficient in illegal drug trafficking. British merchants were smuggling large amounts of [|opium] into China, which they traded for Chinese products (including tea). [|Lin Tse-hsü,] a Chinese official, demanded that the opium trade stop and that the British merchants hand over all opium stocks within three days, as well as sign a pledge never to sell the drug in China again.
 * __The Opium War__**

Lin Tse Hsu

"Finding that fines and imprisonments, tortures and executions, had not perceptibly checked the traffic, he [Lin Tse-hsu] gave orders at once that no more passes or permits should be given foreigners who wished to go from Macoa to Whampoa, and commanded that all the opium whether stored in the factories, or on board of ships in the harbor, should be immediately surrendered. He succeeded in obtaining from the merchants without violence, twenty thousand, two hundred and eighty-three chests of opium, valued at $12,000,000, and a bond that they would forever cease from trading in it. (The Opium Trade)"

Inevitably, war erupted. Britain continued to trade opium in China, and Lin Tse-hsü's mission failed. Although America was not directly involved, the signing of the [|Treaty of Nanking] (which was at gunpoint) reflects common ideals of American imperialism. America rarely lets something stand in their way, and most powerful countries will stop at nothing to get what they want. Britain wanted to continue their illegal drug trade, and because they were the more powerful country with better technology and guns, they were able to do so. There were two Opium Wars, but the first one is the one we will be examining. Americans should be concerned with this issue because China, being on the receiving end of the overtake, endured a lot of pain and misery during the [|Opium] trade and war. Just because one country is more powerful than another does not justify everything they do

The second Opium War erupted during October of 1856. The Canton police boarded a British-registered ship, the Arrow, and charged its crew with smuggling. In this second war the French and British joined forces. The Treaty of Tianjin in 1858 temporarily stopped the feuding, opened new trade ports, and allowed some residents in Peking. However, the Chinese refused to the treaty, which led to an Anglo-French attack on Peking and the burning of the Summer Palace. Finally, in 1860 the Chinese signed another agreement, the Convention of Peking, which made them promise to observe the 1858 treaty (Opium Wars 572).

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