The imperialist practices of the British Empire in the 19th century lead to the development of a country that has past most, if not all, western countries economically militarily and politically. Through the trading of the EIC, the British were able to control and single-handedly able to conduct trade throughout the Far East.
The greed and thought process of the imperialists limited their vision to a short term future where they could force upon a country the cash crop of poppy’s. Through the lenses of the 19th century imperialists, these actions could be justified. However, there were many in society who did not view it as such. My topic is how the imperialist practices of the East India Company, and that of Britain led to the unintended rise of China as a dominant country.
Early imperialist practices leading to a positive effect on China. I chose this topic for two reasons. First, China is the biggest economic power in international relations today. During the 19th century however England was able to claim power both in their coffers and militarily. This being the case, how do we see the practices of the British Imperial system impact the Chinese politically going forward in their history. Secondly, I decided to focus on an economic emphasis as well. What economic practices were imposed by the British on the Chinese. Following along that line of thought, can we see the impacts and consequences in Chinese and British economic policies today? Through the course of my project I wanted to analyze the big picture effects of these two cultures clashing. How did the impact of the pre- Opium War trading, economic policies both during and after and then through the end of the 19th century change the two societies. What evidence both politically and economically can be verified? I have found a primary document entitled China, England, and Opium wherein it discusses the effects of the trade of opium on the society as a whole and reactionary responses taken by governments.
I have decided to focus my project on the sailors and merchants who transported the opium and before that would trade silver for porcelain and other fine Chinese craft. Sailors can be studied in depth in this time period due to the impact of both naval trade and naval warfare during the 19th century of British colonial prowess.
These sailors and traders and merchants can tell how these societies both interacted and learned from each other. Conversely it can also show how complicated societal collisions are and what diffusion and enculturation can do to each side. Their lives tell us what morals and values British imperialists and Chinese held in high regard, and well as how each culture tolerated the other, and the varying levels seen in cultural dispersion. Through my secondary sources I have started to construct an argument based around both the exploitative imperialist practices of the British and the subsequent actions taken by the Chinese. Also my secondary sources have helped me focus on how I will be able to base my argument through a modern and historical lenses.
The context of opium in China was that it was originally used for medicine, to be taken orally and was not common due to its price. Between the 16th and during the 17th century it became common to mix opium and tobacco. This practice is thought to have originally come from the northern European traders whom during the height of the silk trade would end up mixing tobacco and opium. In China, trade with many European countries had always been important to China. The city of Canton in China was the most important and industrious port in China. The Canton System (1757-1842)- created in 1757, literally means in translation: a single port trading relations. The Chinese used the port of Canton to control, or attempt to, all sea trade with outside nations. During the 17th and 18th century Europeans paid well, and often for Chinese goods such as silk, porcelain, and tea. Due to the fact that the Chinese would only accept silver in payment, this caused a huge deficit in British net exports. The government realized that something must be done to help bridge the deficit. This led to a concerted effort by the East India Company to sell opium grown on its plantations in India to independent traders, who shipped it on to China to sell in exchange for silver.
China prohibited the importation of this opium, but the traders continued smuggling. EIC activities in the Far East- did not transport opium but contracted the trade out to free traders. The EIC did not partake in the opium trade directly because the sale and practice of smoking Opium had been illegal in China since 1729. In 1839 the Emperor, rejecting proposals to legalise and tax opium, appointed viceroy Lin Zexu to solve the problem by completely banning the opium trade Lin confiscated around 20,000 chests of opium (approximately 1210 tons or 2.66 million pounds) without offering compensation and ordered a blockade of foreign trade in Canton.
This leads to the introduction of William Jardine, a affluent British opium trader while we examine imperialist practices used by Britain in China. At 19 he became a surgeons mate on the Brunswick in the service of the East India Company’s Maritime Marines. There he was able to gain a perspective on the Far East. He left the East India Company in 1817 and started trading opium. He was not alone, many other industrious men also were using the contracted opium trade to make their fortunes by buying opium in bulk in India and then selling it for high prices in China. This steadily helped Britain get out of their trade deficit. William Jardine began transporting opium, and on July 1st 1832 formed Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited with a man named James Matheson who owned a paper called the Canton Register. This paper was influential in Canton and used by opium traders to express their opinions on the happenings in China.
Many traders at the time wanted more than just Canton to facilitate trade in China. Previous to 1838 James Matheson had spent time in Britain in the attempt of convincing Foreign Secretary Palmerston and members of Parliament that something must be done to further facilitate trade in the Far East. Jardine left the Far East in 1839 to take on Matheson’s unfulfilled task. Later that year he put forth the Jardine Paper which is where Gunboat Diplomacy comes from. He advocated for using the might of the British Empire’s navy to gain more leverage on trade in China and other territories in the Far East. In his formal address to Parliament on the matter, he wrote “No formal Purchase, -- no tedious negotiations,...A firman insistently issued to Sir F. Maitland authorizing him to take & retain possession is all that is necessary, & the Squadron under his Command is quite competent to do both,...until an adequate naval and military force...could be sent out from the mother Country. When All this is accomplished, -- but not till then, a negotiation may be commenced in some such Terms as the following - You take my opium - I take your Islands in return - we are therefore Quits, --& thenceforth if you please let us live in friendly Communion and good fellowship. You cannot protect your Seaboard against Pirates & Buccaneers. I can - So let us understand Each other, & study to promote our mutual Interests.”(Sanello, 78-83). He wished for his country to use their naval superiority so that more trade routes into Asia could be made. What followed was the inevitable Opium Wars which lead to British expansion in China along with the acquisition of many ports, notably Hong Kong.
In 1841 Jardine was elected to the House of Commons as a Whig member of Parliament, dying shortly after in 1843 at 59. Jardine and other Opium traders had such influence on Parliament decision making because of the money they made and the economic affects of the Opium Trade. Cable writes, “Opium was no hole-in-the-corner petty smuggling trade, but probably the largest commerce of the time in any single commodity. This commodity was crucial to the establishment of what were becoming the great Western trading firms in Asia. Led by William Jardine…these dealers in Indian opium pushed successive British governments to use force to compel the Chinese to change the trading system in ways favorable to British interests” (Cable, 14). We can see the effects of Imperialism on China in many ways today.
In my research I was able to isolate key effects of imperialism on China. Through Gunboat Diplomacy China has since restructured how they defend themselves. This can be seen in China’s aggression in the South China Sea along with modernization becoming a goal throughout China. The Century of Humiliation coined in 1915 has been taught in Chinese schools as the motivator to progress and beat the West. Through their turmoil China has recently come on strong as a world power whom shows little to no tolerance of drugs, or crime of any kind. China was affected by imperial powers but has now positioned itself to become one.
Bibliography
Booth, Martin. Opium: A History. New York: St. Martins Griffin, 1999.
Brook, Timothy, and Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi. Opium Regimes China, Britain, and Japan, 1839-1952 ;. Berkeley, Calif.: Univ. of California Press, 2007.
French, Paul. Through the Looking Glass: Chinas Foreign Journalists from Opium Wars to Mao. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009.
Fry, Edward, and Robert Hebert Quick. China, England, and Opium. London: A.Strahan, 1878.
“On the War with China.” Hansard Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 7-9 April 1840, Vol. 43.
W. Travis Hanes III and Frank Sanello. Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another. Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks, Inc., 2002, p. 78-83.
J. Cable, Gunboat diplomacy, 1919–1991: political applications of limited naval force (third edition), Basingstoke: Macmillan/IISS, 1994, p. 14.