“Catastrophe, riots, factories blowing up, armies in flight, flood - the ear can detect a whole apocalypse in the starry night of the human body (Cocteau).” China is the human body of this metaphor, as Cocteau points out the destruction and chaos opium can cause in the body of man; it does the same to the well-being of China during the early to mid eighteen-hundreds. The aim of this paper is to discuss a key issue in which plagued China in their opposition to opium trade leading up to and during the Opium War. While there are many important issues related to China’s opium problem, the scope of this paper will be strategic errors. It is important to note that if improvements were made in this field, it does not guarantee that the …show more content…
This is not in any way meant to cast him in a negative light as one can see the immense amount of effort Zhexu invested to eradicate Opium use in China. This in fact relates to the topic of command which will be examined later. As to Lin Zhexu’s strategic error, he spent much of his time post Opium War scouring China in search of Opium abusers, dealers and those who stored it rather than attacking the problem at the source, which was the importation of it. He is cited being criticized by Chi-San who remarked “Instead of organizing a wholesale massacre of opium smokers...the proper course would be to take efficient steps to prevent import of opium (Waley, 121).” Zhexu, who was undoubtedly an intelligent man, became so focused on stopping the use of opium by his people and wrapped up in sadly to say less significant details that he became negligent in his attempts to stop the English from bringing opium in by any means. An unfortunate, but noteworthy example of this comes from his relentless attempts to force the English to hand over the alleged murderer of Lin Wei-His, which is pointed out in the text, that it would be impossible to conclude that the man died of the wounds suffered. This is because no medical professional had examined the body, there were multiple attackers involved and that a healthy man would have not succumbed to these types of injuries (61). Lin’s hard pressed attempt to seek the …show more content…
The Chinese Military with a special emphasis on their Navy lagged behind the British, which was clearly evident. An appropriate instance of a strategic error can be found in the text “…astonishing divers who could walk about the bottom of the sea and remain hidden all night. They were also supposed to be able, when submerged, to pierce holes in the bottoms of ships and sink them (Waley, 115).” This tactic seemed to be very unsuccessful; the divers could never actually dive down to sink the ships. Lin is quoted further down on page 115 stating that it would be a good idea to continue these divers even though they were unable to sink ships in order to keep them from the British, in fear that they would be used to transport opium. As harsh as it may seem, this was a complete waste of resources, time and money; three things China did not have a surplus of. The inability of the leaders to properly divvy resources for useful projects was a major strategic error. This unfortunately was not the only of its kind. Following this, the change of hands of the Cambridge which originally was a British warship that was next bought by Delano, an American man and eventually was sold to the Chinese as cited by Waley on page 86 of his book was a valiant idea, however proved to be a strategic error. The Cambridge was purchased to serve as a model for other naval ships (Prof. Oakes, “Opium
From the early 1950’s to early 1970’s during U.S. military involvement in Laos, Indochina, opium and heroin were flown by “Air America” into many countries, including Vietnam. As a result of CIA’s drug smuggling, Southeast Asia became the source of 70% of the world’s opium and heroin. South Vietnam was completely corrupted by a heroin trade that came from Laos, thanks to the CIA. The Hmong culture in Laos provided 30,000 men for the CIA's secret Laotian army. But in the process, opium production took over Hmong culture. To support the Hmong economy, the CIA's “Air America” transported raw opium out of the Laotian hills to the labs. By mid-1971, Army medical officers estimated that fifteen percent of American GIs were addicted (Stich 142).
Although the First Opium War proves that this letter was unsuccessful, this letter has significance because unlike most countries and disputes, the Chinese did whatever they could to ensure that this matter had a peaceful resolution. This letter shows that the Chinese practice of Confucianism has helped them evolve as an already self sufficient country into a favored and sanctioned country for their reasonable ways.
The opium trade was incorporated to the China culture into the global market. During that period the economies of India, China and Britain were connected to one another in a trade that was one of the most important connection as a role in the global market. The opium trade started in the 17 century the drug was just shipped from Portuguese Goa in Portuguese and British ships, the opium was held by a monopoly who was controlled by the Dutch. Taking the opium in EIC vessels was really criticized by the directors of the London Company, for incurring losses and putting in danger legal forms of the famous Sino-British trade, since this drug was illegal in China. The EAST INDIA COMPANY by regulating and restricting production,
China was once the center of the world. Any other country in the world could not match China’s political prowess and economic strength. However, as time progressed China stagnated while other powers, especially those in Europe, were going through their industrial revolution were growing more powerful and were eager to break into the Chinese market. Great Britain was one European power that was eager to break into the Chinese market since China was one of the few if not only country that had a trade surplus with Great Britain. Great Britain then decided to sell non-textile products to China and started selling them opium. China was not pleased that their people were being exposed to addictive drugs that rendered their working class unable
The Opium Wars emerged from China’s attempts to suppress the opium trade, enforced by foreign imperialism. During the late 1700s, foreign merchants traded opium grown in India for Chinese tea, making big profits. China had accepted the trade for brief period until it became addictive and disruptive to the Chinese economy, to which the Chinese government outlawed opium and executed drug dealers. They demanded the trade to stop but by the right of free trade, refused to halt. Infuriated, Chinese warships were sent and clashed with the British fleet, triggering the Opium War. Due to advances in weaponry, the Chinese were easily defeated and forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, which stated that Britain will receive indemnities from China, the
This document is a letter that China’s emperor sent to King George III in response to Britain asking to buy goods from them. The Chinese emperor states “I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country’s manufacture…” (Judge and Landon pg. 600). He is stating that he doesn’t feel the need to purchase goods from Britain before they do not have anything they need. Lord Macartney states that Britain doesn’t have anything that China doesn’t already own; he also implying that they are better than Britain by calling them Barbarians. At the end of the letter, Macartney aggressively states that he is not going to overlook them cutting themselves off from others and the uses of the Celestial Empire; therefore, he “ordered the departure of the mission…” (Judge and Landon pg. 600).
Melancon, Glenn. "Honour in Opium? The British Declaration of War on China, 1839-1840." The International History Review 21.4 (1999): 855-74. JSTOR. Web. .
According to the Oxford Dictionary, Opium is a “reddish-brown heavy-scented addictive drug prepared from the juice of the opium poppy, used as a narcotic and in medicine as an analgesic”. In China, Opium was first intended for medical use and later, during the 19th century it became a symbol of problems that hit on China. China’s high consumption of Opium brought social calamity for the country and in the other hand, it contributed to the economic prosperity Britain was going through. Opium also created tension in the Sino- British relationship, which Opium Wars gave a partial end to. The results of the Opium Wars can be considered unfair for China, not only did they have to open ports but they also had to pay for reparations.
Allingham,, Philip V. "England and China: The Opium Wars, 1839-60." The Victorian Web: An Overview. 24 June 2006. Web. 06 Apr. 2011.
The trading company that dealt with the British merchants often had to bribe officials with opium in order to complete their business. Not only did this give incentive for the local government officials to continue allowing the trading, it made it difficult to find and prosecute all the parties involved. When Lin Zexu saw the accounts record, he could not believe that so many officials were involved, and he went as far as to say that prosecuting them all means he would have to “kill every official in Guangzhou.” Indeed even some of his own officials were opium users, forcing Lin Zexu to bend the rules, saying “to err is human.” &
As items progress through time, they accrue a sort of history. It could be symbolic of the people or cultures using the items or markings, cuffs, and damages to the item, or even the written accounts of the use and production of the item. No matter the case, all of these and many more scenarios give an object a background that can explored throughout time. The object’s origins, appearance, function, social connotations, and where the object ends up all go into the history and meaning regarding the item. The opium pipe is one of such objects. When discussing opium pipes, one cannot leave out the drug being utilized: opium. Opium itself has a long, rich, and destructive history throughout China and as such, the opium pipe seems to follow in line with the drug.
Opium-carrying ships in Macao sailed forty miles northeast to Hong Kong’s harbor for better protection.
Nothing seems to decrease or stop a lucrative trade : in 1813 , a case of Indian opium sells 2,400 rupees ( cost 240 rupees) . In 1821 , a new decree announced that Chinese trade is no longer possible to Huangpu , the market moves Lingding where it will grow from 1821 to 1839. The British East India Company (East India Company) decided to circumvent the ban and increases its illegal opium sales in China to 100 tonnes from 1800 to 2 600 tonnes in 1838. British trade in China finally becomes surplus in 1835 , there was 2 million opium smokers in China.
This question can be analyzed and answered through exploring and understanding a series of criterion. The first step is to comprehend the causes and effects of the Wars, and to see how treaties demonstrated what certain countries stood for politically and economically, as well as how the Chinese reacted to interacting with hostility to and from the European nations. Once the historical events that occurred during the Opium Wars are laid out, it is clear to see how these instances caused a significant jumpstart in the industrialization of China. In addition, the incidences of the Wars were an enzyme in the formation of China’s foreign policy and relation with the European nations. Much can be said about the way the Opium Wars affect how the Chinese people viewed the Europeans, especially the English. The scars left on the Chinese due to the issues of the Wars are irreparable damage to the pride and culture of the country, and severely tarnished the image of the westerners following God’s will and helping other countries hasten their rate of increasing civilization. Even though the Opium Wars took a toll on China and the Chinese people as a whole, they have come back with a storm in all manners of
The First Anglo-Chinese War as an Opium War The Chinese customarily calls the Anglo-Chinese War 1839-1842 the Opium War because from their point of view, the opium trade was the main cause of the war. From the British standpoint, the motive for the war was not opium prohibition but rather the repeated insults and humiliation; the British had received from the Chinese government. They claimed that the conflict between China and Britain had been brewing for many decades. Even without opium, it would still have been erupted as a result of their differing conceptions of international relations, trade and jurisdiction.