The topic we are going to discuss today is: What was the real cause of the Opium War?
On this issue, the middle school history textbook says this: The British broke the Qing Government's closed country with a strong ship cannon and forcibly incorporated China into the world trading system.
This view has long been dominant in the world. For example, Marx, the teacher of the proletarian revolution with whom we are incomparably familiar, said: "The real connotation of the Opium War is the determination of the global bourgeoisie to persist in 'overthrowing the Great Wall' and allowing stagnant China to enter the world market." ”
(The Qing Dynasty was defeated by the British jianchuan cannons)
Former U.S. President Adams held the same view. "Opium is not the cause of this war," he said. The cause of the war was China's arrogance and arrogance, and only when others endured humiliation could China be willing to trade with them. ”
These views all have the same logic, believing that the cause of the Opium War is: Britain is leading, China is backward, Britain wants to sell advanced industrial products to China, China will not let you sell, so Britain will use force.
In other words, it is the famous "theory of the inevitability of the Opium War": "The products of the Western powers have nowhere to dump, and if they want to open up the world market, the war against China will inevitably break out; even if it is not because of opium, it will be because of tea or desserts." ”
But is this really the case?
(A good book that subverts many traditional views)
Eh, the book I'm introducing to you today, "The World Built by Trade", completely subverts the above view.
The book "The World Built by Trade" is a collection of columns, the author uses 83 articles to connect the history of world trade from 1400 to the present day, and combines literary techniques and historical analysis, the text is simple, the story is interesting, and the views are very subversive.
After the publication of "The World Created by Trade", it has achieved cross-border influence and is highly respected by the business community. It is the best business book in the Amazon Book List, topped the Amazon Business and Investment Book Bestseller List for 138 consecutive weeks, and is also a recommended textbook for top business schools such as Harvard Business School and Yale Business School.
Author of the book "The World Made by Trade". The book is written by two authors, one is Peng Mulan, and the other is Steven? Topik.
(Famous sinologist Peng Mulan)
Let's start with Peng Mulan. Peng Mulan is a famous historian, sinologist, and former president of the American Historical Society. Three of his works have been imported into China, in addition to "The World Created by Trade", there are also "The Construction of the Hinterland" and "The Great Divergence".
Peng Mulan's works are characterized by their subversion, which is related to his approach to learning. Penmulan rejects the traditional, dominant theory of history, "Eurocentrism," and instead advocates a pluralistic, decentralized approach to re-examining world history.
Peng Mulan believes that historians should be wary of the limitations of traditional theories and simple models, and learn to seek more differences. In this process, even if only some broken clues are found, or only failed arguments are made, as long as people can reflect on the inherent views and question them a little more, it is the success of historians.
Topick is a professor of history at the University of California, with a focus on Latin America, especially brazil and Mexico, and he also has an interesting research direction, the history of the coffee economy.
(Sculpture commemorating the Opium War)
Okay, let's go back to the causes of the Opium Wars. In the book "The World Built by Trade," Peng Mulan was mistaken for the idea that Britain was waging war for trade freedom; in fact, Britain's only goal in launching the Opium War was to sell opium to China to make black money to make up for the trade deficit.
In fact, Peng Mulan pointed out in the book that it was not until the completion of the industrial revolution at the end of the 19th century that Europe really enjoyed the trade advantages brought about by the advantages of production technology. Before and after the Opium War, British goods were not competitive in China, no one bought them, even if it was free trade, Britain could not take advantage.
In fact, for hundreds of years before the Opium War, Europe was in a trade deficit with Asia. Europe buys spices, teas and other products in large quantities from Asia, but few products are imported into Asia. Therefore, precious metals such as gold and silver flow out of Europe and into Asia. However, at that time, the pressure on European countries was not too great, because the New World imported a large amount of gold and silver into Europe, which was enough to compensate for the outflow of European precious metals.
(The UK buys a lot of Chinese tea)
By the 18th century, Asian products imported into Europe had reached new heights. For example, Britain's national beverage tea, imported from the Qing Dynasty alone, cost 3 million taels of silver every year, plus imported goods such as silk and porcelain, and the United Kingdom had to give China 5 million taels of silver every year.
At the same time, the amount of gold and silver imported from the New World began to decrease. Why, dig almost! For example, Potosí, the famous "Silver City" of the South American continent, has been hollowed out by this time, and the entire city is abandoned.
What to do if you have more things to buy, but your income decreases? If you don't want to throttle, you have to open source; if you don't want to reduce the quality of life, you have to find a way to make money. The state and the individual are the same.
(British invasion of India)
The first thing the British came up with was to plunder by force, so they invaded India and plundered the local wealth in a frenzy. But the plundered wealth still cannot make up for the huge trade deficit. At this time, China still seemed to be an incomparably powerful giant, and the British felt that they were incapable of conquering China by force.
In the beginning, the UK also tried to do some serious business. They transported industrial goods such as cotton and cotton yarn to China's coastal cities, such as Guangzhou, in order to open up the Chinese market. But China at this time is a self-sufficient natural economy, every family has a spinning wheel, the British production of cotton, cotton yarn and other products, is not as good as home textiles, so British merchants not only can not sell goods, but also have to bear the cost of cross-sea transportation, often lose money.
What's the best way to buy something? The British pondered and finally found a good thing, which was the drug that could be grown in India - opium.
In the beginning, opium entered China as a luxury product, and the early smokers were rich people, government officials, noble ladies who did not leave the door, and so on.
(Opium smoking scene)
At this stage, opium sales in China were not very much (of course, this is compared to later figures). From 1729 to 1800, there were about 100,000 people in China who smoked opium. The British made some money from opium, but they couldn't make up for the huge trade deficit.
By 1818, things had changed. At that time, someone invented a hybrid opium. The price of this opium is lower, the medicinal effect is stronger, and the high efficiency and low price have completely opened up the Chinese market at once.
By 1839, the opium imported into China was enough for ten million people to smoke, and China paid the price of 13 million silver. Britain's money from drug sales was finally able to make up the vast majority of its trade deficit.
At this time, the Qing Dynasty government finally could not sit still, and a large amount of silver flowed out, which had affected the country's financial and social stability. The Qing government began to fight back, banning opium smuggling, and the landmark event was the one we are all familiar with, Lin Zexu's Humen selling cigarettes.
(Lin Zexu Humen sells cigarettes)
The Qing government's ban on smoking was tantamount to cutting off the British people's financial resources, because at this time, Britain's import expenditure was the largest in the world, mainly relying on China's opium income to fill the trade deficit. Thus, the Opium War broke out. As a result, as we all know, the Qing government was defeated, the land was cut off and compensated, and five treaty ports were opened.
Therefore, the reason for the Opium War is not that the Qing government did not do business, but that the British government did not want to do serious business, like selling drugs, and if you don't buy it, he will beat you.
What happened after the Opium War can also prove Peng Mulan's conclusions.
In 1840, Britain became the world's factory, but its industrial superiority did not ensure that it had enough foreign exchange. First, Britain's domestic industry is industrialized, requiring the import of large quantities of grain, meat and other daily necessities from abroad. Secondly, most of North America and Europe at that time practiced protectionism and restricted Britain from selling its products, so Britain only bought and did not sell to European and American countries, and there was a large trade deficit, and by 1910, this deficit was as high as 120 million pounds.
(The Qing Dynasty was defeated in the war and had to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, which humiliated the country.)
To make up for this deficit, Britain had to continue to sell opium, which was in fact the main commodity of Sino-British trade until the early 20th century. It is this anti-commercial addictive food that allows Britain to retain its position as the largest consumer and largest supplier of capital in the West.
Therefore, in fact, whether before or after the war, Britain's trade with China had only one main content: selling opium and making up for the trade deficit.
Well, the cause of the Opium War, we're going to talk about it today, and I hope it will inspire you.