We all know that in 1840, Two distant countries, China and Britain, broke out into a war that had a huge impact on China, Britain and the world. Why did such a war break out? What is the nature of this war? We all know that both Opium Wars ended in the defeat of the Qing government, so under the logic of the world of power, the Qing government had to accept a series of unequal treaties, and China was forced to cede a series of sovereignty. From the indemnity of land ceded land to the opening of concessions, from consular jurisdiction to one-sided most-favored-nation treatment, these all signify the beginning of changes in China's national status, and changes have taken place in all aspects of China. In the face of this profound change, it can be said that only a few people are waking up, most people are still asleep, and some people are only partially awakened. Today I will tell you about everything behind the Opium War and its two sides from three major aspects: the cause and nature of the Opium War and its impact on China.
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What are the reasons behind the clash of two civilizations? The two-sided nature of the Opium Wars
Analyze the causes and nature of the Opium Wars
First, let's look at the reasons why Britain decided to go to war at that time. The first was that it believed that the Chinese government at that time had insulted British officials and businessmen; the second was that British businessmen in China had suffered heavy losses; and the third, the British government believed that the safety of the lives and property of British businessmen in China was seriously threatened. Some Western scholars who study modern history now also believe that the Opium War was not a war to preserve the opium trade, but the beginning of a struggle that lasted for 20 years and determined the proper international and commercial relations between the East and the West. It was to create a new pattern of international relations, a new pattern of Sino-British commerce, and opium was only an accidental factor in this war. They believed that china and Britain at that time were not equal. Let's analyze the economic, political, diplomatic, and cultural factors that led to the outbreak of this war to reveal the inevitability of this war, so that we can see very clearly what the nature of this war is.
Smoking opium in the evening
The first is the economic dimension. We know that the Opium War was the immediate cause of the so-called Lin Zexu's anti-smoking campaign and that it was also an excuse for The British to start a war. According to this logic, if China believes that the war to liberalize the opium trade can be avoided?
In fact, at that time, the Qing government also had different opinions on the treatment of smoking bans. In 1836, Xu Naiji of Taichang Temple proposed to relax the ban, allowing opium to be imported according to medicinal materials and then leviing heavy taxes, under which the opium trade could not help but stop itself. Although this proposition is partially supported, it is more often the right voice to demand that opium be strictly prohibited. It can be said that smoking ban is the national policy of the Qing Dynasty and the ancestral system of the imperial court, as early as 1729, the Yongzheng Emperor actually issued a strict prohibition royal order, and by the Qianlong period, the anti-drug prohibition was prohibited. After the Jiaqing Emperor ascended to the throne in 1796, he adopted a policy of strict prohibition and put forward the "three prohibitions" policy of banning seeds, selling and smoking. After Daoguang ascended to the throne in 1820, he also inherited the policy of his ancestors and adopted a policy of strict prohibition on opium.
At a time when Chinese society was suffering great harm from opium, British opium traffickers reaped enormous benefits from the opium trade. The East India Company, representing The British opium interests, received ten million rupees from the opium trade in 1832, more than twenty million rupees in 1837, and thirty million rupees by 1838. In 1836 alone, the British made 18 million profits from the opium trade, while it spent 17 million on native products such as silk and tea imported from China at that time. In fact, Britain has been in a state of deficit in trade with China, and the opium trade has changed this state of Sino-British trade. Therefore, the opium trade not only enabled the British opium dealers to obtain huge benefits but also changed britain's position in the Sino-British trade, on the contrary, the opium trade not only caused a large outflow of Chinese silver, but also caused a serious social crisis.
Opium trade
Then we turn to the political dimension. Britain is a constitutional monarchy of the country, according to the principle of constitutional monarchy, the country's declaration of war on the outside world must be approved by the parliament, and the anti-smoking movement carried out by China affects the interests of the United Kingdom, so the British parliament decided to declare war on China, and in the case of the loss of dignity of the Heavenly Dynasty, the Daoguang Emperor personally declared war on Britain, posing a posture of not hesitating to fight, but in fact, the Daoguang Emperor did not want to fight. One is to resolutely go to war, and the other is to spare no expense for a war, and the inevitability of this war is reflected.
Then there's the diplomatic level. In fact, before the Opium War, emissaries were sent to China three times, hoping to open the Chinese market diplomatically. The first time was in 1787, when King George III sent an ambassador to die of illness on the way to China. The second time was in 1792 when another mission was sent to China, and in 1793 it arrived in China, where it received a grand reception but displeased the mission with the inscription on the flag of the Qing Dynasty on the welcoming ship. This made the British mission feel insulted, the Qing government did not treat the British diplomatic corps equally, and more seriously, there was a fierce conflict between the two sides on the etiquette of visiting the Qianlong Emperor, and finally the two sides compromised. Later, when meeting the Qianlong Emperor, the delegation's 6 demands around trade were rejected by Qianlong one by one, and it was very arrogant, and this time the diplomacy was not successful. The third time was in 1816, when the British sent a mission to China with the same purpose, and the mission refused any concessions at the courtesy of meeting the Jiaqing Emperor, and the Jiaqing Emperor was furious and sent them back on the same day.
With these two diplomatic failures, Britain knew that it would be difficult or almost impossible to open the Chinese market diplomatically. In fact, the Qing government at this time did not yet have a concept of modern diplomacy. He considered himself to be despised by the Heavenly Kingdom, and regarded Britain and its Western countries as a yi and did not interact with it on an equal footing. The British government used the Chinese government's insult to British officials and businessmen as its first reason for waging war. This may have been an excuse, but the Qing government eventually gave it such an excuse.
Britain sent its first mission to the Qing Dynasty
Finally, let's analyze the cultural factors that led to this war. In Chinese cultural texts, Siyi is excluded from the Chinese cultural circle. Therefore, we can see that in the process of the long-term integration of the Chinese nation, there is a distinction between Yixia and Xia, which is a symbol of civilization and a synonym for barbarism, which reflects the consciousness of the Chinese nation in the Central Plains for the cultural center and cultural superiority of the surrounding areas. Under this concept, the Qing government maintained itself as a heavenly kingdom, and naturally regarded Britain, which was thousands of miles away, as a yiyi, and it was impossible to achieve equal exchanges. On the contrary, the British bourgeois government at this time had formed the idea of world integration due to economic development. As the center of the world, the UK is the factory of the world. Due to the objective needs of capitalist production, England is in fact a market and a market for marketing that regards the whole world as its source of raw materials. In this case, the United Kingdom advocates free trade. This creates a sharp conflict with China's ideas. Therefore, from the perspective of cultural factors, China continues the ancient sense of national superiority and the World View of the British bourgeoisie.
The Opium War was essentially a war of aggression against China in order to open the door to the Chinese market and carry out economic plunder. It is a pity that the ignorance and backwardness of the Qing government at that time not only did not defuse the risk of war, but also created an excuse for the aggressors to launch a war, and the lessons of history are worth pondering.
The impact of the two Opium Wars on China
The defeat in the Opium War also brought about a fundamental change in the nature of Chinese society. Traditional agriculture and handicrafts have been strongly impacted, and the inherent economic structure has begun to loosen. Let's discuss the impact of the two Opium Wars on Chinese society from four aspects: political, economic, social, and ideological and cultural aspects.
Changes in the political sphere
The first is the first aspect: changes in the political sphere. At the heart of this change in this field is the power struggle of the imperial court and the slight change of the official system. After the defeat of the First Opium War, the Qing government, although somewhat distressed, was actually just a skin itch for a huge empire. At that time, the Qing government not only did not make any political reforms, but also did not move the idea of economic change.
The First Opium War
After the Second Opium War, there began to be some changes in the political field that were enough to cause political changes. That is the coup d'état of Xin You, which can also be called the coup d'état in Beijing. This change began in 1860, when the Xianfeng Emperor fell ill and died in Rehe, and before Xianfeng died, he issued a will that the eight ministers asked them to assist the young emperor, but they were opposed by Xianfeng's noble concubine Yehenara and the sixth son of Daoguang. The two factions fought fiercely, eventually the eight ministers were either killed or exiled, and from then on, China began to brew a new reform movement. The Western powers also approved of the coup, and they were full of expectations for its initiators. In 1861, the Qing government set up the prime minister Yamen, and the Qing government had a special institution to play a certain positive role in the outside world. Many scholars believe that this is the first major institution established by China in response to western shocks.
The Prime Minister's Office for National Affairs consists of five units and two subsidiary bodies. The five units include the British, Russian, French, United States and Coastal Defence Units; The first Prime Minister's Minister for State Affairs was Yi Chen. This yamen actually exercised the decision-making power of the early days of the Western affairs movement.
Changes in the economic sphere
The second aspect is changes in the economic sphere. The changes in this field are mainly reflected in three aspects. The first change is a change in the trading system. We know that the Qing government's foreign trade system was mainly a tributary trade before the Opium War. The characteristics of tributary trade are mainly reflected in the politicization of the purpose of the first trade, the relationship between the two sides of the trade is actually a relationship between the suzerainty and the vassal state; the content of the second trade is extravagant, and the commodities of the tributary trade are mainly for the ruling class to enjoy some luxury goods, including spices, rare animals, etc.; the main body of the third trade is official, that is, trade is only allowed to official trade and not to allow private trade. Therefore, it can be said that the tributary trade has seriously restricted the development of Sino-foreign economic and trade relations.
Second Opium War
By the late Qing Dynasty, with the rise of the West, the tributary trade model centered on China was declining. After the Opium War, with the opening of a number of treaty ports, Sino-foreign trade shifted to port trade centered on treaty ports. The difference between it and tributary trade is reflected in the fact that the purpose of port trade is to maximize profits, so the content of trade is not limited to luxury goods and anything that can make money can be included in the scope of trade, and the impact of this change on modern China's economy is far-reaching.
The second change was the shift of trade centers from Guangzhou to Shanghai. We know that under the public banking system, China's foreign trade is mainly centered on the thirteen acts of Guangzhou. However, from the mid-1850s onwards, the trade center gradually moved north to Shanghai, which replaced Guangzhou as the center of the country's foreign trade. After that, Shanghai's foreign trade exports accounted for more than half of the country's foreign trade.
The third change is the slow growth in the volume of trade. This growth is characterized by two characteristics: one is the relative stagnation of imports, and the other is the growth of exports. Taking Sino-British trade as an example, in 1842, the total value of British trade to China was about 4.26 million yuan, and by 1845, this trade volume slowly rose to 10.45 million yuan, but after that, Sino-British trade was basically in place and stagnated; the same was true of Sino-US trade, the total value of trade exported to China by the United States in 1845 was about 2.27 million US dollars, but by 1850 the total value of this trade fell to 1.72 million US dollars, so China's imports were stagnant. In contrast, China's exports are slowly growing, and China's foreign trade in silk and tea reached 25.74 million yuan in 1850 and nearly doubled to 46.87 million yuan in 1856.
Tributary trade
These are three remarkable changes in the economic sphere after the Opium War, so why did this change occur? Economically speaking, the uk's productivity and production technology are more advanced, so its production cost should be lower, and the price of the products produced in the Chinese market should be lower and more competitive. Why is its merchandise trade to China growing so slowly? The British bourgeoisie believed that China should be the most extensive market in the world, full of optimism and expectation, and they even thought about how vast the market would be if one out of every three women in China played the piano, but eventually found that no one in China bought it, and cultural differences restricted the sale of products. The British always believed that the reason why British goods were not selling well in China was because China was not open enough, because China's tariffs were too heavy, so they used this as an excuse to launch the Second Opium War after the First Opium War.
After the Second Opium War, the volume of Sino-foreign trade did continue to grow. In 1871, the sino-British trade volume had reached 210 million yuan, and by 1894, the Sino-British trade volume exceeded 440 million yuan. Behind this growth is inseparable from these factors. The first was after 1860, when technological innovations in Europe further reduced production costs and product prices; the second was in 1869, when the Suez Canal was opened, which greatly reduced the sea distance between China and Britain, and the transportation costs were further reduced; the third was that the submarine cable from Shanghai to Hong Kong and from Hong Kong to London was opened, which allowed London's information to be quickly transmitted to this market.
Suez Canal
The growth in Sino-foreign trade eventually led to changes in China's social economy, especially in agriculture and handicrafts, which were traditional productive forces. The first is that the growth of exports of silk and tea agricultural products has led to changes in the structure of rural planting. Farmers in various parts of the south have turned to planting some cash crops; the second is that the natural economic structure of the treaty port area has begun to loosen, and the large number of imports of western yarn and foreign cloth have strongly impacted China's traditional textile industry, and hand-made textiles have also been hit to a standstill.
Changes in the social sphere
Changes in the social sphere are concentrated in three areas. The first was the emergence of a new type of merchant specializing in foreign trade after the two Opium Wars. They consist of two parts, one is a Chinese merchant who deals in the export trade of silk and tea, and the other is a businessman who provides services to foreign businessmen. These two types of merchants were very concentrated in treaty ports, especially in Shanghai.
The second aspect is the emergence of compradors who act exclusively as brokers for foreign firms. Compradors specialize in selling foreign goods for foreigners and buying local goods. Their monthly salaries are probably between tens and two hundred taels, so it is practically impossible to rely entirely on salaries. The bulk of the comprador income is actually income from commissions. He draws commission income at a rate of 1.5% to 2% depending on the size of the transaction volume between the two parties, in addition to the year-end dividend, and some compradors also operate their own businesses. The compradors that emerged after the Opium War were arguably the wealthiest strata, and they accumulated enormous wealth.
Comprador of modern China
The third aspect is the concession in the social spatial structure. The concession first appeared in 1845, when the British took the lead in delineating an area as its place of residence. Immediately after that, in 1848 and 1849, the United States and France also divided the concession in Shanghai. The Great Powers could exercise independent administrative power and independent judicial power within the concession. It can be said that the concession has actually become a country within a country in modern China, and it is also a symbol of the loss of power and humiliation in modern China. Of course, this concession has objectively played an exemplary role in urban modernization, municipal construction and management, and has played a role in promoting the urbanization of modern China.
Changes in the field of ideology and culture
Finally, let's look at the changes in the field of ideology and culture. The first is the change in thinking after the First Opium War. After the First Opium War, there can be said to have undergone some welcome changes in the field of thought. At the heart of this change is a re-understanding of the Western world, a re-understanding of the world. The most prominent of these is the Atlas of the Sea Kingdom compiled by Wei Yuan. It analyzes and studies in more detail the political, economic, historical, geographical, and military aspects of various countries in the world, especially in the West. The outstanding contribution of the Atlas of the Sea Kingdom is that it proposes the theme of modern China. If you want to know more about it, you can look at the relevant content that I have posted before.
In addition to the "Atlas of the Sea Country", there were also a group of advanced benevolent people at that time who also opened their eyes to see the world. These include Yao Ying's "Kang Xuan Ji Xing", Wang Wentai's "Red Hair Clan English Examination Strategy", Xiao Lingyu's "English Chronicle" and so on. These works have introduced all aspects of the Western world in a more comprehensive way and broadened people's horizons.
The English Chronicle
After the Second Opium War, the field of thought was further strengthened in terms of depth and breadth, and it was especially reflected in these aspects. First, the number of people advocating learning from the West increased, and westerners and early reformers appeared. The Westerners constantly stated to the imperial court that learning from the West was actually the essence of today's China. The early Reformers also wrote books and lectures on the idea of learning from the West in order to improve themselves. Second, there is a view of change. Many believe that China is facing a major change that has never been seen before. Since it is a change, we must seek a way to cope with the situation, so the emergence of this concept of change is also a profound change in ideology and culture. The third is the formation of early salvation consciousness. After the First Opium War, the ideological circles have not yet formed a sense of salvation, but after the Second Opium War, the Chinese ideological circles have begun to form a sense of crisis. This sense of crisis, although not widespread, is already more pronounced. Fourth, the concept of "self-improvement through the law" has emerged. To some extent, the foreign affairs movement is the practice of this concept in behavior.
On the whole, the impact of the two Opium Wars on China can be said to be all-round, and it has brought about the trauma and traces left by this war in various fields. The psychological pain it has caused to modern Chinese has at the same time produced an objective positive effect. It not only brings humiliation to modern Chinese but also promotes the awakening of modern Chinese. In the context of modern global integration, no country or any nation does not take the initiative to awaken, or it will entertain itself behind closed doors or be abandoned by the times and suffer all kinds of humiliations brought about by the great powers.
Opium war
After the two Opium Wars, Chinese was conceptually awakened, but it was not fully awakened. At present, there is a popular saying in China: "How far the mind goes, how far the action is." "The ideological changes brought about by the two Opium Wars can be said to constitute an action basis for the Western Affairs Movement and also determine the depth and breadth of the Western Affairs Movement, which may be an important background for the Western Affairs Movement to be limited to artifacts, and at the same time, the reason why the Chinese Foreign Affairs Movement is not effective compared with japan's Meiji Restoration is that we also have to trace back to this change in the ideological and cultural circles after the Second Opium War, which is not thorough enough, so history has indeed left us with a lot of places worth thinking about.