Ching: Qing Dynasty

Question 1

What were the punishments for smoking opium?

Answer 1

Those found smoking opium were subject to punishment of the pillory and bamboo. The pillory restricted a person’s movement with a cangue, and many frequently died as they couldn’t feed themselves. After opium was made illegal, punishments became more severe, often involving prison time before execution.

Question 2

What were the causes of the First Opium War?

Answer 2

• British import of opium from India into China led to a trade imbalance in favor of Britain (40,000 chests by 1838).
• Money from opium trades was vital for continuing the tea trade with China.
• China’s relative military weakness.
• Opium purchasing decreased Chinese silver reserves: by the late 1830s, China was paying out $18 million in silver to Britain.
• Lethargy and apathy from drug addiction destroyed work habits.
• The Qing government seized opium stocks in Canton, where 90% of the drug was distributed.

Question 3

What was Lin Zexu’s anti-opium campaign?

Answer 3

Lin Zexu, special imperial commissioner to Canton, led an anti-opium campaign from March to May 1839, seizing 50,000 pounds of opium, confiscating 70,000 opium pipes, and arresting 1,600 Chinese opium addicts.

Question 4

What was the course of the First Opium War (1840)?

Answer 4

• Chinese weaponry did not match that of the British, who used steamships that could outmaneuver Chinese junks.
• In June 1840, a British force of 25 steamships bombarded coastal forts along China’s east coast and up the Yangtze.
• By summer 1842, British forces were positioned to seize Shanghai, leading to a peace agreement.

Question 5

What were the terms of the Treaty of Nanjing (1842)?

Answer 5

The Treaty of Nanjing was the first of the ‘unequal treaties’:
- Qing to pay $21 million in compensation for damage.
- China agreed to cede Hong Kong island to Britain as a colony.
- Britain granted special trading rights in China’s main ports: Shanghai, Guangzhou, Fuzhou.
- British residents were exempt from local Chinese law.

Question 6

What were the terms of the Treaty of Wangxia (1845)?

Answer 6

• Extraterritoriality: Chinese men would be punished under Chinese law, while Americans would be tried under the authority of the American consul.
• Most favored nation status: the US received the same beneficial treatment China gave to other Western powers and the right to modify the treaty after 12 years.

Question 7

What were the causes of the Second Opium War (1856-60)?

Answer 7

The terms of the Treaty of Nanjing were revised:
- All Chinese ports were to be fully open to British traders.
- China accepted that opium imports were wholly legal.
- British goods would be free of import levies.
- A permanent British embassy was established in Beijing.