The Opium War--1839-42

In the nineteenth century, Chinese green tea became very popular among Europeans and Americans. Chinese silk and porcelain were also in great demand. The Chinese, on the other hand, needed almost nothing the west had to offer. This created an imbalance of trade, especially bad for the British, who were weary of sending shiploads of silver to Hong Kong. Their solution was to develop a third-party trade: exchanging their merchandise in India and Southeast Asia for cotton and opium, welcomed in China as currency, in spite of the Imperial Chinese prohibition on opium. (Opium is a preparation made from the juice of poppy seed pods, and is where heroin comes from.) During the early 1800's opium addiction reached epidemic proportions in China, after the British began using it instead of money. Even the upper command of the Imperial army were 'stupid and besotted,' not to mention badly hooked.

In 1839 the Qing government, after a decade of unsuccessful anti-opium campaigns, enacted drastic laws against the opium trade. Their commissioner, Lin Zexu, seized and destroyed some 20,000 chests of opium (2.5 million pounds) and detained the entire foreign community.

The British retaliated violently, soundly defeating the unprepared Chinese, and forcing them to sign the first of what the Chinese dubbed the 'unequal treaties'. This is when Hong Kong became a British territory. England was given 'most-favored-nation' status, and British nationals were exempt from Chinese law. China also was forced to pay a large sum of money. This was the beginning of the century of what the Chinese called 'national humiliations.'

The city of Hong Kong was held as a British territory from that time until 1997.

We see again a powerful entity using an addictive substance to corner a financial cash-cow, with no regard for the victims.

(Information from The History of China.)

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