Looking at the various dynasties in history, almost all of them started from scratch to the prosperous world and finally fell into the long river of history, and the Qing Dynasty, as the last feudal dynasty in China, naturally did not escape such a historical evolution. The early Qing Dynasty was very prosperous, and in its heyday, many small countries around it had to go to the door to meet regularly, but in the last year of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty began to decline and ushered in a major turn of the century. In particular, the defeat of the Opium War and the signing of the Treaty of Nanking marked China's entry into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. What is more peculiar is that this unequal treaty was not signed in the land of the Qing Dynasty, but on a British warship named Kang Huali, and there was a dog on the scene. Or did the British deliberately do it?
Signing of the Treaty of Nanking
As the first unequal treaty signed between Chinese and foreign powers in Chinese history, the Treaty of Nanking was an important turning point in the course of history. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, opium was prevalent in China, drugs paralyzed the Chinese, so that the Qing Dynasty at that time was in the midst of decay and darkness, at this time Lin Zexu stood up and held the Humen Tobacco Sales Campaign, the British opium trade in China caused friction, and in 1840, the British launched the Opium War against China on the grounds that trade was hindered. In the early days, the Qing Dynasty was still very confident, after all, the combat effectiveness accumulated by the Kangqian Dynasty was not boasted, and the early stage did achieve a temporary victory. When the British were at full power, the naval strength of the Qing Dynasty obviously began to be overwhelmed, Xu was influenced by the idea of "valuing peace", the Qing Dynasty decided to compromise and try to exchange for future peace by signing unequal treaties, I have to say that at that time, the Qing Dynasty was really naïve, to know that this kind of unequal treaty of losing power and humiliating the country was only zero times and countless times, but unfortunately the Qing Dynasty at that time did not realize it.
Why did you choose to sign it on a British warship?
At that time, the Qing Dynasty government that signed the Treaty of Nanking was in a passive state, so it was up to the British to decide where to sign it. The British guys are really chicken thieves, isn't the land fragrant? People who do not know history may think that this is very romantic, and there will be a kind of boating on the lake to negotiate peace on the boat. But this is not the case, the British chose the KangHuahua warship once defeated the Qing navy at sea, which is simply a naked provocation, no doubt telling the Qing Dynasty: Look, Lao Tzu defeated you at sea, and also let you sign an unequal treaty at sea, so that you can think about your nest and humiliation all the time. This is obviously punching Daqing in the face, as the old saying goes: "A soldier can be killed without disgrace." Such an obvious humiliation, can it be endured? But at that time, the Qing Dynasty really accepted it, and it was precisely this compromise that allowed the foreign powers to see the weakness of the Qing Dynasty, so that the unequal treaties that followed were even more inhumane. I also often fantasized that if the Qing Dynasty had resisted desperately and did not sign a treaty at that time, history would not have developed in another direction.
Does the dog in the image have a special meaning?
When the Treaty of Nanking was signed, the two sides left a small number of precious images together, which unexpectedly showed a dog. Logically, signing a treaty is a very serious thing, and the appearance of animals seems unreasonable, is there a special meaning? In fact, this dog was the pet of a senior officer of the British army at that time, and this officer loved his dog very much. It is probably a day of not seeing it like three autumns, so even if you go out to fight, you must carry it with you. The officer made a great contribution to the Opium War, so he was also present when he signed the contract. The so-called man was in the dog, so the dog he carried with him was lying lazily on the ground, and it was also recorded in the final photo. Although the intelligence of this dog is the ceiling of the dog world, it does not know what those who drag big braids are doing, nor can it know what kind of great changes and darkness this short meeting will bring to China. The appearance of this dog should be just a coincidence, there is no special meaning, at best it can be regarded as a silent witness to history.
Although history has become the past, these moments of humiliation have been recorded by history one by one, always reminding the sons and daughters of China that if they are backward, they will be beaten, and they must strive to strengthen themselves and stand at the top of the world.