Barbarians at the Gate, 18001860

Lecture 3

I have heard that the smoking of opium is strictly forbidden by your

country. Why do you let it be passed on to the harm of other countries?
Lin Zexus letter to Queen Victoria in 1839

Lecture 3: Barbarians at the Gate, 18001860

he British increasingly flouted Chinese law by smuggling larger

and larger quantities of opium into the Middle Kingdom. By 1820,
opium had surpassed all other commodities as Chinas chief import.
The main port of entry was Canton, on Chinas southeast coast. As Chinese
silver flowed out of the country in ever-larger quantities, the Manchu began
executing Chinese opium traffickers.
In 1839, the Chinese commissioner in Canton
seized 20,000 British opium chests and dumped
them into the sea. England demanded retribution
for the seized opium, dispatching 16 steel-hulled
warships and 4,000 soldiers to blockade Canton.
Thus began the first of two Opium Wars. In 1841,
after the Chinese refused to pay compensation
and reopen seaports to British trade, British
ships attacked Chinese fortifications and wooden
warships along the coast. By 1842, British military superiority was clear,
and China sued for peace, ending the First Opium War. The British extracted
territorial, trade, and financial concessions from China.
By 1820, opium
had surpassed all
other commodities
as Chinas chief
import.

By the late 1850s, French, Russian, and American merchants and

missionaries joined England in demanding further concessions from
China. In October 1856, Chinese soldiers seized a private British sailing
vessel and charged the captain with engaging in coastal piracy. Thus
began the Second Opium War. When the Manchu refused to provide
additional financial indemnities and concessions, British and French forces
invaded Beijing, destroying Yuanmingyuan. The wanton destruction of
Yuanmingyuan remains today as a major symbol of the viciousness of
Western aggression against China. The war ended in 1860, and China was
14