Strayer 566-569

After reading about China and Europe's conflicts over Opium and the beginning of the first Opium War, I felt as though the entire situation could have been avoided.

Based on what I read, it was obvious that Britain took complete advantage of China after the Opium war. Britain, with its high ego because of their new military, decided to wage war against China. Soon after, China signed Britain's treaty which was completely in favor of Britain and allowed them to open numerous ports in China and impose tariffs on goods. The same thing happened after Britain won the second Opium War. It is clear that China let Europe push them around, taking control of the ports and allowing Europeans and other foreigners to live in China under their own laws. China, previously a very powerful nation, has fallen at the hands of Europe and their weakened government was the result of Imperialism. Why was China so feeble? Why did they let Europe and other nations such as France and Japan take advantage of them and control of areas of their country? Most likely, China underestimated Europe's newfound power, especially after the effects of the Industrial Revolution.