The Great Opium Wars

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, by 1800, no state or institution on earth was as old as the Chinese Empire but it was on the brink of dissolution brought on by opium addiction and the Great Opium Wars between China and Great Britain. The author points out the Emperor Tao-kuang, in an attempt to prohibit the use of opium, in 1820, demanded that the trading ships of the very powerful Britain dump their opium cargoes. The paper relates that, overwhelmingly defeated, on the 29th August 1842, the Chinese signed the Treaty of Nanking, paid an indemnity for the destroyed opium, ceded the island of Hong Kong and the opium trade remained illegal but with no way to stop it: The Chinese Imperial Government lasted only another seventy years.

Table of Contents
A Brief Political History of China
China in the 18th and 19th Century
Opium Addiction in China
The Opium Wars
The Loss of Hong Kong
The Collapse of the Chinese Empire

From the Paper:

"Prior the Qin Dynasty which began around 25 AD, China was a divided country by both subculture and written language. The Qin Dynasty lasted only for 14 years under the reign of emperor, Qin Shihuang, a particularly cruel ruler. Qin Shihuang is credited for unifying the written Chinese Language and with credited with introducing an administrative system that remained in place for more than 2000 years. Principle features of this administrative system are a strong central rule and a system of provinces, governed by administrators appointed by the center. Even communist China still follows this model."

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