The Opium Wars

Treaty Port System

An interstate system that developed through treaties in the mid-nineteenth century between China and Japan on the one hand, and European and American powers on the other, to regulate trade and legal privileges of European and American powers in selected ports in China and Japan.

Opium War

a conflict between Britain and China, lasting from 1839 to 1842, over Britain's opium trade in China

Opium Trade

The sale of opium - grown legally in British-occupied India - by British merchants in China, where the drug was illegal; it became a destructive and ensnaring vice of the Chinese

Pearl River Delta

Major industrial area in Guangdong; includes Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong.

trade imbalance

result of a country exporting more goods to other nations than it imports from them, or importing more goods than it exports. China exported more goods than imported, and the British paid for this imbalance with silver until Opium shifted the balance the other direction.

Lin Zexu (1785-1850)

Distinguished Chinese official charged with stamping out opium trade in southern China; ordered blockade of European trading areas in Canton and confiscation of opium; sent into exile following the Opium War

Warship Nemesis

The first iron steam ship of the British Navy, debuted in the Opium War

Treaty of Nanjing

1842, ended Opium war, said the western nations would determine who would trade with china, so it set up the unequal treaty system which allowed western nations to own a part of chinese territory and conduct trading business in china under their own laws; this treaty set up 5 treaty ports where westerners could live, work, and be treated under their own laws; one of these were Hong Kong.

Arrow Ship

Chinese officials took Arrow over, but it hung the British flag. The British HK governor used the incident to begin the 2nd Opium War

Second Opium War (1856-1860)

Started because Chinese arrest European Opium smugglers aboard The Arrow. Brits. win again. Really just an excuse for the British to get better terms after heightened tensions.

Sepoy Mutiny

an 1857 rebellion of Hindu and Muslim soldiers against the British in India

Tongzhi Emperor

1861-1875. While the reforms enacted during his rule were referred to as the "Tongzhi Restoration", he had little to no power and it was Cixi who was calling all of the shots. The reforms were uneven because of the Qing courts waffling so they did not achieve much.