Chapter 5 Chapter One The New View of Imperialism

In the People's Republic of China, modern history is thought to have begun with the Opium Wars in 1840.The war was largely a typical act of aggression by the British for their own benefit.The door of exchanges between China and the West was opened in this way. For most Chinese, the nature of the several wars with imperialist countries after that seems to be the same.Although a century of friendly relations with China and the unequal treaties of privilege in China were a thing of the past with the Korean and Vietnam wars, scholars have more and more closely identified the experience of Western imperialism in China as A basic fact to study.A century ago, although our ancestors did not have the powerful firepower of today, they made full use of the new paddle wheel gunboat similar to the British "Nemesis".More importantly, they knew that the trade benefits they demanded were consistent with the spread of civilization at the time.

The trafficking of opium from India to China is an organized international crime that has lasted for a long time in modern times, but the guilt caused by it has been diluted by its economic interests, so that the opium trade has continued for a hundred years.Opium was produced in India and then regularly trafficked by the British-ruled Indian government.Those who brought opium to China were private traders who brought it to the coast to be sold by Chinese smugglers. After 1800, China was overpopulated, times were difficult, and corruption was high. China's demand for opium was growing, and China's powerful distribution network - which we have not yet studied seriously - just met this demand.

At first, there were very few drug addicts in China, but by the end of the 19th century, there were more than 10 million opium addicts, and China's opium production could already compete with India.Indulging in opium is a disaster for the ancient Chinese way of life, because Confucianism attaches great importance to self-discipline and responsibility to the family, and opium smokers have to first satisfy their own desires, and then sacrifice their families and themselves.From the beginning, both buyers and sellers recognized the moral problems posed by the opium trade. The British Parliament voted on the issue six times on humanitarian grounds, but the trade did not stop until 1917.

Let's look first at Britain's motivations for the opium trade.Although British Prime Minister Palmerston emphasized the importance of freedom of trade, diplomatic equality and the protection of the British people under British law, the real motive was money - first through the opium trade and taxes in India, and then through the importation of British tea Taxation, this tea trade was mainly financed by the sale of opium in Guangdong. Second, look at the means of waging war.The cause of the war was Lin Zexu, the imperial envoy, who tried to ban the sale of opium in Guangdong in 1839 and restrict the trade of the British.Dr. William Chatton, an opium merchant who advocated free trade, submitted directly to Palmerston the plan to start the war and stated the purpose of the war.Opium fleets helped transport expeditionary troops from India, captains of opium merchant ships were employed as fleet navigators, and opium company clerks became interpreters.Expeditionary officers and diplomats benefited from opium merchants' hospitality and conditions; British quartermasters received silver taels in London banks by selling securities from Chinese buyers in coastal opium receivers .From the very beginning, the British wanted China to compensate all the expenses of the expeditionary force.The war was actually a speculation in claiming war losses, so that the British could make a lot of money indirectly.At the end of the war, the Qing government was defeated and signed the "Nanjing Treaty" to compensate Britain for a huge compensation of 21 million taels of silver.

At a time when the British press were keen to cover the war in Afghanistan and the reconquest of Kabul, the Opium Wars were less important because the former had more direct ties to the Indian dynasty.Opium also found its way into Britain, not only from such luminaries as Thomas De Quincey and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who swallowed a quarter pound of opium intoxicating mixture, but even reform leader William Wilbur Foss became a victim of opium.About 500 boxes of opium flow into Britain every year, while 20,000 boxes of opium are shipped to China, and finally reach 80,000 boxes.Young Glades's humanitarian statements about the opium trade were drowned out by subsequent calls to rein in the recurring evils of Britain's industrialization.The British opium trade came to an end by World War I as the opium market was taken over by Chinese producers.Protestant missionaries who loathed opium but supported war faced the same unresolved moral questions that arose during this period of history, as did Catholic missionaries, who expanded and subverted China's interior.The Catholic mission became part of the aggression.These inconspicuous missionaries traveled through the provinces under the aegis of secret Christian societies, maintaining a heretical cult in a declining dynasty.The French clergymen who were martyred in the Middle Kingdom openly mocked the Chinese authorities, as did the opium merchant Chaton and his colleague Alexandre Maison, who operated in the coastal areas.Catholic priests — not to mention Protestants — often turned to opium dealers for transportation and funding when they traveled.The aggression of the Westerners is multi-faceted, which has become a conclusion.

In fact, according to Western reports, China's opening up is nothing more than a Sino-foreign joint venture.Nazarene and Jesuit Protestants helped to maintain small Christian communities, and in foreign trade they became counterparts of tea compradors and Chinese opium dealers.Foreigners have come to a basic law of activities in China: without the support of the Chinese, nothing can be done.From the very beginning, the opium trade was a joint operation between China and foreign countries. The Chinese people's demand for opium was far greater than that of Lancashire's textiles. As a result, an opium sales network beyond the imagination of foreigners emerged.The Chinese who participated in the Western aggression were scoundrels, speculators and hooligans.Hong Kong became a haven for smugglers and gang members expelled from Confucianism.Although Christian churches and Chinese Christian groups finally emerged as one of the best and most patriotic strata in New China in the 20th century, they obviously went downhill at the beginning of China's road to revolution and regeneration.

In the 1840s, opium merchants could often be seen instructing diplomats and aiding British troops.Chinese government officials have repeatedly learned from experience and disasters in an effort to catch up with Western military technology. In 1800, the British and French invaders finally looted and burned the Old Summer Palace.Today's study exposes the evils, intrigues and inglorious role of the government in the opium trade, and condemns the immorality of British aggression despite the name of sanctions. The decline and decline of the old Chinese treaty ports in the 19th century are in stark contrast to the increasingly prosperous social scene.Therefore, Colonel Charles Eliot, the main representative of Britain, always wanted to stop the war and restore trade, which earned him a reputation as a humanitarian and opposed to the opium trade.The English merchants' distaste for Lord Elgin's humanitarian views was of course well known.From 1858 to 1860, Elgin completed the work of "opening up" China that started in 1836.

Opium is an addictive narcotic similar to modern heroin and nicotine, and chronic use can make people fall prey to this social evil.Humanists trying to end British opium production in India and trafficking to China encountered difficulties similar to those of Americans today, who are trying to get some of the big tobacco companies to stop producing cigarettes. We all admit that cigarettes are harmful to human health, but we found that many states still have a strong interest in this, which is reflected in Congress, and some members of the legislature are clamoring for it; moreover, the shareholders of tobacco companies are also profitable .In short, we know that the addiction to tobacco has long been considered a sin, but the tobacco business has done too much good for the American economy to be easily given up.If we continue to condemn British India for the opium trade, it is time for us to reflect on ourselves.

Portions of this article were published in The New York Times Book Review on January 11, 1976, with a review of Peter Ward Fay's The Opium Wars, 1840-1842, The Chinese Barbarians in the Early Nineteenth Century and Their The War That Forcibly Opened China's Half-Closed Doors" (Kapor Hill, North Carolina State University Press, 19755; Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1975) and Chinese Opium The War (New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch, 1975).