AIM: How did the Opium War open the door to Imperialism in China? Ms. McMillan Global III January 11, 2012

The Big Picture By 1900, China was completely dominated by the industrial powers of Europe, the USA & Japan How did this come to pass? As in Africa, India & Latin America, the industrial nations had superior technology and more advanced economies Western dominance of China began with the Opium War of This war proved once and for all that industrial powers could completely dominate any non-industrial nation— even great nations such as China The Opium War, between the English & the Chinese, is often seen as the ultimate example of Imperialism

Economic Background By 1800, England felt it desperately needed to boost exports to China Why?   Every nation tries to export MORE than it imports. This is referred to as the nation’s “Trade Balance”   If a nation imports more than it exports, it means that capital is leaving its economy. This weakens the economy.   By 1800 (or so) England was having some difficulty maintaining its trade balance with China.

So…why were the British importing so much from China? Reason #1 Reason #1 – –During the 1700’s, the British became a nation of tea drinkers and the demand for Chinese tea rose astronomically. – –By about 1840, it is estimated that the average London worker spent five percent of his or her total household budget on tea. Reason #2 – –Northern Chinese merchants began to ship Chinese cotton from the interior to southern China to compete with Indian cotton the British were selling there – –Previously, Britain had used these cotton exports to help ‘balance’ its tea imports & consumption habits

How did the British increase our exports to China? England could not balance its trade through exporting manufactured goods, as this kind of trade was very difficult & expensive with China. As far as the British were concerned, the best solution was to increase the amount of Indian goods they exported to China to pay for these Chinese luxuries Increasingly, in the 1700’s & 1800’s, the item exported to China was Bengal opium, produced in England’s Indian colonies

Bengal Region

Opium War 1. British merchants began to trade opium in China in the late 1700s. 2. China tried to halt imports of the addictive drug. 3. In 1839, to keep trade open, the British fought with China in a conflict known as the Opium War. 4. Britain’s superior military and industrial strength led to a quick victory.

“Nothing Left to Take or Destroy” The India Gazette, a British publication, wrote about the sack of Chusan in 1840: A more complete pillage could not be conceived than took place. Every house was broken open, every drawer and box ransacked, the streets strewn with fragments of furniture, pictures, tables, chairs, grain of all sorts -- the whole set off by the dead or the living bodies of those who had been unable to leave the city from the wounds received from our merciless guns.... The plunder ceased only when there was nothing left to take or destroy.

Treaty of Nanjing 1. In 1842, Britain forced China to agree to the harsh terms of the Treaty of Nanjing. 2. China had to pay for British war costs, open ports to British trade, and give Britain the island of Hong Kong. 3. China also had to grant British citizens extraterritoriality, the right to live under their own laws and be tried in their own courts.

Treaty of Nanjing

Effects of the Treaty 1. In the years that followed, other western powers forced China to sign unequal treaties. 2. The western powers carved out spheres of influence, areas in which an outside power claimed exclusive trade privileges.