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Britain starts giving China 'Patna Opium'
British couldn't afford to buy things from China, so they gave Opium. Opium is a drug and, like any other drug, if used incorrectly or too much, it starts to affect you, in a bad way. So the Britishers kept giving Opium to the Chinese people. First it started of with 4,000 crates, then it went onto 35,000 crates of Opium shipped to China! Since too much opium was getting shipped to China, people just started to have it. This is significant because it is how the Opium War basically started! -
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The Opium Wars and a Little History Behind that
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Banning Opium in China
When the Opium trading had gone too far, the Kings of China sent notices to ban Opium. Despite the efforts of Kings to ban Opium, corrupt leaders did not take it into action. People were also shipping it behind their backs! Commissioner Lin Zexu openly burned 1.2 million kilograms of Opium, but nothing worked. The British kept on bringing Opium. This is significant because IF the Chinese government could stop Opium trading, then they probably wouldn't even have a war! -
The FIRST Opium War
When the Chinese couldn't stop the British, they declared a war between Britain and the Qing Empire. But Britain had an advantage, they had allies: United States, France and Russia, so they could easily win! -
After the First Opium War
The Chinese lost to the British and the Britishers took Hong Kong. Now Hong Kong was part of the British Colony. -
SECOND Opium War
When the Chinese refused to let the West continue with trading (after they had stopped), the Britishers attacked again. Although they had Hong Kong (Treaty of Nan King), and other things too, they just wanted more. And because of their injustice, the Chinese people didn't like the Britishers so that influenced how persistent they were to make Hong Kong part of China again. They would've been persistent, but this made them more persistent. They really wanted to have nothing to do with Britain! -
Hong Kong is Back to China
In 1999, Hong Kong was given over back to China from the United Kingdom. This ceremony is usually called the Handover or the Return.