F. Opium Wars

By 1784 on, American ships began to trade with China. In 1793, a British 66-gun man-of-war called upon the Chinese court. The Emperor received the officers but, then rebuffed by, "We have no need of your ingenious articles of manufactures." Opium continued to be the main source of trade medium. The British opium trade in 1729 amounted to 200 chests (about 150 pounds per chest) and grew to 23,570 chests by 1832 and 40,000 by 1838. After 1800, the Chinese banned the sale and use of opium but ship captains found it easy anchoring off shore and selling the entire cargo. In 1838, the Qing finally put their foot down. Lin Zexu went to Canton to end the trade of opium. By 1839, he had arrested 1600 Chinese, seized 50,000 pounds of opium and 60,000 opium pipes. In a carefully phrased letter to Queen Victoria, he tried to appeal to her sense of morality. But Britain had not outlawed opium yet and the appeal fell on deaf ears. Lin then confiscated 20,000 chests of opium from the British and arrested some British seaman.

The British countered with 16 warships carrying 540 guns, 4 newly designed armed steamers, 28 transports, and 4000 troops. After numerous battles, skirmishes and blockades later the Chinese settled in 1841 giving Britain Hong Kong, $6,000,000 in indemnities and direct contacts with the Qing state. The British were furious that they had not gotten more, and began the fight anew. Capturing some Chinese cities, blockading others, they began an attack on Nanjing. The Qing quickly signed the Treaty of Nanjing.