Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
5
The Tumultuous Nineteenth
and Internal Chaos
JOHN BULL IN THE CHINA CLOSET
During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the British,
having failed to persuade China to alter its business and diplomatic
practices to their own liking, and aghast that the Chinese would dare
attempt to interdict British narcotics trafficking, simply bullied their
way into China and imposed their will on the hapless nation through
brute force. The Opium War, fought between the two nations from
1840 to 1841, ended with British victory and the Treaty of Nanking,
which compelled Qing China to cede the island of Hong Kong to the
British crown in perpetuity, pay Britain an enormous war indemnity,
and open several coastal cities to British residence and trade. The
Opium War and its aftermath inaugurated China's “Century of
Humiliation,” which endured until 1949 and the final victory of the
Chinese Communist revolution. During this long and challenging cen-
tury, the British, and also other foreign powers following at their heels,
