The First Opium War and Chinese society began to be semi-colonized

The First Opium War and Chinese society began to be semi-colonized

Section 1 China and the World Before the Opium War

China before the Opium War

Before the Opium War, China was an independent feudal country, and the land ownership system and the absolute monarchical political system of the landlord class constituted the main economic base and superstructure of the feudal state. Emperors, nobles, bureaucrats, and landlords, though small in number, owned most of the country's land. According to the records of the Qinghui Codex, in 1812 (the seventeenth year of Jiaqing), the cultivated land area in the country was about 7.88 million hectares, and there were 830,000 hectares of land directly or indirectly controlled by the emperor, nobles, and officials, accounting for nearly 11 percent of the cultivated land area in the country. Bureaucrats and landlords throughout the country also owned large amounts of land. Lenin said: "Whoever has land will have power and power" It is these people who occupy land who occupy the dominant position in feudal society, oppressing, exploiting and enslaving the broad masses of peasants.

A self-sufficient natural economy combining agriculture and cottage industries occupies a major place in the social economy. "Male and female weavers", the peasant not only produces the agricultural products he needs, but also produces most of the handicraft products he needs. Although there are also a small number of products for exchange, they do not dominate the entire economic activity. The peasants, who constituted the overwhelming majority of the country's population, were originally pioneers of the land, but the land was taken away by the landlords. They had to farm the landlords, receive meager labor remuneration, or divide the landlords' land for individual production. They were industrious all their lives and were the main producers of material materials in feudal society, but they had to give a large part of the harvest to the landlords for rent and pay tribute taxes to the state, but they themselves were hungry and cold, and they were struggling on the line of death. The peasantry was ruled, exploited and enslaved in feudal society. Therefore, the contradiction between the landlord class and the peasant class became the basic contradiction of feudal society.

In order to exercise effective class rule over the peasant class and establish a feudal monarchical state, the central government of the Qing Dynasty set up a cabinet and six other institutions, including officials, households, ceremonies, soldiers, criminals, and workers. Each province shall have a governor and an inspectorate. The governor is a governor of a province, the governor has jurisdiction over one province or two or three provinces, some provinces only have a governor, no inspector, some provinces only have an inspector, there is no governor, some provinces have both a governor and an inspector, in the provinces of the same city, the governor's status is higher than that of the inspector. Governments at all levels, such as provinces and counties, were set up to maintain feudal rule. Corrupt officials and corrupt officials are everywhere, the so-called "three years of Qing prefect, 100,000 snowflakes of silver." This vast state apparatus was sustained and fed mainly by looting the peasants' money.

After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the germ of capitalism emerged. For example, in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, where the commodity economy is relatively developed, the private handicraft workshops that have appeared in the textile, oil pressing, papermaking, hardware manufacturing and other industries have an employment relationship between the workshop owners and the workers, and the products are mainly for the supply market, not for their own consumption. These initial embryos of capitalism did not develop smoothly due to the change of dynasties between the Ming dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, as well as the destruction of the war.

After the rulers of the Qing Dynasty entered the customs from the northeast, the feudal dynasty established, the nature of society and the nature of the regime did not change. Although some landlords went bankrupt in the midst of social unrest, the land did not pass into the hands of the peasants, but from the old landlords to the new landowners. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, after the recovery stage, the Kang, Yong, and Qian periods developed to a new peak, and the so-called "this dynasty has been lightly taxed, recuperated, and recuperated for more than a hundred years, so the yin fu su sealed home in the sea is more than the household." The embryonics of capitalism also developed. Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Ningbo and other places of handmade textile industry has been quite developed, Nanjing silk weaving industry "Qianjiajian machine to more than 30,000 counts". Jingdezhen porcelain industry has "two or three hundred districts of folk kilns, fireworks all year round, craftsmen and men are not less than hundreds of thousands, do not borrow porcelain to make a living", and the division of labor is very fine, there are pottery masons, billet pullers, printing billet workers, painting billet workers, kiln workers, kiln workers and so on. There are rich men who organize production with capital in their hands, and there are also workers who have lost the power of the means of production. Although this handicraft workshop with capitalist elements has developed considerably in some regions and in some industries, it has not yet been able to completely break through the shackles of feudal production relations. Comrade Mao Zedong said: "The development of the commodity economy in China's feudal society has already given birth to the germ of capitalism, and without the influence of foreign capitalism, China will slowly develop into a capitalist society."

The prosperity of the Kang, Yong, and Qian periods was superficial prosperity. The Qing Dynasty crossed this peak of false prosperity and gradually fell into the deep valley of decay. With the deepening of land annexation and class contradictions, especially after the blows of the White Lotus Peasant Revolt in the early years of Jiaqing, the Qing Dynasty resembled a edifice that had tilted and was about to collapse.

Land annexation is severe. The Qianlong Dynasty military chancellor and Yan Yan occupied more than 8,000 acres of land. Qi Shan, the governor of Daoguang Dynasty, possessed more than 2,500 hectares of land. "In recent days, the land has been returned to the rich, about fifteen or six out of ten, and some people in the old days are now tenant farmers". The endless strangulation of the peasants by rent and usury has brought them to the brink of misery. The contradiction between the landlord class and the peasant class is extremely acute. In order to survive, the peasants rose up one after another to rebel against the dark rule of the Qing Dynasty.

The famous progressive thinker Gong Zizhen pointed out: "Since the end of the Qianlong Dynasty, officials, soldiers, and people, wolves and people, people who are not soldiers, peasants, workers, and businessmen, will be five or six out of ten generals. . Since the beginning of the Beijing Division, there have been all kinds of four directions, and the rich have become poor households, and the poor households have become hungry. The head of the four peoples, running lowly. The overall situation of the provinces, precarious can not spend the month and day, Xi Hui asked the age? "The Qing Dynasty was in decline. Political corruption, military waste, financial constraints, and crises abound.

The world before the Opium War

Before the Opium War, capitalism developed rapidly in the major countries of Europe and america.

A bourgeois revolution broke out in England in 1640, overthrowing feudal rule for the first time in a large European power. After half a century of repeated confrontation between capitalist forces and feudal forces, the ruling position of the bourgeoisie and the capitalist system were established, and the road for the development of capitalism was cleared. In 1784, Watt invented the steam engine, the "Industrial Revolution" appeared in Britain, major changes in production technology, the machine industry gradually replaced the workshop handicraft industry, the production relations and social structure also changed dramatically, and industrial production developed at a rapid pace. After Britain entered the nineteenth century, the industry continued to develop upwards, the textile industry generally used the steam engine, and the annual pig iron output reached 1.39 million tons in 1840, becoming the most advanced industrial country in the world at that time.

The bourgeois revolution of 1789 in France was more thorough and profound than the bourgeois revolution in England. It fundamentally eradicated the feudal system, established bourgeois power, and opened up broad prospects for the development of capitalism. The impact of this revolution extended far beyond Europe and the world. Since then, industrial production has risen rapidly, and the textile industry has developed rapidly, with an annual pig iron output of 350,000 tons in 1840, becoming an industrial country second only to Britain.

The United States issued the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States of America on the basis of victory in the war against British colonialism. In the early nineteenth century, the United States was lagging behind Britain and France, the capitalist economy was still weak, and the southern slavery system was still dominant, and later due to the migration of European immigrants and the development of the four regions, capitalist industry developed rapidly.

German capitalist industry lagged behind Britain, France, and the United States. From the 1830s onwards, machines were used in some production sectors and in the transportation industry. But the German Confederation remained fragmented, with thirty-eight independent kingdoms, each in its own right, which seriously hindered the development of capitalism.

Russia was a country that had long been in feudal serfdom, and although handicraft workshops of a capitalist nature appeared in the late eighteenth century, the feudal economy remained dominant until the first half of the nineteenth century.

Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate for a long time, and from the late eighteenth century there were handicraft workshops of a capitalist nature, but the feudal economy remained dominant until the first half of the nineteenth century.

From the above simple description, it can be seen that before the Opium War, Britain and France were more advanced than China, the United States and Germany were more advanced than China, but they were not much advanced, and Russia, Japan and China were similar.

Third, the proliferation of opium in China

With the rapid development of capitalist industry, the contradiction between the social nature of production and the private ownership of the means of production has become increasingly serious. In 1825, the first economic crisis broke out in England, and soon after, it was in the midst of a new economic crisis, and in order to get rid of this crisis, Britain stepped up its internal squeeze of the people, launched a war of plunder on the outside, and opened up new commodity markets and raw material supply areas. "Capitalism cannot exist and develop without constantly extending the scope of its rule, without developing new places and drawing the ancient non-capitalist countries into the vortex of the world economy."

At that time, China was an ancient and relatively backward feudal empire, and the Western capitalist countries had long coveted it and regarded China as an important target of aggression. As early as 1792 (the fifty-seventh year of Qianlong), britain sent Ma Jiaerni as a special envoy to China, demanding the opening of Ningbo, Zhoushan, and Tianjin as commercial ports, reducing tariffs on imported goods, and allowing British officials to be stationed in Beijing, which was rejected by the Qing Dynasty. In 1816 (jiaqing twenty-one years), the British sent another delegation led by Amested to China to reiterate a demand for aggression similar to that of Macartney, which the Qing Dynasty once again solemnly refused.

In order to guard against foreign aggression, the Qing government limited foreign trade to Guangzhou, and reiterated that foreigners must go through the system of "public travel" and abide by the Qing Dynasty's rules for managing foreigners. In the early Sino-British trade, China exported tea, raw silk, medicinal herbs, porcelain, native cloth and so on. Britain exports woolen fabrics, metal products, cotton and so on to China.

China has maintained a super-dominant position, with silver flowing from Guangzhou in the early nineteenth century averaging between one and two million taels per year. In order to make up for the trade deficit and open up the Chinese market and develop the British market in India, britain gave the earlier East India Company the privilege of operating the opium trade. They used opium, a special commodity, as their main means of invading China.

Opium is a drug with a strong narcotic nature that can seriously damage the physical and mental health of users. Britain exported opium to China from the beginning of the eighteenth century, about 200 boxes a year, each weighing more than 120 catties. After the East India Company gained the privilege of operating the opium trade, opium exports to China surged. The Qing Dynasty banned the import of opium during the Jiaqing period, but due to the destruction carried out by the British, the Qing Dynasty banned it and invalidated it. Opium is inexpensive and expensive, and it is difficult to quit as long as you are addicted to it. Opium also coincided with the spiritual emptiness and extravagant life of China's landless class, and it quickly became a disaster. In order to obtain high profits from opium, British capitalists tried every means to sell opium to individual countries, and from 1820 to 1824, an average of more than 7,800 boxes of opium were exported to China every year. Despite repeated edicts from the Qing government banning the import of opium, the British ignored Chinese edicts and bribed Qing officials for armed smuggling. The opium dealers shouted: "The interests are too generous to be easily abandoned." Li Hongbin, the governor of Liangguang, set up patrol boats to investigate, and instead of putting an end to smuggling, he opened the green light for opium smuggling, and "the patrol ships received 36,000 taels of silver per month and let them enter privately." This kind of opium smuggling expanded from Guangdong to the southeast coast and even to many areas in the north. On the eve of the Opium War from 1838 to 1839, Britain exported more than 40,000 boxes of opium to China every year. Through this dirty opium trade, Britain changed from overstabundance to excess, and plundered a large amount of silver from China, estimated to be more than 10 million per year, becoming an important financial revenue of the British government.

Both the United States and Russia participated in the opium trade with China. The United States took a similar approach to britain, which exported opium to China mainly by sea. Tsarist Russia exported opium to China mainly by land.

The opium disaster, which was far-reaching and poisonous, made the Qing government even more corrupt, greatly weakened the strength of the army, destroyed the quality of the human body, affected social production, and worsened the people's lives. Due to the large-scale outflow of silver, silver was expensive and cheap, which also caused extreme financial difficulties for the Qing government.

4. The Qing government's anti-smoking measures

The opium epidemic aroused the anger and opposition of the Chinese people, and also aroused the serious concern of the Qing government, which gradually formed two factions on the opium issue, one advocating strict prohibition and the other advocating relaxation of prohibition.

In 1836 (the sixteenth year of Daoguang), the secretary of the Taichang Temple, Xu Naiji, asked the ban on the import of ya tablets to be lifted, and the hand was allowed to publicly buy and sell medicinal materials to pay taxes, and only barter, not exchange for money, so as to legalize the opium trade. He believed that this would both increase state taxes and prevent the outflow of silver. At the same time, it is proposed that civilian and military officials be prohibited from smoking opium, and if there are those who smoke, "they should be reprimanded and exonerated"; "their civilian traffickers should not be counted." He then proposed lifting the ban on the cultivation of opium by the people, saying: "The number of seeds in the interior is increasing day by day, and the profits of the people are decreasing day by day, until there is no profit to be made, and those who come from the outside world cannot help but stop themselves." If the opium ban is opened according to his ideas and opium competition is carried out with foreigners, the number of opium will increase greatly, and there will be more smokers, which is bound to cause greater harm. Supporting this idea were Mu Zhang'a, the Chief Military Aircraft Minister, and Qi Shan, the Governor of Zhili, and others.

Qi Shan stated that the opium ban should not be too strict, and the punishment should not be too heavy, otherwise if the offender "refuses to bow down and be bound, he is bound to gather a crowd to resist", and there will be a situation of rebellion by opium smokers, "this can be worried about it", and he tried every means to defend the smokers and asked the imperial court to "use the punishment with caution". Qi Shan also said: China really has a method of "controlling Yi", "then rhubarb and tea are also." In the West, "the soil is strong, the wind is fierce, and the sheep and beef are ground as food, the food is not easy to digest, and the stool is not ready to die", rhubarb and tea are "holy medicines for the intestines", "great pity", there is no "good use" of the method, it is really stupid.

In 1838 (the eighteenth year of Daoguang), Huang Juezi, the secretary of the Hongxu Temple, was strictly forbidden to refute the fallacy of the Chi Forbidden Sect, stating that since the prohibition of opium imports was ineffective, the fundamental law was to severely punish the smokers, saying: "At first, he was nothing more than a poor disciple, accustomed to being superficial, and still knowing how to help. Later, he smoked from the official hemp reins to the industrial and commercial Yousu, as well as the female monks and nuns. Buy smoking utensils for the market day". He also pointed out: "Those who open tobacco houses in their provinces, prefectures, and counties are all traitorous officials and soldiers, colluding with the rich families and not the children of the xiao, and are known for their momentum, gathering crowds to smoke in the deep alleys of the heavy gates." The magistrate's confidant, Ding, is half drowned here." He advocated that those who "must first be cured of smoking" should be abstained for one year, and those who did not quit after the deadline should be punished by death. In the past, the punishment was too light, "the crime of opium addicts is only a shackle, ... The pain of addiction is worse than the shackles, ... Therefore, he was willing to commit a criminal sentence and refused to be severed. In the future, "the five neighbors will be knotted", and if there are opium addicts, those who are interrelated will also be punished. Those who enforce the law violate the prohibition, "except for those who commit crimes punished by officials, their descendants are not allowed to take the examination", and those who "do solid work" by local officials are rewarded, and those who are not really responsible are punished. No one smokes opium, and opium smoke can't help but kill themselves. His propositions were clear and clear, "the Son of Heaven is moved, and the thin sea is shocked." On death, it is said that "it is a good recipe for killing one or two people and giving birth to tens of millions of people." "Chinese and foreign copyists are like seeing the stars and celebrating the clouds, scrambling to extend the neck." The critic said: "Passionate emotion, cut to the point, can't help but burn incense with your hands, and clap the case." Supporting this idea were Lin Zexu, the governor of Huguang.

Lin Zexu stated: Opium smoking "On the theory of death, those who propose privately are not lacking, but those who resolutely go to Chen have this unique performance." Opium poisoning "cuts off what is not prevented by law," and if it is not severely punished, it will not be able to stop its proliferation, "if it is leaked and ignored, it will cause the Central Plains to have few soldiers who can resist the enemy decades later, and there will be no silver that can be fed." Lin Zexu's argument to maintain the Qing dynasty power impressed the Daoguang Emperor.

As a result of the controversy between the strictly forbidden faction and the forbidden faction, the strictly forbidden faction temporarily prevailed. Daoguang did not adopt Huang Juezi's proposition that those who smoked opium for one year and did not quit smoking were sentenced to death, but he dismissed Xu Naiji, a representative figure of the Relaxation Ban Sect, and pointed out that the officials of the Relaxation Ban Sect who could not rely on smoking and selling cigarettes were smoked, so they summoned Lin Zexu, a representative figure of the Strict Prohibition Sect, to enter Beijing. After several discussions on smoking bans with Lin Zexu, Daoguang and Lin Zexu ordered Lin Zexu to go to Guangzhou on December 31, 1838 to ban opium. At the instigation of the strictly forbidden faction, many provinces and autonomous regions set off a mass anti-smoking campaign.

Lin Zexu (1785-1850) was a Fujian marquis who entered the ruling clique through the imperial examination and served as a Zhejiang Daoist and Jiangsu inspector. Lin Zexu arrived on March 10, 1839 to deliver Guangpin. The two guangdong general departments Puteng Yan and Jia Tiao actively rectified coastal defense, defended against foreign aggression, and launched a campaign against smoking. Strictly take tobacco dealers, confiscate smoking equipment, close tobacco houses, put an end to smuggling, and punish bribery. Lin Zexu, who was aware that the foreign merchants had anchored twenty-two barges full of opium in Linglingyang, ordered the foreign opium dealers to "hand over all the opium on the barge to the officials,... He declared that he would "inherit the holy edict from The Face of Beijing" and "be able to act cheaply" and "If the opium does not stop for a day, the minister will not return for a day, and he will swear to be consistent with this matter." Lin Zexu's harsh measures were a very heavy blow to foreign opium traffickers and were enthusiastically supported by Chinese people. Charlie Yilu, the British commercial superintendent in China, infiltrated Guangzhou from Macau and unsuccessfully destroyed Lin Zexu's smoking ban with opium dealers. Lin Zexu successively confiscated a total of 19,87 boxes of opium from British and American merchants (including more than 1,500 boxes from the United States). From June 3, 1839, Lin Zexu personally destroyed the seized tobacco soil on Humen Beach and destroyed it in public. It is reported: "On the high ground of the beach, around the tree fence, open the pond to dip, throw lime, boil the soup in an instant, do not spontaneously combust, open the culvert at night, and go to sea with the tide."

This feat solemnly demonstrates to the world China's resolute will to ban smoking and its determination to resist aggression. Lin Zexu was a great patriot who resolutely resisted foreign capitalist aggression.