Imperialism 1800‐ 1914: South Asia, Asia Qing Dynasty: 19Th Century Qing Dynasty: Early Global Role
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Impact: Asia (Qing Dynasty) Imperialism 1800‐ 1914: South Asia, Asia Qing Dynasty: 19th Century Qing Dynasty: Early Global Role Western Europe and Global Trade: ‐ China drawn into ‘global systems’ through maritime trade ‐ increasingly with Britain but other European powers also involved (Dutch, later Germans among others) ‐ 18th century, companies like Dutch and British East India Companies, dominating ‘world’ maritime trade from New Worlds to Old… [see ‘Impact: India’; video ‘Story of India’ last lecture] Qing Dynasty: 18th ‐19th Centuries The “Canton System” (1757 – 1842): ‐ Qing Dynasty wished to limit direct influence ‘foreigners’: mid‐18th C. established Canton System ‐ designated Chinese merchants to handle trade ‘Hong’: directed by Chinese official ‘Hoppo’representing Emperor ‐ trade with foreigners confined to Canton, river‐port at confluence Han and Yangze Rivers ‐ Hoppo oversaw affairs of both sides “Canton System” “Canton System” “Canton System” Canton River Port 1840s “Canton System” Hong Merchants lived Opulent Lives “Hong” Merchant, Canton “Canton System” Lavish Living: House of Chinese Merchant, Canton c.1840 “Canton System” Problems: ‐ For Europeans: too limiting ‐‐wanted direct access to interior markets ‐ 1790s missions (McCartney, Amherst) to ‘Open Up’ market failed ‐ Britain’s trade: imports ceramics, silks ‐‐ but most of all, tea “Canton System” 18th Century Tea Plantation, China “Canton System”: Problem of Tea Canton Riverfront: 100,000 houseboats home to Cantonese “Coolies” carrying tea in forefront‐ small crafts then delivered boxes to clipper ships lying downriver “Canton System”: Problem of Tea Crushing Tea Leaves (above) Tea Carriers (right):136 kilos each “Canton System”: Problem of Tea Porters in Canton Carrying Tea to Shipper “Canton System”: Problem of Tea European Merchants sampling tea (China, 19th) “Canton System”: Problem of Tea “Tea Clipper Cutty Sark” – famous for role tea trade with China “Canton System”: Problem of Tea Unloading Tea at East India Docks, London (1877) 40,000 Packages = 20,000 Pounds in Weight “Canton System”: Problem of Tea Tea‐Drinking Europeans: both tea and porcelain originally arrived from China; British potteries began to compete “Canton System”: Problem of Tea Robert Fortune: sent not only to collect plants for nursery cultivation but to learn ‘process’ for making tea ‘corporate espionage’ “Besides the collection of tea plants and seeds from the best localities for transmission to India, it will be your duty to avail yourself of every opportunity of acquiring information as to the cultivation of the tea plant and the manufacture of tea as practiced by the Chinese and on all other points with which it may be desirable that those entrusted with the superintendence of the tea nurseries in India should be made acquainted.” [from “The Great British Tea Heist”, ‘Resources’] “Canton System”: Problem of Tea Botanist Robert Fortune: travelled to China after Treat Nanjing; on behalf East India Company, brought tea plant to India 1848 “Canton System”: Problem of Tea Problems: ‐ China not interested in what Britain had to offer in return ‐ demanded silver in return for tea ‐ posed balance of trade issues for British “Canton System”: Problem with Tea Problems: ‐needed to find something Qinq wanted as much as British wanted tea ‐ Answer : Opium “Canton System”: Problem with Tea ‘Opium for Tea’: ‐ British East India Company: monopoly on trade in tea and opium ‐ opium grown, processed in British India [noted in video ‘the Story of India’] ‐ some returned to England [see ‘laudanum’, below], but: ‐ most was destined for China “Tea for Opium” Chinese Opium Den, 19th Century “Tea for Opium” The ‘Tea for Opium’ Route “Tea for Opium” Indian Workers Processing Opium (n.d.) “Tea for Opium”: Problem Solved Problem Solved: for British East India Company ‐ silver paid into China for tea was then being ‘paid back’ for opium ‐ Company basically kept silver in China ‐ Ledger books [as shown in Indian context, ‘video’] showed actual flows: ‘terms of trade’ quickly shifted in favour of BEIC –and Britain “Tea for Opium” Opium Imports from India to China: One Chest = (apprx.) 140 pounds 1773 1,000 chests 1790 4,000 chests early 1820s 10,000 chests 1828 18,000 chests 1839 40,000 chests 1865 76,000 chests 1884 81,000 chests (peak) “Tea for Opium” Problem created: for Qing Emperor, Economy ‐ his regime seeing net outflow of silver for addictive drug ‐huge profits to BEIC ‐accelerated ‘push’ to expand import business “Tea for Opium” Problem created: for Qing Emperor, Economy ‐ undermined Canton system : bribes, ‘commissions’ normal part of business ‐ quickly corrupted officials, hong merchants ‐ corruption spread into Imperial palace itself! “Tea for Opium”: new Problem Solution for Qing: end trade in opium ‐ Emperor worked both ‘sides’ ‐ issued Local Decree: threatened everyone involved in the use and distribution of opium with death ‐ those identified in decree: accomplices, advisers, participators, receivers, givers (those who deliver the drug), boatmen, buyers, wholesalers, ‘furnace builders’ (to prepare opium for use…) Huge Impact across all social classes! Qing Response to ‘New Problem’ Furnace Keepers or Wholesale Dealers: Annexed Laws on Banning Opium, July 1839 Whoever shall hereafter open a “furnace,” and connive with and secretly buy opium of the outside barbarians, storing it up for sale, shall, if he be the principal, be decapitated immediately on conviction. The royal authority shall be respectfully produced and the law executed, were a report is sent to the crown. The head of the offender shall then be stuck upon a pole, and exposed upon the seacoast as a warning to all. The accomplices, advisers, participators, receivers, givers (those who deliver the drug), and boatmen who knowingly receive opium on board their boats for transport, shall be sentenced to strangulation and thrown into dungeons to wait the royal warrant for their execution. The houses and boats of these parties shall be sequestered. Qing Response to ‘New Problem’ Emperor appealed internationally ‐ wrote directly to Queen Victoria to end Trade: ‘sharing rulers’ concern for people’: “We have heard that in your honorable nation, too, the people are not permitted to smoke the drug, and that offenders in this particular expose themselves to sure punishment. ...” [see textbook p.795 for different quotation ‐ would seem to be same letter, send on Emperor’s behalf] Qing Response to New Problem But in fact…. ‐ Opium widely used as medication in England: “Laudanum” ‐ 1821 “Confessions of an English Opium Eater” made dangers of addiction public but did not change opinion on selling it to China Consequences: the Opium Wars First Opium War: March 1839 ‐ British merchants asked by Hoppo to give up cargo (genuine fear created by Emperor’s ‘Local Decree’) ‐ negotiations, attempt to imprison leading British trader failed ‐ trade stopped for 6 weeks: finally . ‐ 20,000 chests finally delivered as ‘payoff’ ‐ merchants, ships, cargo released The Opium Wars Having confiscated more than, 20,000 chests, close to 3 million pounds raw opium had to be destroyed. Three trenches 7’ deep,150’ long dug: 500 workers dissolved opium in solution water, salt, lime The First Opium War First Opium War: ‐Emperor’s repeated request to cease trade in opium refused ‐ October: British announced that military naval expedition would reach Canton in spring 1840 The First Opium War Despatch from Lord Palmerston to the Minister of the Emperor of China: [excerpts] ... It appeared that the Laws of the Chinese Empire forbid the importation of Opium into China, and declare that all opium which may be brought into the Country is liable to confiscation. The Queen of England desires that Her Subjects who may go into Foreign Countries should obey the Laws of those Countries; and Her Majesty does not wish to protect them from the just consequences of any offenses which they may commit in foreign parts. But, on the other hand, Her Majesty cannot permit that Her Subjects residing abroad should be treated with violence, and be exposed to insult and injustice; and when wrong is done to them, Her Majesty will see that they obtain redress. The First Opium War . Now, although the Law of China declared that the importation of Opium should be forbidden, yet it is notorious that for many years past, that importation has been connived at and permitted by the Chinese Authorities at Canton; nay, more, that those Authorities, from the Governor downwards, have made an annual and considerable profit by taking money from Foreigners for the permission to import Opium: and of late the Chinese Authorities have gone so far in setting this Law at defiance, that Mandarin Boats were employed to bring opium to Canton from the Foreign Ships lying at Lintin. The First Opium War ...The British Government fervently hopes that the wisdom and spirit of Justice for which The Emperor is famed in all parts of the World, will lead the Chinese Government to see the equity of the foregoing demands [i.e. reparations for the opium that was destroyed and for the cost of sending a British fleet to China]; and it is the sincere wish of Her Majesty’s Government that a prompt and full compliance with those demands may lead to a speedy re‐establishment of that friendly intercourse which has for so great a period of time subsisted between the British and Chinese Nations, to the manifest advantage of both. ‘Dispatch’ assured armed conflict would follow: First ‘Opium War’ 1839 ‐1842 The First Opium War First Opium