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Sunday, November 29, 2009
Opium War/Anglo-Chinese War
In the 1830's the British had a huge drug cartel, one bigger than any drug cartels today. They were growing Opium/Poppies in India and having it shipped out to them by the East India Trade Company. The company shipped lots of opium which were then traded for Chinese goods and other things like that. This massive amount of opium being distributed created a country filled of drug addicts. In 1836 trafficking became illegal but the British would just bride the officials. The amount of opium in China was getting smaller and smaller. The addicts were getting sadder and sadder. This period of time was called the Great Tragedy and to help ease the pain of not having the drugs, the emperor made opium illegal. The English were still sending ships trying to get the drugs into the country. China decided that they would just go out and force the ships to turn around and not bring the drugs into their country. Well, this idea worked but gave the English another idea, they could just bring warships with them on their trafficking trips. Now the Chinese warships were nothing compared to the English, with their gunships. The British would go back and forth on the coast firing at forts and fighting on land. Finally the Chinese were forced to agree to the Treaty of Nanking, which made it so that all British people on Chinese soil committing a crime would be subjected to British law. No restrictions were placed on the British trade into China, so the drug trafficking doubled, and the opium levels grew once again.
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you said the Chinese sent ships out to stop Opium from entering the country. Obviously China didn't want anymore Opium coming in since the emperor of China made it illegal. However, I think it's very important to note that although the Chinese government didn't want it or allow it, many people in China did want it and were addicted to it. So the decision to keep ban Opium was not in favor of the people of China.
ReplyDeleteActually Rehan, this is a pretty common trend. The US has even been in this sort of state in the past. When the Volstead Act was initiated in 1919 the majority of the nation was against the idea. The act banned all alcohol, although they clearly said that the ban was against intoxicating liquors, they never defined intoxicating so all alcohol was banned. This lead to a revolt where speakeasies were created to serve alcohol in secrecy. In most cases where there is a ban on a good/service, the people will revolt against the idea. This can be seen with abortion and other topics.
ReplyDeleteHm, I don't understand where you are disagreeing with me.
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