Opium War

The British had two major conflicts with the Chinese over opium, in fact, they were called the Opium Wars in 1839 and 1856. These wars would force the Chinese to import opium to help control the population. The fact that opium, cocaine and their synthetic derivatives are illegal has only increased their value. In the same way that the Prohibition Act of the 1930 s allowed organized crime to get a great tax free start, the drug dealers of today have enormous sums of wealth to legitimately buy into any kind of business or government in the world. 

The story of opium is one of both individual and global conflict. It is a story of alleviating pain and inspiring genius, of addiction, escape, and freedom, of contradictions and mystery. Above all, the story of opium is one of constant mutation within the instability and evolution of human consumption and addiction. The story is as relevant today as it was during the great opium wars of the mid-nineteenth century, yet it stretches back into the far reaches of human civilization. 

The second opium war was characterized by increased British forces, resulting in a more violent conflict. Some reports estimated that in one battle, involving the British storming the port of Canton, 10,000 Chinese had been captured or killed within 10 minutes. Further reports indicated that within one 27-hour period, large swaths of Canton were... 

Beeching, Jack. The Chinese Opium Wars. New York Harcourt, 1975. 

Opium Wars, 29-33 Chinatowns, 66 China white, 71 Chinese immigrants,... 

The Opium War, also called the Anglo-Chinese War, was the most humiliating defeat China ever suffered. In European history, it is perhaps the most sordid, base, and vicious event in European history, possibly, just possibly, overshadowed by the excesses of the Third Reich in the twentieth century. (Richard Hooker, 1999)... 

However, supplying opium to millions of Chinese addicts was a profitable business, and it was under the control of British companies. In 1839, when China tried to ban the opium trade, Britain sent its navy and marines to force open the ports. In 1842, the Opium wars ended with China forced again to allow the drug to be sold. 

In the first Opium War, Britain forces China to continue to allow British companies to sell the highly profitable drug to millions of addicts in Asia. In addition to the British legal monopoly, there soon develops a flourishing illegal trade controlled by powerful criminal groups. 

In the second Opium War, Britain and France force additional conces-... 

First Opium War begins between Britain and China. The conflict lasts until 1842. Imperial Chinese commissioner Lin Tse-Hsu seized or destroyed vast amounts of opium, including stocks owned by British traders. The result was a Chinese payment of an indemnity of more than 21 million silver dollars, and Hong Kong was ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Nanking. 

With its officials routinely bribed, China quickly became a haven for corruption, lawlessness, and addiction. In desperation, the imperial government made opium illegal in 1836 and took action against Chinese merchants and Western traders who continued to traffic in the drug. This and other trade disputes with the British led to the first of two Opium Wars. 

The infamous Opium Wars between Great Britain and China in the mid-1800s did not solve the problem for the Chinese. The victorious British compelled the Chinese to make restitution for damages and to allow the opium trade. By that time, Chinese farmers were producing opium at home and opium smoking had spread widely. ... 

Codeine is extracted and isolated from opium. Mid-1800s The Opium Wars are fought between China... 

Look into the motionless stupor of the mind of a youth who has been sapped and destroyed by addiction. Incapable of reason, incapable of thought, today s addicted youth lives for only one thing his "fix," his "high." Then consider the body count of Britain s Opium War against the United States Over 48 million Americans, mostly between theages of 12 and 25 are officially known by the Drug Enforcement Administration to be frequent users of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. Over one-fourth of the American people are severely wounded or dead in a war the country has not yet mobilized to fight. 

The description is familiar, but we are not writing of America in 1978, but China in 1838, on the eve of the first Opium War, when Great Britain landed troops to compel China to ingest the poison distributed by British merchants. 

It was the British Crown s categorical opposition to and hatred for scientific and technological progress that led it to adopt an Opium War policy during the last decade of the 18th century. Having stifled the development of domestic manufacturing... 

Britain s Opium War infrastructure — fostered an epidemic-scale increase in opium trafficking into China. By 1830-31, the number of chests of opium brought into China increased fourfold to 18,956 chests. In 1836, the figure exceeded 30,000 chests. In financial terms, trade figures made available by both the British and Chinese governments showed that between 1829-1840, a total of 7 million silver dollars entered China, while 56 million silver dollars were sucked out by the soaring opium trade. (4)... 

It is appropriate to conclude this summary profile of Britain s first Opium War by quoting from the 15th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, published in 1977. What the brief biographical sketch of Lin Tse-hsu — the leader of the Chinese Emperor s fight to defeat British drugging of the Chinese... 

The London opium traffickers diversification into the cotton trade at the close of the second Opium War intersected with the same London oligarchy s shifting of its principal strategic policy focus to the destruction of the United States — beginning with the efforts to wreck the republic via the British-sponsored Civil War. The massive expansion of cotton exporting was undertaken with full knowledge that U.S. cotton production — centered in the... 

The following points summarize British Opium War policy against China through the 19th century ... 

If anything, British profiteering from the opium trade jumped as the result of the reversion to a totally black-market production-distribution cycle. Ironically, the legalization of the opium trade into China forced upon the Emperor through the Opium Wars had cut into British profits on the drag. Legalization had brought with it the requirement that the British opium... 

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