Opium War (war in asia) Flashcards
1
Q
What was the trade relationship between Britan and China before the opium wars like?
A
- China didnt want things from Britan
- Britan wanted lots of things from china (tea, silk etc..)
- china was very tech advanced for time
- Britan had trade defecit
- Britan trying to find something that China wants
2
Q
What were they able to sell to china and why?
A
- OPIUM
- opium was prohibted (other than med use) in China
- population was very high before opium wars, standard of living low, smaller farms (as they had to be divided between more sons)
- gov income was not growing bc it grew from agriculture and amount of land was fixed
- underpaid beurocrat suseptable to opium
3
Q
How did the gov try and stop opium from being a problem and why did it not work?
A
- 1818 - added more laws and severe punishments as more came in and people other than unemployed males started to use it
- this failed as profits were huge - chinese merchants and the britsh had no inetntion of stopping
- officals underpaid + no resources + corruption = couldnt stop it
4
Q
Commissioner Lin Xiu
A
- tried to cut of canton (where trade occured)
- very forceful, arrested people
- forced addicts into rehabiltation
- wrote a letter to queen victoria “how could you have this on ur concince”
- not sure if she recoved it, wrote 2nd letter, no reply
- put all foreigners on house arrest
- stopped trade with britan, diastouous 4 britan, one way for britan to deal was to declare war
5
Q
Declaration of war
A
- one way to deal with Comissioner Lin Xiu stopping trade
- some were in favour of war, some thought it was unjust as the British should not be selling opium
- some said no one was forcing Chinese to buy it so it was just
- Jan 31 1840: England declares war on china to proctect their honor, and get trade back
6
Q
1st Opium war
A
- china wasnt martime country, Britan was
- with ships from india, they enetered pearl river and china was “hopelessly out gunned”
- Britan had better weaponry including a secret weapon: iorn boat “the nemsis”
- China sued for peace and negotiated the 1st of what China called the unequal treaties
7
Q
1st unequal treaty (Treaty of Nanjing)
A
- british/foreigners got to use 5 treaty posts for trading
- British ambassadors allowed in bejining
- chineese pay 4 war
- british get hong kong for 99 years
- right of extraterritoriality (Britons who committed crimes in China would be tried by consular officials from their own nation, rather than facing Chinese courts)
8
Q
Secound Opium War
A
- British authority - looking for chinesse pirates
- chineese pulled down british flag and arested pirates
- french and british joined forces to punish chinese
- attacked canton again
- result: another unequal treaty
9
Q
unequal treaty #2
A
- christanty leagalized
- china pay 4 war
- opium leaglized
- trade ports open
- since opium was legalized western countries were rushing into china to make money
- china dragged feet in implementing treaty, diplomat came, china punished, britsh citzens mad
10
Q
Looting of summer palace 1860
A
- during 2nd opium war
- to avenge the killing of several British envoys to Beijing
- revenge from britsh and french
- palace burned to ground
- loot taken back to europe
- summer palace had lots of unique and priceless treausres
- lasted 2 days in oct 1860
- 1 and a half million objects taken - mostly high value small items, but some larger
- many good auctioned and money was given to troops
- some presented to france
- greatest act of cultural vandalism in modern history
- summer palace - symbol of chineese nationalism
- now a tourist attraction
11
Q
sino - Japanese war
A
Japan won and got tiwan
12
Q
the legacy of the opium wars
A
- hong kong returned to china
- opium wars are driving offence of chinas foreign affairs
- sense of injury still affects the way china does things today
- also why china wants all old parts back
