Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

The Opium Wars - Causes and Consequences.

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

The Opium Wars: Causes and Consequences By Sylvia Simson 992-11-4219 Recitation TA: Claudio Benzecry World Cultures: China Friday, October 4, 2002 Nationalistic pride and an overwhelming desire for worldwide power and acclaim have always been defining characteristics of our world's major political and economical countries. China and Britain have both always been regarded as two of these instrumental nations that shape our world. However, the rivalry between these two countries, particularly in the mid-nineteenth century, stands as the foundation of what is known as the Opium Wars. The first Opium War spanned from 1839 to 1842, ending with the Treaty of Nanjing signed on August 29, 1842. The second Opium War, caused by Chinese discontent with the previously signed treaty, commenced in 1856 and concluded in 1860, and included both the Treaty of Tianjin and the Convention of Peking.1 Both of these conflicts, concerned simply with the issue of trading rights between the two countries, can be defined as a struggle for supremacy as both nations' attempted to economically and politically dominate their rival country's government system.2 However, it must also be noted that cultural differences between the two countries instigated more hindrance in each country's effort for control than anything else - the countries' contrasting belief systems, in combination with their respective historical backgrounds, is what caused ...read more.

Middle

Both the emergent concerns about the opium addiction problem and the deteriorating Chinese economy - two issues that China held Britain responsible for, as Britain was supplying the opium and, in turn, receiving an immense amount of Chinese silver as payment- were the reasons why China treated Britain with such disrespect. However, this added to the progression of sequential events that would eventually cause English resentment of China to reach its climax. In 1838, the emperor at this point in time, Emperor Daoguang, made a resolution that the trade of opium must be stopped. Nevertheless, the foreigners selling the opium ignored his rulings. Commission head Lin Zixu decided to arrest Lancelot Dent, one of the head opium traders, and when the foreign community refused to surrender Dent, Lin shut down all trade at port Canton and made it impossible for the foreigners to leave the country. After six weeks of quarreling, the foreigners gave up their opium and were allowed to leave. Commissioner Lin then destroyed all three million pounds of the drug, believing that the Qing government's method of ruling - a Confucianist regime based on "ethical leadership and firm guidance" 16- would be enough to end the confrontation with Britain. Thinking that Britain would see they were at fault, the Qing dynasty expected no kind of retaliation. ...read more.

Conclusion

The Opium Wars became the source of evolution and progress as China began to put an end to their Confucian way of life and embrace Western thought and culture with open arms. 1 Guthrie, lecture, September 16th, 2002. 2 Encarta Article, "Opium Wars", 2002. 3 Guthrie, lecture, September 16th and 18th, 2002. 4 Encarta Article, "The Qing Dynasty", 2002. 5 Guthrie, lecture, September 18th, 2002. 6 Encarta Article, "Opium Wars", 2002 7 Guthrie, lecture, September 16th, 2002. 8 Spence, p.129 9 Spence, p.130 10 Spence, p.129 11 Guthrie, lecture, September 16th, 2002. 12 Encarta Article, "Opium Wars", 2002. 13 Guthrie, lecture, September 16th, 2002. 14 Spence, p. 131 15 Spence, p. 132 16 Guthrie, lecture, September 16th, 2002. 17 Spence, p. 155 18 Encarta Article, "Opium Wars", 2002. 19 Spence, p. 158 20 Encarta Article, "Opium Wars", 2002. 21 Guthrie, lecture, September 16th, 2002. 22 Guthrie, lecture, September 18th, 2002. 23 Guthrie, lecture, September 16th and 18th, 2002 24 Encarta Article, "Opium Wars", 2002. 25 Encarta Article, "Opium Wars", 2002. 26 Guthrie, lecture, September 16th, 2002. 27 Encarta Article, "Opium Wars", 2002. 28 Guthrie, lecture, September 16th, 2002. 29 Encarta Article, "Opium Wars", 2002. 30 Encarta Article, "Opium Wars", 2002. 1 ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our University Degree Political & International Economics section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related University Degree Political & International Economics essays

  1. Since the initiation of the open door and reform policy, China has experienced the ...

    manage by a head office, and it is easier to transfer technology and know how to control the subsidiary than the partner, therefore, the risk of the release of high technology is slim. However, in China the government regards the automobile industry as its backbone industry, and the current laws

  2. Economic growth in China

    All of them were professional and have received high level education in their relative aspects. Among the eight Chinese interviewees, six of them came from Harbin and two came from other provinces which included one engine expert, one marketing investigator, one operation manager, one human resource manager and two workers.

  1. The Foreign Exchange System and its Impact on the Countries of Latin America.

    In the absence of a detailed calculation, this can estimate the benchmark EMU transaction savings of 0.4% of GDP as an appropriate upper bound of this benefit for Chile in the event of adoption of the US$. 2. Less market segmentation and larger goods market integration For maintaining a national currency may allow to discriminate prices in different Countries.

  2. When is corruption morally corrupt?

    Bribes increases the private wealth of officials and may induce them to take actions that are against the interest of their principals, who may be bureaucratic superiors, politically appointed ministers, or multiple principals such as the general public. Politicians for their greed take benefit of the monetary power which they have acquired by doing fraud promising to the general public.

  1. Economic Development of China

    A consequence to growth: China faces severe natural resource scarceness and environmental deterioration, because they do not have the land or natural resources to sustain their growth, they will have to spend a large amount of money importing from other countries in the future, as their own resources run dry and their population expands.

  2. What was China's attitude towards Western Traders in the late Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries ...

    Hence we can see that China's attitude to Dutch traders was quite subdued and the reasons for this are manifold. John Willis puts forward the view that the Chinese took exception to the Dutch for bringing violence to Chinese waters through wars with the Spanish and Portuguese3.

  1. Does the Future Belong to China

    It is a fact. It is already the world's fastest-growing large economy, and the second largest holder of foreign-exchange reserves, mainly dollars. It has the world's largest army (2.5 million men) and the fourth largest defense budget, which is rising by more than 10 percent annually.

  2. Mercantile system.

    By the sixteenth century the methods of government finance were somewhat more sophisticated, but the preoccupation with plentiful stocks of gold and silver persisted. This gave a rise to a crude form of economic policy known as bullionism. Bullionism was the belief that the economic health of the nation could

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work