Opium in China

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of China agrees to pay the sum of 6,000,000 of dollars, as the value of the opium which was delivered up at Canton in the month of March, 1839... And it is further stipulated, that interest, at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum, shall be paid by the Government of China on any portion of the above sums that are not punctually discharged at the periods fixed...His Imperial Majesty further agrees to pay to the British Government the sum of 3,000,000 of dollars , on account of debts due to British subjects by some of the said Hong merchants, who have become insolvent, and who owe very large sums of money to subjects of Her Britannic Majesty.” Aside from the outrageous amounts of money the Chinese government had to give up to the British, the British was also given the right to take some control of Chinese commerce in the Treaty of Nanking. As a result of the Opium Wars, the Chinese were no longer able to trade as freely, and were forced to “abolish the practice” of “compell[ing] the British merchants trading at Canton to deal exclusively with certain Chinese merchants, called Hong merchants” and “permit them to carry on their mercantile transactions with whatever persons they please.” As a result of opium importation in China, the Chinese dealt with a serious blow to their country’s finances, and the loss of freedom in their own markets.

An equally devastating, if not more, way in which the Asian nation was impacted by the opium trade was in warfare. The Opium Wars, which were a direct result of the English introduction of opium into China, shook the country to its very core. In the Chinese emperor’s letter to imperial commissioner Lin Tse-Hsu (doc. 6), who was originally assigned to the Canton opium trade (and presumably failed), the emperor furiously reproaches the grievances done upon his country as a result of the opium trade: “’You have caused this war by your excessive zeal...Instead of helping us, you have only caused confusion to arise. Now, one thousand unending problems are sprouting.” Those “one thousand unending problems” include the bloodshed of the war and the ill fate China suffered afterwards. Document 7 is an illustration of an Opium War battle scene at the British capture of Chin-Keang-Foo on July 1st, 1842: even if one were to disregard the Chinese loss, it is obvious that the Opium Wars caused China to suffer much violence. In an 1840 letter by Oxford modern history professor Thomas Arnold to W.W. Hull (doc. 4), Arnold expresses his feelings of insecurity regarding the Opium Wars, and how much suffering and cruelty they have caused: “This war with China . . . really seems to me so wicked as to be a national sin of the greatest possible magnitude, and it distresses me very deeply.”

Today, it has been nearly two centuries since the age of the opium trade in China, but the numerous accounts and documents left behind from that time prove the fact that it was an extremely important era in the history of the nation. The opium trade in China changed the country to its very foundations and left behind a powerful, although in many ways negative, aftermath. The dangerous drug was the factor that changed the culture and habits, trade and economy, and warfare in the 19th century in China.

If I could have used one additional document, I would have like to see an account of a Chinese person whose life became directly affected as a result of the opium trade (for example, having been addicted to opium). That way, I could further analyze on what kind of level opium affected the everyday lives of the commonplace in China.

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