Causes - Short Term

Question 1

Cause 2: Short Term - Opium

Answer 1

Short-term cause was the opium trade, by the turn of the 19th century the British demand for Chinese tea was draining the nation of silver, opium seen as solution to the trade imbalance

Question 2

Cause 2: 2 - Opium Trade

Answer 2

British would export opium from India to China and use the profits to purchase tea, triangular trade set the stage for the Anglo-Chinese conflict

Question 3

Cause 2: 3 - EIC Monopoly

Answer 3

1834 EIC’s monopoly ended and the trade was opened to dozens of British companies, the amount of Opium being shipped into China rose from 300 tonnes to 3,500 by 1839 and a drug epidemic swept the nation

Question 4

Cause 2: 4 - Opium Addiction

Answer 4

Opium addiction destroyed the fabric of Chinese society, weakening the economic power and political authority of the imperial government, 20-30% of government officials consumed opium

Question 5

Cause 2: 5 - John Fairbank

Answer 5

Historian John Fairbank states, “the court was terrified at the thought that the entire government was rotten with addiction.”

Question 6

Cause 2: 6 - Commissioner of Canton

Answer 6

1839 the Daoguang Emperor appointed Lin Zexu as the new commissioner of Canton to curtail opium trade, Lin implemented harsh new policies, blockading British into their factories until they surrendered all opium

Question 7

Cause 2: 7 - First Opium War

Answer 7

Lin destroyed 20,000 chests as he believed the British had made the Middle Kingdom “overflow with that poison… merely to advantage themselves, they care not about injuring others.”, this situation dealt a severe blow to British pride leading to the First Opium War in September of 1839