What was China’s worse nightmare during the late 18th and the 19th century? The answer is opium. The rise of the British opium trade with China not only brought devastating and chaotic results for the Chinese government, but also for its citizens. In this paper, I plan to discuss about how and why the opium trade was introduced. In addition, why opium-smoking was so popular and the different ways of how China tried to handle this dilemma, will also be talked about. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, China had a very strict and protectionist trading policy with the outside world. Thus, what were the reasons for the introduction of the opium trade with China? First of all, the origin of a British opium trade between India and China resulted in the growth of opium-smoking in China. The British conquest of large areas of India first stirred up the production and distribution of opium. “At the instigation of the East India Company’s directors, and speeded by the brilliant generalship of Robert Clive and the administrative skills of Governor-General Warren Hastings, between 1750 and 1800 the British had gained control of much of northern India and with additional bases in the south at Madras” (Fairbank, Reischauer, Craig 450).
Ardent to find a cash cow product that would provide revenue through export sales, the British discovered that the opium poppy grew incredibly well in particular areas of India. Furthermore, there was a great quantity of supply of labor to be used for collecting the “sap from the incised poppy pods and to process it into a thick past that was best for smoking” (Spence 130).
The Essay on Globalization In China And India
Globalization refers to “worldwide interconnectedness, evidenced in global movements of natural resources, human labor, finance capital, information, infectious diseases, and trade goods” (Haviland, Prins, Walrath & McBride, 2008, p.19). Along with the movements of these products and peoples comes the traveling of ideas and beliefs also. The world seems to have become smaller due to the ...
Later on, the East India Company colonized a monopoly for the purchase of Indian opium and then sold licenses to trade in opium to choose Western merchants who would be specifically involved in the transferring of the narcotic.
The second reason was because of the serious balance of payments problem for the West, particularly for Britain. Over the 17th century, the growing demand in Europe and America for Chinese goods greatly increased. For example, tea had recently become fashionable in Europe and there was also great demand for Chinese silk and porcelain. However, China had little interest in trading for, what they considered, inferior foreign products. In other words, the Chinese goods highly demanded in Britain were unable to match the growth in the Chinese consumer demand for Western exports such as cotton, wool, and mechanical goods. As a result, British trading companies were forced to pay high tariffs and ran a tremendous trade deficit with China. Thus, the British had to pay for the Chinese goods in silver (Thomas 1).
This continuous flow of silver into China had lead to great prosperity for the Chinese people. For instance, “In the 1760s’,the silver flow into China surpassed 3 million taels; in the 1770s’, the amount grew to 7.5 million, and by the 1780s’, 16 million taels. Despite this, it had caused a great panic for the British government maintaining its silver. Nevertheless, by the late eighteenth century, Britain had come up with a different and witty product, “opium”, to trade in China for Chinese goods. After selling their opium in China, the Western merchants deposited the silver they collected in payment with company representatives in Canton in trade for letters of credit. Then the company used the silver to buy tea, porcelain, and other Chinese goods for sale in Britain. Thus, a “triangular trade of goods from Britain to India, India to China, and China to Britain” initiated, at each step of which a high return of profit could be made (Spence 130).
The Essay on The Opium Wars Chinese Trade China
At the end of the 1800 s China's four million square miles held 450 million people, up from 200 million a century earlier. The ruling dynasty was the Ching, established by Manchus from Manchuria, who in 1644 had superseded the Ming. These descendants of the Tatars appreciated Chinese civilization and adopted a conciliatory attitude toward their subjects. They refused, however, to allow ...
Essentially, these two reasons were the most important causes of why the opium trade commenced for China. As I had mentioned before, the opium trade between the British and the Chinese had unfortunately led to the smoking of opium. Before, opium poppy had only been known for medicinal purposes as a drug to treat dysentery, cholera and other diseases towards the end of the 15th century for China. It was not until the 18th century was there any facts of genuine inhaling of the water vapor (opium smoking) began only after smoking tobacco had spread to China from America in the seventeenth century (“The Opium War and the Treaty of Nanking” 1).
During the late 1700s’, abundant amounts of opium chests were imported yearly from India, a British colony at that time, to China. As time passed, the demand for opium grew enormously. For example, from 1800 to 1821, the average number of imported chests was about 45 hundred a year, but the annual amount grew to forty thousand chests in 1838 (Fairbank, Reischauer, Craig 450).
What were the causes for the boom of opium and why did the Chinese of the Qing dynasty begin to smoke so much opium? Both of these questions can be answered by many factors. First of all, opium is a narcotic drug that was only known to the Chinese people as a medicine to cure diseases until smoking the opium was discovered as a pleasurable activity to do. In other words, the British trade policy in China resulted in widespread opium addiction. With the Chinese addicted to opium, it is certainly explainable for the cause of smoking in an abundant amount and increasing demand for importing more opium into the country. In addition, according the Chinese documents of the time suggested that opium appealed immensely to groups that faced boredom or stress. For example, “Eunuchs caught in the ritualized web of court protocol smoked opium, as did some of the Manchu court officials, who often had sinecures or virtually pointless jobs in the palace bureaucracy” (Spence 131).
People in wealthy households such as women who were not entitled to educational opportunities and forbidden to walk outside their homes, also smoked opium. Wealthy women who had time on their hands were eager to try new activities out especially goods from the West to occupy their time. Merchants, secretaries and even students were addicted to opium. “The taking of opium has the effect of slowing down and blurring the world around one, of making time stretch and fade, of shifting complex or painful realties to an apparently infinite distance” (Spence 131).
The Essay on Drug Trade in South America
Among the many topics given for the annotated Bibliography, I have decided go by my teachers advice. Therefore, I will cover “drug trade in South America”. South America is a large continent comprising of countries like, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay, Ecuador and Venezuela among many others. The whole of this continent has been noted to be a primary source ...
Thus, opium was the perfect activity of which the Chinese citizens took advantage. Furthermore, the practice of smoking opium became a social “thing” for relaxation among the reposeful classes. Laborers who faced hardship and pain of carrying immense loads day after day also began to take opium as a way to escape from their arduous daily tasks, similarly with today’s Chinese taxi drivers who take on 12 hours shifts smoke cigarettes to ease their long day. A few employers would provide free amounts of the drug for these coolie laborers after seeing them working even harder under the influence of opium (Spence 131).
Lastly, because the majority of the Chinese citizens were addicted to opium it was certainly easy to make a large profit. Opium traders in China could make big profits, as prices correlated with the supply. To illustrate, “a chest might sell for one thousand or even two thousand Mexican dollars before 1821, and for seven hundred to one thousand in the period of increased supply thereafter” (Fairbank, Reischauer, Craig 451).
This process of trading stirred great competition. Foreign merchants began to contemplate alternative ways to get ahead of their rivals such as using the earliest type of clipper ships and then delivering these cargoes to “receiving ships” that were heavily armed. As for the Chinese opium traders with their well, equipped ammunition smuggling boats, they would take the delivery of opium chests from the foreigners’ receiving ships around the coasts of China. Gradually, the number of illicit smuggling increased in Chinese waters, particular in the north of Canton (Fairbank, Reischauer, Craig 452).
As a consequence, opium addiction and illegal smuggling soared corrupting the government and China spiraled into what some call the worst drug case in human history. So what was proposed to resolve this crisis? The imperial court considered opium as a social ill and banned its use and importation repeatedly. Nevertheless, greed of big profits had grown as the trade had grown. “As the higher authorities became more vulnerable to exposure, blackmail, or censure, they found it safest to drive the contraband trade out of their immediate jurisdiction” (Fairbank, Reischauer, Craig 452).
The Term Paper on Opium War Chinese China Trade
Although the Portuguese had established themselves in Macao many years beforehand, the Chinese had not extended the 'privilege' of trade to many other Europeans, until in the 18 th century they opened one port; Canton. Indeed, one can find the origins of the Opium War in that very system at Canton because it created much irritation and frustration for Britain. "An old port, Canton was tradition- ...
The trading of the coastlines of China became even more difficult to control. With greater opium supplies, it had naturally attributed an increase in demand and usage throughout the country, in spite of repeated prohibitions by the Chinese government and officials. The British did all they could to increase the trade: They bribed officials, helped the Chinese work out elaborate smuggling schemes to get the opium into China’s interior, and distributed free samples of the drug to innocent victims. For example, in 1936, Great Britain smuggled eight million pounds of opium into China –“about $18 million worth-and purchased only $17 million of tea, silk and other goods” (“Imperial Pushers: Britain, China and the Opium War” 2).
Opium alone had resuscitated the British economy; however, China’s dilemma increased. The problem grew to such great proportions that in 1839, the Qing Emperor assigned Lin Tse-hsu, who was appointed as an Imperial Commissioner, to end the opium traffic. Lin Tse-hsu was sent to Canton to achieve what was necessary to end the traffic forever. Lin was able to put his first two proposals into effect easily: addicts were rounded up, forcibly treated, and taken off the habit, and domestic drug dealers were harshly punished. His third objective was to confiscate foreign stores and force foreign merchants to sign pledges of good conduct, agreeing never to trade in opium and to be punished by Chinese law if ever found in violation (Thomas 1).
In addition, he also addressed two petitioning letters to Queen Victoria to restrain Britain’s drug merchants. “The wealth of China is used to profit the barbarians,” he wrote. “By what right do they then in return use the poisonous drug to injure the Chinese people? Even though the barbarians may not necessarily intend to do us harm, yet in coveting profit to an extreme, they have no regard for injuring others. Let us ask, where is your conscience?” (Teng and Fairbank 25).
The Term Paper on IB: Chinese Communist Party Victory in Chinese Civil War
IB Extended Essay: Why was the Chinese Communist Party able to achieve victory over the Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War?Word Count: 4067AbstractThe Chinese Civil War, which took place from the end of World War II up to October 1, 1949, directly led to the creation of the People's Republic of China, the world's most populous communist nation. The purpose of this essay is to explain why the ...
In addition to these ways of resolving the opium trading and the illegal smuggling, Lin also suggested ways of a resolution for China’s manufacturing and opium addiction. He proposed that anyone who dared to plant and manufacture opium would be strictly punished. As for the Chinese citizens who smoked or sold, they would all face the death penalty (de Bary, Chan, Tan 8).
However, there were different thoughts from the other imperial officials of handling the smuggling and addiction of opium. Some of these higher authorities proposed that if opium smokers were to receive the punishment of death, while on the other hand, the illicit smugglers were only to face mild penalties, injustice would result because the smugglers would continue to find it convenient to smuggle just as it was. Governer-General of Hu-Kwang, one of the imperial officials believed that placing the death penalty would not only irresolute the problem of Chinese citizens smoking opium, but make matters worse. As he stated, “When severe legislation is first made, to be sure, they will be frightened almost to death. But presently they will think that the limited time is yet far away and decide to stop smoking at the very last moment. When that last moment draws near, they find it is impossible to part with the habit abruptly. Then the victims will still be too numerous for execution” (Document No. 6 of Packet 221).
Governor Hu-Kwang inquired certain steps had to be taken in order to resolve the problem. For example, a complete destruction of the instruments used for smoking such as the pipe and the bowl had to be put into effect, the provinces needed to make public proclamations placing the people to improve their habit and the one-year limit were to be distinguished into four periods to enhance up their improvement, local officials were held responsible for the search of opium or smoking instrument, and other methods were implied (Document No. 6 of Packet 221-225).
Overall, many insinuations were directed in dealing with the opium problem In conclusion, the cost of the opium trade between the West and China was enormous. The factors of Britain occupying India for the production and trading of opium and Britain’s revenge of recollecting its silver back led to the commencement of the opium trade with China. As long as there was a demand for consumption in opium, enough people addicted to smoking it, and the Chinese government’s prohibitions was ineffective, Britain was able to collect all of its silver back. With China’s government hopelessly lost in corruption, its people also faced gigantic chaos. By the late 19th century, many citizens such as wealthy women, businessmen, and even peasants, no matter what class these people were in, the majority of the Chinese population were affected by the addiction of the narcotic. Opium weakened a large percentage of the Chinese population and deprived away of the country’s treasury of silver. Consequently, the Opium war resulted for China and in the end she was swept with great tantalization and embarrassment in being defeated by the British. De Bary, Wm. Theodore, Wing-tsit Chan, and Chester Tan. Sources of Chinese Tradition.
The Essay on War Between Britain And The United States In 1812
There were several important factors that lead to the war between Britain and the United States. In this essay, we will explore three of them. The first issue was the impressment of United States seamen into the Royal Navy. Second, was a series of trade restrictions enacted by Britain to impede American trade with France. And third, a possible desire of the United States to annex Canada. The Royal ...
New York: Columbia University Press, 1960. Fairbank, John K., Edwin O’Reischauer, and Albert M. Craig. East Asia. Boston: Houghton “Imperial Pushers: Britain, China and the Opium War.” Http://china.candidmedia.com/ dispatches/thirteen/13 featurea.html (16 August 1999).
Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Teng, Ssu-yu, and John K. Fairbank. China’s Response to the West. Cambridge: Harvard “The Opium War and the Treaty of NanKing.” Http://easc.indiana.edu/pages/easc/curriculum/ china/1996/EACP WorkBook/modern/opium.htm (16 August 1999)
“The Governor-General of Hu-Kwang Proposes Rigid Prohibition of Opium.” Document No. 6.
Bibliography:
Works-Cited Page De Bary, Wm. Theodore, Wing-tsit Chan, and Chester Tan. Sources of Chinese Tradition.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1960. Fairbank, John K., Edwin O’Reischauer, and Albert M. Craig. East Asia. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989. “Imperial Pushers: Britain, China and the Opium War.” Http://china.candidmedia.com/ dispatches/thirteen/13 featurea.html (16 August 1999).
Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1990. Teng, Ssu-yu, and John K. Fairbank. China’s Response to the West. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982. “The Opium War and the Treaty of NanKing.” Http://easc.indiana.edu/pages/easc/curriculum/ china/1996/EACP WorkBook/modern/opium.htm (16 August 1999)
“The Governor-General of Hu-Kwang Proposes Rigid Prohibition of Opium.” Document No. 6. 10 July 1838.
