10/15/23, 10:33 AM Opium Wars -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia

Opium Wars
Opium Wars, two
TABLE OF CONTENTS
armed conflicts in
China in the mid- Introduction
19th century between The first Opium War
the forces of Western
The second Opium War
second Opium War battle countries and of the
Qing dynasty, which
ruled China from 1644 to 1911/12. The first Opium War (1839–42) was fought between
China and Britain, and the second Opium War (1856–60), also known as the Arrow War or
the Anglo-French War in China, was fought by Britain and France against China. In each
case the foreign powers were victorious and gained commercial privileges and legal and
territorial concessions in China. The conflicts marked the start of the era of unequal treaties
and other inroads on Qing sovereignty that helped weaken and ultimately topple the
dynasty in favour of republican China in the early 20th century.

The first Opium War

The Opium Wars arose from China’s attempts to suppress the opium trade. Foreign traders
(primarily British) had been illegally exporting opium mainly from India to China since the
18th century, but that trade grew dramatically from about 1820. The resulting widespread
addiction in China was causing serious social and economic disruption there. In spring
1839 the Chinese government confiscated and destroyed more than 20,000 chests of opium
—some 1,400 tons of the drug—that were warehoused at Canton (Guangzhou) by British
merchants. The antagonism between the two sides increased in July when some drunken
British sailors killed a Chinese villager. The British government, which did not wish its
subjects to be tried in the Chinese legal system, refused to turn the accused men over to the
Chinese courts.

Hostilities broke out later that year when British

warships destroyed a Chinese blockade of the Pearl
River (Zhu Jiang) estuary at Hong Kong. The British
government decided in early 1840 to send an
expeditionary force to China, which arrived at Hong
First Opium War Kong in June. The British fleet proceeded up the Pearl
River estuary to Canton, and, after months of

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negotiations there, attacked and occupied the city in May 1841. Subsequent British
campaigns over the next year were likewise successful against the inferior Qing forces,
despite a determined counterattack by Chinese troops in the spring of 1842. The British
held against that offensive, however, and captured Nanjing (Nanking) in late August, which
put an end to the fighting.

Peace negotiations proceeded quickly, resulting in the

Treaty of Nanjing, signed on August 29. By its
provisions, China was required to pay Britain a large
indemnity, cede Hong Kong Island to the British
(the handover of Hong Kong back to China would not
Treaty of Nanjing occur until 1997), and increase the number of treaty
ports where the British could trade and reside from
one (Canton) to five. Among the four additional designated ports was Shanghai, and the
new access to foreigners there marked the beginning of the city’s transformation into one of
China’s major commercial entrepôts. The British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue
(Humen), signed October 8, 1843, gave British citizens extraterritoriality (the right to be
tried by British courts) and most-favoured-nation status (Britain was granted any rights in
China that might be granted to other foreign countries). Other Western countries quickly
demanded and were given similar privileges.
The second Opium War
In the mid-1850s, while the Qing government was embroiled in trying to quell the Taiping
Rebellion (1850–64), the British, seeking to extend their trading rights in China, found an
excuse to renew hostilities. In early October 1856 some Chinese officials boarded the
British-registered ship Arrow while it was docked in Canton, arrested several Chinese crew
members (who were later released), and allegedly lowered the British flag. Later that month
a British warship sailed up the Pearl River estuary and began bombarding Canton, and there
were skirmishes between British and Chinese troops. Trading ceased as a stalemate ensued.
In December Chinese in Canton burned foreign factories (trading warehouses) there, and
tensions escalated.

The French decided to join the British military expedition, using as their excuse the murder
of a French missionary in the interior of China in early 1856. After delays in assembling the
forces in China (British troops that were en route were first diverted to India to help quell
the Indian Mutiny), the allies began military operations in late 1857. They quickly captured
Canton, deposed the city’s intransigent governor, and installed a more-compliant official. In

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May 1858 allied troops in British warships reached Tianjin (Tientsin) and forced the
Chinese into negotiations. The treaties of Tianjin, signed in June 1858, provided residence
in Beijing for foreign envoys, the opening of several new ports to Western trade and
residence, the right of foreign travel in the interior of China, and freedom of movement for
Christian missionaries. In further negotiations in Shanghai later in the year, the importation
of opium was legalized.

The British withdrew from Tianjin in the summer of 1858, but they returned to the area in
June 1859 en route to Beijing with French and British diplomats to ratify the treaties. The
Chinese refused to let them pass by the Dagu forts at the mouth of the Hai River and
proposed an alternate route to Beijing. The British-led forces decided against taking the
other route and instead tried to push forward past Dagu. They were driven back with heavy
casualties. The Chinese subsequently refused to ratify the treaties, and the allies resumed
hostilities. In August 1860 a considerably larger force of warships and British and French
troops destroyed the Dagu batteries, proceeded upriver to Tianjin, and, in October, captured
Beijing and plundered and then burned the Yuanming Garden, the emperor’s summer
palace. Later that month the Chinese signed the Beijing Convention, in which they agreed
to observe the treaties of Tianjin and also ceded to the British the southern portion of the
Kowloon Peninsula adjacent to Hong Kong.

Kenneth Pletcher The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Citation Information
Article Title: Opium Wars
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 28 April 2023
URL: https://www.britannica.comhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Opium-Wars
Access Date: October 15, 2023

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