Gaining Control of China
The primary motive of British imperialism in China in the nineteenth century was economic. There was a high demand for Chinese tea, silk and porcelain in the British market. However, Britain did not possess sufficient silver to trade with the Qing Empire. Thus, a system of barter based on Indian opium was created to bridge this problem of payment. The subsequent exponential increase of opium in China between 1790 and 1832 brought about a generation of addicts and social instability. Clashes between the Qing government and British merchants ultimately escalated into the infamous Opium Wars. As a result, the British were given the island of Hong Kong and trading rights in the ports of Canton and Shanghai. Although British imperialism never politically took hold in mainland China, as it did in India or Africa, its cultural and political legacy is still evident today. Hong Kong remains a significant center of global finance and its government still functioned in much of the same ways as it did under British colonialism. Furthermore, the language of English and British culture highly impacted the society of Hong Kong and Southern China for over a century.
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Form of Imperialism
A different kind of imperialism was practiced in China-economic imperialism. At first, China exported many goods like silk and porcelain, but bought very few in return. Trade with the outside world was only done at the port of Guangzhou. This made desperate British merchants sell opium into China in an attempt to rebalance the trade. After it started to become popular, the Chinese government banned the import of opium, but merchants simply smuggled it in after that. Eventually the government got more closely involved, seizing over 20,000 chests of opium. This backfired explosively, because it sparked the Opium War with Britain. China lost spectacularly, winning hardly any battles. After China surrendered, the Treaty of Nanjing was signed, giving extraterritorial rights to foreigners not only from Great Britain, but from countries like the United States as well. The treaty exempted foreigners from Chinese law at five ports, including Guangzhou. These changes were resented by the Chinese population, and that resentment would eventually lead to other conflicts like the Arrow War. Soon after the Opium War's conclusion, Chinese officials illegally searched the Arrow, a ship out of Hong Kong. Britain declared war against China again, and this time France joined in on the side of the British. This combination of forces quickly defeated China, forcing it to sign another treaty that opened even more ports to European traders.
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Effects of Imperialism
The Opium War of 1839 was the first large scale military conflicts between the Qing Empire and western imperial powers. With the official prohibition of opium in 1836 in China, the Qing government launched a campaign to confiscate all foreign imported opium in Canton. In 1839, Commissioner Lin Zexu seized over a million kilograms of opium and burned them. The British Empire responded by sending in the military and initiating the first Opium War. The result of this war not only lead to China’s loss of Hong Kong Island, but also revealed the military weakness of the Qing government. Up to this point western imperialist powers have been wary of the Qing Empire, but after this conflict, China begins to experience a series of disadvantageous economic pressures from Britain and other European empires.
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