Along with the word treaty usually come agreement. In China's case it is disagreement. After four years of battling over the shipment of opium into our country, the fighting has stopped as the two parties agreed to end the war. Although they agreed to end the war, our government did not get a say in what the treaty mandates. The Treaty of Nanjing states that the island of Hong Kong is to be ceded to Britain and five ports, which include Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai, are to be opened for trade and aliens settlement. Chinese courts in these trading areas were not allowed and foreign traders followed the law of their own country. Finally, our country is now to be taxed to repay the British for their war efforts in China. Nothing about opium is mentioned in the treaty (1).

Those inferior barbarians, the western traders, started this entire problem. In an attempt to keep the strangers out of our civilized land, our government forced all trading to go through the Island of Canton. The British love our tea, silk, and porcelain. We traded these items to the British in return for cotton. Cotton is a miserable commodity next to silk. The Chinese traders told the British we did not want their low-grade material. They offered us silver, which we gladly accepted. Only after awhile did those barbarians realize that money does not grow and there is not an unlimited supply. They kept losing money out of this situation. They then offered the traders opium. Those greedy British traders would do whatever it takes to get their hands on our precious items. Opium has been outlawed in China since 1729. The imperial decree stated that if used carelessly, it could kill like a knife (2) The British brought in a very deadly drug and knew it would kill people just to get our materials and make a profit. This trade was very lucrative, which is why people still tdeal the drug although there are very strict punishments for involvement with opium (3).

In 1838, our government took a stand, which led to the war over opium. Opium was usually smoked and caused the user to be in a state of oblivion for hours. Opium was so addictive that if one tried to quit, they would suffer from terrible syptoms like diarrhea, vomiting, and excruciating pain in the head or limbs,. Some even died. Our government had to do something to stop this drug. Emperor Daoguang sent his best man, Commissioner Lin to stop the Opium trade permanently. Smugglers were punished, some were executed, and opium dens were raided. Lin gave the British two choices, they could leave with their opium, or they could hand over their opium to the government to be destroyed. The British barbarians said no. They took profit over lives of the Chinese. The last option for Lin was to beg (4).

He wrote a letter to Queen Victoria begging her to stop her traders from trading opium. Lin said, "Such persons who only care to profit themselves, and disregard their harm to others, are not tolerated by the laws of heaven." He also says, "The fact is that the wicked barbarians beguile the Chinese people into a death trap. How then can we grant life only to these barbarians?" (5) Lin's strong words had no affect on the Queen. This situation had no solution but war. The British did not want to give up the opium so they started a series of naval attacks on our coastline. Our out of date army was no match for their modern navy and army. We were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing before more harm was done.

Those were the facts. These are the effects on you, the people of China. You, the people of China, are now subject to taxes to pay the British barbarians for the harm they have done to us. Local rice patty farmer Zexu Dewong says, "We are merely trying to defend ourselves from this deadly drug, and those greedy British people are making me pay for it. I am outraged." The effects of this war are to be felt for a long time. With new ports opening, more interaction with these barbarians will take place. Some will most likely settle and bring their western ideas into our country. More opium will leak into our country. It is obvious that more people will become addicted and die because of this drug (6). We will lose our ability to trade with other countries because the British will control our trade. If we want to trade with the Spice Islands, they will have to go through England first. Overall, we have lost our seclusion. Westerners are here to stay, and all of our lives will be changed from this day forward.

Sources

1. Loren Fessler, and the editors of Life Life World Library - China, (New York: Time Inc, 1963), 93-94.

2. Ibid., 92-93.

3. Ibid., 93.

4. Eileen H. Tamura, Linda K. Menton, Noren W. Lush, Francis K.C. Tsui, and Warren Conen, China - Understanding Its Past (Hawai'i: University of Hawai'i Press, 1998), 97-98.

5. Ibid., 99.

6. "Chin'ing China/ The Opium Wars." [http://www.wsu.edu:8080/-dee/CHING/OPIUM.HTM]

Pictures

1. MacKinnon, Rebecca. "China at 50: The Search for Identity Continues." [http://asia.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/50.beyond/political.overwiew/], January 2002.

2. "Trade War: Britain Aquires 'A Barren Rock.'" [http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9706/hk97/past/opium.wars/], January 2002.

3. "Macau Durante el Guerra." [http://www.macaumuseum.gov.mo/htmls/tempexhi/SinoJapan/Intro_chi.htm]