Anglo-Chinese Wars

The Opium Wars were unsuccessful efforts of the Chinese government (1839 to 1842 and 1856 to 1860) to stop the British Empire from smuggling opium into China in defiance of their drug laws. Opium sale was made illegal in 1800, when the number of addicts reached 2 million. To stop the importation of opium, Emperor XianfengLin Tse-hsu, appointed the governor of the province Hu-Huang, Lin Tse-hsu, to oversee the plan.

The drug was being brought into trading ports by British merchants in large clipper ships. These ships were carrying legal trade items along as well. The most well known port for the illegal smuggling of opium into China was in the city of Canton, where the government began their anti-drug campaign. On March 10, 1839, Lin made it clear that whomever was caught in possession of, selling, or distributing the drug would be sentenced to a public execution by strangulation. Along with the ultimatum, a treatment center was built near Canton as a safe haven for addicts who wanted to get clean.

There are 17 known ways of execution in Ancient China.

Lin's task was made extremely difficult because there were so many corrupt Chinese officials accepting "squeeze money," or bribes, from foreign merchants. On March 25, 1839, he ordered the suspension of any and all trade with the Western Merchants living together in a small neighborhood in Canton. Barricades were built to stop Chinese citizens from going to the docks for any reason, and troops surrounded the neighborhood.

As a result of the time and energy Lin put towards this cause, he had 2.5 million pounds of opium to dispose of. Three trenches were built (75ft x 150ft, 7ft deep) along the coast near Canton and were filled with water. The chests where the opium was being kept were then broken open and poured into the trenches, followed by limes and salt. This chemical reaction caused the opium to heat and liquefy, sending clouds of gas into the sky. Attempted theft of the opium brought immediate decapitation.

Above is the flag of the Qing Dynasty. The Qing [pronounced Ching] establishment, also known as the Manchu Dynasty, ruled from 1644 to 1912, and was the last dynasty in China's history.

The Chinese navy and military forces entirely underestimated their enemy, calling them "primitive barbarians." They were unaware that the civilian merchant ships were armed with cannons as well, and in both Opium Wars, they were blindsided by the power of the British Empire.

The problem with opium in China was reduced, but the seemingly impossible effort was far less successful or efficient than the Emperor had hoped. Unsatisfied, he sent Lin Tse-hsu into exile to a lonely northern frontier province on August 21, 1840, dismissing him of his duties and title as Imperial Commissioner.

In 1842, after the first Opium War was lost, China was forced to pay an indemnity to Britain, open four ports to them, and give Hong Kong to Queen Victoria under the Treaty of Nanjing. The Qing Empire also had to recognize Britain as an equal to China and gave British subjects extraterritorial privileges in treaty ports under the Treaty of the Bogue. However, conflict was soon present again. After Qing government officials conducted an illegal search of a British ship, the British resumed siege upon the treaty port Canton in late 1856. The British Empire had taken Canton over by December 1857. They continued to gain control of ports along the coast of China until they reached Peking. Under fear that their capital city would be taken from them, the Chinese signed a new treaty, the Treaty of Tianjin, stating that all British benefits gained through the war would be communal between all major foreign powers, forcing creation of a British embassy within Beijing.