The Opium Wars(I)
I.
The opium trade
II.
The “Napier Fizzle” of 1834
III.
Charles Elliot and the opium issue
IV.
Commissioner Lin in Canton
A.
British reaction
V.
The Treaty of Nanking
Key Terms
“Country Trade”
Jarine, Matheson and Company
Taipan
Lord William John Napier
Lord Palmerston
Charles Elliot
Lin Zexu
Imperial Comissioner
Wei Yuan
Hong Kong
Chusan(Zhoushan)
Dinghai
Tianjin
Qishan
Chuenpi(Chuanbi)
Chuenpi Convention
Sir Henry Pottinger
Sanyuanli
Qiying
Treaty of Nanking
Extraterritoriality-With the exception of opium traders, Americans in china were subject to
•1820s “country trade”and “country ships” they go to the pearl river and under cover of night rowed small armed rowboats, then sell the things, row back to mainland and then product controlled by Chinese•Volume increases exponentially, 1729- 200 chests/year sold. 1767- 1000 chests/year, 1820- 4500/year, 1837- 40 000/year•By 1830 opium dens as common in china as gin houses in England•B find out, lower the price, more market, increase profit by sheer volume•Opium spread from Canton to anyone in the city•Ching govnt had to take action because spreading from city to rural areas •Dope trade draws in all foreign traders •Jardine, Matheson and companyhandles 1/3 of all opium sold to China•B control large amount of opium market in China, America gets in on it•American traders hook up with Turkish opium producers, then send opium to China•Roosevelt family got rich off opium trade•B interested in opium, since ppl are more wealthy, they can charge more taxes B turns blind eye to opium problem, decide only fault of users •China is bleeding silver by end of 1820s, bad enough, but China has a silver(big) and copper(small) currency, because of copper in relation to silver, taxes become huge •Southern China ppl throw down the plough and turn to banditry because they can’t pay the taxes
