Time Trip - first Opium War - Brief Article

Current Events, Sept 29, 2000

* In at least one instance in the past, the international drug trade was the cause of a war involving an English-speaking nation. The nation was Great Britain, and the war, fought with China, was the first Opium War (1839-1842).

* Opium, like heroin, is a product of the poppy plant. European merchants had been illegally importing opium into China since the early 1800s. This illegal trade, which resulted in widespread addiction among the Chinese and the growth of so-called "opium dens" (see drawing below), infuriated the Chinese government. "If the opium traffic is not stopped," said Lin Tse-hsu, the governor of Canton, "the country will become poorer and its people weaker and weaker. Eventually not only will there be inadequate funds to support an army, there will be no useful soldiers at all."

* In 1839, the Chinese emperor Tao-kuang ordered all foreign traders in the large port of Canton to surrender their opium. More than 20,000 chests of British-controlled opium were surrendered. But the British refused to pledge not to import more opium.

* Soon after the British refusal, a Chinese was killed by British sailors in the city of Kowloon. The Chinese government demanded that the sailors be turned over for trial. The British refused, and a Chinese fleet of warships sailed toward the British fleet at Hong Kong. The British fired on the Chinese, and the first Opium War began. The British easily defeated the Chinese. The Treaty of Nanjing ended the war in 1842 and opened more Chinese ports to European traders.