Chinese Perspective on

Opium Wars
Presenters: LIU QIUYI, Jiang Xinyi, Ye Leyi, Xiang Tianyu,

10/10/2023
Origin of the name

• First proporsed: British Parliament’s debate on the invasion of China

in 1840
• Other appellations: Anglo-Chinese Wars;
Trade Wars(by Britan);

• When we discuss the Opium Wars, are we discussing historical facts

or interpretations of historical facts?
• “Opium”→evil + destruction
The Most Important Nature

• Aggression
land cession
reparations
trade advantages

• China became a semi-colonial country for the first time →

• We regard the Opium Wars as the beginning of modern history.
Close the ports and seal off the country
"China is rich in products and has
everything, and there is no need to China exported much
exchange supplies with other countries." more than imported.
—— emperor Qianlong

Qing government's
treasury was depleted Opium trade trade deficit
and its people were
shattered
Destroy opium
at Humem Opium War
The backward “Celestial dynasty”
Close the ports and seal
off the country

Defeated in the
backward Opium War
Did not keep up
with the industrial
revolution
Open the country and
establish relationship
with other countries
Treaty of Nanking (1842)
→the first unequal treaty in modern Chinese history

main contents :
1. Cession of Hong Kong Island
2. Compensation of 21 million silver dollars to Britain for opium, debts, and military
expenses
3. Opening of five trading ports - Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai
4. Imposition of tariff agreements
•beginning of China's modernization process

•transformation into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society

semi-colonial :the loss of partial sovereignty rather than complete
independence
semi-feudal: the preservation of feudalism while simultaneously developing
capitalism

After the Opium War:

• Politically:
- Loss of sovereignty in terms of territory, customs, and judiciary.
• Economically:
- Disintegration of the natural economy
- Emergence of capitalist economic elements
• Culturally:
- Western learning started to spread in China
- traditional feudal thoughts still held a dominant position
 Rethink about Opium Wars
It could reflect that …… (in the past)
1. Chinese government’s corruption and incompetence ：
Chinese government was driven to sign the unequal treaty, which left it deeply
humiliated and ashamed.

2. Chinese society was left behind by the world:

It’s not wise to seclude the country from the outside world, which made China
left behind in science, technology, military, economy and many other aspects.

3. Chinese culture failed to bring much confidence to its contemporary

society ：
It emphasized much on the importance of peace, which was contrary to the
thought of that of western powers.
 However, “reflection” doesn’t mean “deny”.

1. It’s unreasonable for any country to deal with the culture difference by
starting a war and carry out the colonization.

2. The nature of the Opium Wars cannot be confused:

What Britain had waged was an unjust war of aggression, while what the
Qing Dynasty had waged was a just war against aggression.

3. No matter how closed, ignorant, arrogant and corrupt the Qing Dynasty had
been, the justice of its leading the war cannot be denied.
Thank you for your listening
Presenters: LIU QIUYI, Jiang Xinyi, Ye Leyi, Xiang Tianyu

10/10/2023