Chapter 32 Section 2 Indian Opium and the Opium War

From the end of Ming Dynasty to the beginning of Qing Dynasty, China's southeast maritime trade was in a passive situation, while the Portuguese, Dutch and British controlled the dominance of maritime trade.At that time, Chinese commercial ships were basically sampans, which could not sail long distances, and could only go to Southeast Asia at most. Therefore, Westerners called China's trade at that time "sampan trade".In this case, the commodity trade between China and India mainly relies on Westerners to change hands.At that time, the commodities China exported to India were mainly tea, silk, medicinal materials and porcelain; while the commodities imported from India to China were mainly cotton, sugar and cloth.Of the aforementioned Chinese goods, most were shipped to Europe, and only a small amount was sold in India.

Before the Opium War, the British exchanged precious metals for goods from China and India in the trade with China and India. Although they made huge profits, they also had a trade deficit. In order to solve this problem, they looked for a way out in opium and cotton , which finally led to the Opium War. Indian opium was imported into China as early as the early 18th century.Before the 30th year of Qianlong (AD 1765), the annual import volume did not exceed 200 boxes, mostly for medicinal purposes.In the first year of Jiaqing (AD 1796), due to the benefit of Chinese drug addicts, the imperial court began to restrict imports. From 1770 to 1789, the opium exported from Bengal increased from 1,400 chests to 4,000 chests, most of which were shipped to Hong Kong for resale to other ports in China.The opium trade brought huge benefits to British and Indian merchants, and all parts of India competed to grow opium poppy and process opium. From 1830 to 1834, the amount of opium imported from India to China was 17,000 boxes; from 1835 to 1839, 26,000 boxes were imported.At this time, opium cultivation had also begun in China. The Opium War in 1840 ended in China's defeat, and the amount of opium imported soared year by year.During the five-port trade period, the main port of opium imports was changed from Guangzhou to Shanghai. From July 1854 to June 1855, the total value of opium imported by Shanghai was 9.11 million taels of silver. In 1858, China and Britain signed the "Commercial Regulations Treaty", and opium became a legal commodity imported into China in large quantities. From 1880 to 1881, India imported 105,507 cases of opium into China, worth about 143.2 million rupees.After 1884, the amount of opium exported from India to China began to gradually decrease, so China has increased the cultivation of opium poppy. From 1890 to 1891, India exported 85,873 boxes of opium worth 92.6 million rupees. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Chinese and Indian governments signed a contract to reduce the volume of opium trade. From 1910 to 1911, India exported 43,921 boxes of opium, worth 127.6 million rupees.Before the First World War, it had been reduced to less than 4000 cases.

From these figures, it can be seen that the production of opium in India and its import into China were all controlled by the British. They were the biggest beneficiaries, while the Chinese people were the biggest victims; It destroyed the health of the people, and the Opium War made China decline even more.During this period, apart from some material exchanges, there was no talk of Sino-Indian cultural exchanges.It can be said that from the establishment of the Qing Dynasty to before the Opium War, there was almost no official direct contact between China and India, only from Chen Jionglun's "Haiguo Wenjianlu" (published in 1730) and Xie Qinggao's dictation and Yang Bingnan's "Hailu" (Published in 1820) and other books know that the Chinese have not forgotten India during the nearly 200 years, and some people have traveled there to investigate.Of course, there are still frequent non-governmental exchanges in border areas such as Tibet and Xinjiang, and there are still many businessmen and migrant workers who do business, earn a living or even settle in those areas, but there are not many written records in this area.After the Opium War, China began to be dominated by foreign powers, and India became a British colony.

During this period, although the exchanges between China and India decreased, the Chinese still paid close attention to India.Before and after the Opium War, advanced Chinese intellectuals sympathized with the national conditions and observed the world with a strong sense of urgency, and many of them paid attention to India.In 1852, Wei Yuan completed the 100-volume masterpiece "Pictures of Sea Countries", of which the nineteenth to twenty-second volumes introduced the process of the British conquest of India, the scramble between Britain and Russia for India, and the general situation of the five Indian countries; The nineteenth and thirty volumes introduce the historical evolution of the Five Indias in detail.After the Opium War, from March to September 1879, a group of six including Huang Maocai was sent by the government to investigate in India.It was the first official dispatch to India in modern history.Huang Maocai is the author of "Notes on India", "Traveling Rumors", "Xiyu Waterway", etc., introducing many new things he saw in India. In July 1881, Ma Jianzhong and Wu Guangpei were dispatched by the Qing government to stay in India for 25 days to negotiate opium affairs.After returning to China, Ma Jianzhong wrote "Southern Journey" and Wu Guangpei wrote "Southern Journey Diary", which wrote about their experiences in India. In 1889, Xue Fucheng was appointed as the Minister of Envoy to Britain, France, Italy and Belgium, and Huang Zunxian was appointed as the second-class counselor in Britain. In 1890, the two went west on the same boat.Later, both of them had works dealing with the situation in India. Before and after the Reform Movement of 1898, both Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao paid close attention to the Indian issue, and wrote many related works, which were very influential in China.

During and after the Opium War, people from India came to China from time to time, and with the introduction of Indian newspapers, the Indian side gradually deepened its understanding of China.During the Second Opium War, there were many Indian soldiers in the army sent by the British to China.They were driven to suppress the Taiping Revolution.But many of them came to China and found that they were being used, and because of their sympathy for the Taiping Revolution, they turned their guns and fought with the Taiping Army.At that time, there were many Indian soldiers in the Taiping Army, and some even gave their lives for the Chinese revolution. In 1893, Benxi, a famous modern Indian philosopher, visited China.He was the first figure among modern Indian nationalists to come to China. In his writings, he expressed his sympathy and friendship with the Chinese people, and predicted that the Chinese people would have a great future.His ideas had a certain influence among the early Indian intellectuals. In 1900, the Boxer Rebellion broke out in China, and the British mobilized troops from India to suppress it.Indian soldiers in the British Army were mostly reluctant.At that time, a soldier wrote a diary in Hindi about what he had seen and heard in China, and published it in India after returning to China, entitled "Thirteen Months in China".The book exposes the atrocities committed by the British, expresses great sympathy for the Chinese people, and also introduces some situations in China at that time.

In short, from this period to before and after the Revolution of 1911, the mutual understanding and sympathy between China and India were enhanced due to contacts and various news reports.