A Brief History
On June 3, 1839, Chinese agents under Lin Zexu (various spellings) seized an incredible 1210 ton cache of opium (2.66 million pounds, or 1.2 million kilos), later destroying the drug.
Digging Deeper
Incredibly, the opium was being forcibly imported into China by British drug merchants with the complicity of the British government. China at the time had no need for Western goods, but was producing silk and other products bought in large amounts by the West, resulting in a gross trade imbalance. (Sound familiar?) British opium (poppy) farmers in India sent their drug to China where opium use became rampant, creating a vast market for the drug and partially offsetting the trade imbalance.
The Chinese emperor realized the danger of a stupefied population as well as the threat to the vast wealth being generated by imbalanced trade, and appointed Lin Zexu to handle the situation. Outraged British officials unleashed their mighty Navy and Army on the hapless Chinese and imposed a reviled Treaty of Nanking upon China, which included giving the British rights over the use of 5 Chinese ports and ceding Hong Kong to Britain. This conflict was called The First Opium War.
By 1856, the Chinese who had been chafing under the “unequal” terms of the treaty rose up in what became known as The Second Opium War, this time with France joining with Britain against the Chinese. Opportunistic Western countries such as the United States also grabbed a piece of the action and carved a niche in China to get a foot in the door to this vast trading “partner.” This war appeared to end in 1858 with a peace imposed by the Western countries, but the Chinese resumed hostilities and fought again until 1860. The slaughter of Western troops and diplomats by Chinese forces resulted in renewed determination by the West, and once again an “unequal” truce was imposed on China. (A torture method employed against Westerners was “slicing” in which many cuts were made on the victim, with life and misery prolonged by the use of tourniquets to delay blood loss.)
Today with the Western democracies beset by rampant drug addiction, drug violence, the outflow of untold millions of dollars in currency and the fumbling inability to cope with the problem, it is hard to imagine there was a time when these same countries were the ones inflicting a drug scourge upon another major nation. Perhaps the old saying, “What goes around comes around” is true after all. Question for students (and subscribers): What do you think? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Madancy, Joyce A. The Troublesome Legacy of Commissioner Lin: The Opium Trade and Opium Suppression in Fujian Province, 1820s to 1920s (Harvard East Asian Monographs). Harvard University Asia Center, 2004.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="13607 https://www.historyandheadlines.com/?p=13607">26 Comments
It is ironic how Britain wanted to “help” the trade imbalance by delivering such a bad, addictive drug that ended up causing wars in the end.
This is a story that once again illustrates Britain’s power. It is interesting that Britain was forcibly importing opium in China and was destroying the country’s economy and balance. Britain’s power is also demonstrated by the fact that they were given the rights over the use of 5 Chinese ports, which of course they could use to import the drug. China’s effort to fight against the wester counties was admirable, but the European countries were way too strong to be defeated.
I think that Britain truly did not care how the opium trade affected the Chinese people, but rather cared more about the money. As the article notes, looking at drug scourges today, it is hard to imagine any country wishing that on another. In my opinion, the British was a massive empire and I think it held a superiority complex over all others because of this. In this way, it didnt care how this kind of deal affected others and it cared only about the benefits for itself.
The method or torture the Chinese used on the Westerners seems cruel. I never knew a drug caused a war in our history. It is crazy to think that drugs are still a common problem that we deal with in the current day.
This is awful! I can’t believe the British forcibly supplied the Chinese with millions of pounds of opium. I can’t imagine the repercussions on the Chinese society. It seems the bad blood between China and America goes back further than I thought. I’ve mentioned karma before in another article or two since I am a firm believer in what goes around comes around and in this case it may have came around for Americans. Drugs are definitely an epidemic we have been fighting for years.
Opium is a drug that is in the deadly drug of heroine. This is absolutely terrible that the British forced the Chinese with all of this drug like Morgan stated. This drug has been banned in the United States since 2005 from selling on shelves because the drug was abused. Drugs are still are a major problem in todays world and countries still fight of these drugs that are illegal.
2.66 million pounds of anything is hard to imagine, let alone a drug. Britain knew that the drug would gain popularity, and saw the large sums of money that could come with forcing the opium on the Chinese. This drug had a large effect on the trade imbalance, and introduced to the people of China a drug that would stir large demands.
I find it interesting that throughout history drugs have always played a major roll. Is opium used today anywhere in the world just as it is? It’s interesting that China’s ruler noted the “stupidity” the drug would bring upon its people and thus outlawed it. Great thinking!
I find it interesting that Britain would impose opium on China. It appears that China did not want any part in the acquiring of the drug, yet Britain was pushing the drug on them even harder. In later years, France and the U.S. became trade partners with China. It appears that Britain, France, and the U.S. were just exploiting China for their goods.
The British must have seen some advantage in pushing opium into China. My guess is the motive was money because as opium was pushed to China, use of it was rampant. This probably caused the Chinese to want it more even though the leaders of China did not want this trade to happen.
You see it all the time today with the war on drugs, and yet they still somehow find a way to people to sell and use. This war on drugs goes back even further than I thought but the fact it was 2.66 million pounds of opium is truly astonishing.
British drug merchants were the ones pushing opium into China with the complicity of the British government and then the British government were the ones that got upset and waged war when the Chinese went rampant with opium. Why would Britain allow the drug merchants to push opium into China if they were just going to get upset about it?
Money and the effort to balance out the trade market are the two main reasons Britain tried to push opium into China. The Chinese wanted to have nothing to do with this drug. I think it was smart of China’s ruler to note the danger of the drug and to appoint someone to take care of it.
2.66 million pounds! I thought the title may have been an exaggeration at first, but wow! It is crazy to think that drugs have been such a major part of our human history and we still have not found a way to practically take advantage of them or limit them.
It seems like the British drug merchants were taking advantage of the addiction problem in China, something that is still going on all over the world today. It is amazing that two different wars resulted from this situation.
It is interesting that the biggest drug bust was over opium and with China. You always hear about Mexico and the major drug lords there.
I’d have to agree with what Lauren said, it’s odd that the British government would wage war about the Chinese getting mad that this awful drug was being pushed into their country when if fact they were the ones having drug merchants run it in for them, and then later to get France involved in the war too.
It seems like the war on drugs goes back farther than what we thought. The amount of devastation it causes on a nation is incredible. So there is no surprise why nations seem to be constantly trying to combat this plague. China in the 1800s is just one example. I wonder if any other nations experienced this war before that time.
This is crazy to think that because of opium there was this big stir up with Britain and China. Things might have seem unfair to the Chinese, because the British wanted five of their ports but it seems crazy to start two wars over it. Non the less, when it comes to drug it messes with people and during the time opium was popular in China.
I believe it was smart of China to not want anything to do with the drug and also find it odd that Britain was angry about it. We see what drugs do to people and China realized that.
Although the war ended in 1858, Chinese were outraged and began fighting again in 1860. An unequal truce was brought upon China.
It is crazy to think that a drug was the reason for conflict between Britain and China. I have never heard about this incident before. The war on drugs has been going on a lot longer than we thought.
Oh, the hypocrisy. Britain was upset that China had regulated the drug market in its favor, so they waged war in order to regulate the market in their favor instead.
Interesting to have a conflict over a drug. But I give China credit.
I remember learning about the Opium Wars in high school. It is crazy that the British funneled so much of the drug into just one country, and that was enough to tip China’s huge profit into a deficit! I also never realized why Hong Kong was British (for as long as it was) all because of the Opium Wars!
It is unusual and odd to read about a war that was waged because of a drug.