China’s Bad Trip: The story of how the Opium trade crumbled a nation
By: The Archive
Tags: History, Opium, Youth, Britain, China

Imagine killing someone and being paid by the victim’s family for your effort. This was colonial England’s sadistic privilege over China through the trade of opium in the 19th century.

Close your eyes and join me on a trip to Canton, China, in the archaic Victorian age. Chewing opium relieved pain and caused hallucinations: a low wage worker’s escape from all his woes. Upon discovering that the addictive drug could be smoked, its usage took off in the 17th century. To meet the demand with its supply, by the 1800s numerous opium dens began to emerge.

The Chinese imported silk, tea, and ceramics to British colonies, and in return, they received opium, freshly grown by the East India Company. The surge of the use of poppy seeds in Canton triggered a widespread addiction. What the working class did not see coming, was the withdrawal effects and fatal effects of poppy seeds on the liver, kidney, and heart. Seeing the collective distress, Emperor Yongzheng and his successor Emperor Jiaqing banned the recreational use of the drug in 1729 and 1796, respectively.

Despite the ban, Britain continued to smuggle opium into China — relinquishing morals for the sake of cold profit.

In light of the ample supply, by the 1830s, people of every social standing were hopped up on the hard drug. The obvious inefficiency of the classes forced the Chinese to take action: soldiers burned 20,000 chests (equivalent to two million pounds) of the Brit’s opium they found on their terrain.

Here comes the insanity.

Instead of stopping trade with China, Britain sent in troops to order economic reparations for their financial losses. Despite being given countless signs of Chinese dissent toward their trade, including ending trade with the Empire, Britain continued to force illegally trafficked drugs into China.

While the British media portrayed the Chinese as barbarians who insulted the honour of the British, fifteen million people in China were addicted to opium: one of the worst cases of national drug addiction known to man.

To continue Britain’s Hobbesian streak, they occupied a sparsely inhabited island off the southeast coast of China, now known as Hong Kong.

Thus began the First Opium War.

In 1841, China completely forfeited the war by signing the Treaty of Nanking, where Britain received reparation for damaged goods and control over a new island, allowing them to smuggle more opium into China.

After this conflict, even though opium remained ineffectively illegal, Chinese authorities were coerced to accept the deadly import. Naturally, due to the easy availability, the consumption of the drug burgeoned.

What was China to do next? Submissively accept the damage, or fight back? Is it the authority’s responsibility to retaliate physically, or simply educate the masses about abstinence? If there is no demand, there would be no supply.

While the authority’s actions remained stale, the profit-seeking underbelly, tied to the Brits, triggered the Second Opium War. Chinese smugglers registered their ships as British ships in order to continue sneaking the drug into China. However, one of the pseudo-British ships was caught and seized by the authorities, the British flag was, satisfactorily so, torn down and the crew was arrested.

This action, while perceived as law-abiding and fair by most, was perceived as outrageous to the British.

A stone to their fragile ego resulted in the British Navy, with French support, seizing Beijing and burning down the Imperial Summer Palace.

The Empire’s hegemony forced China to yet again, submit, and legalize the import of opium. The greedy colonial giant won yet again. Imports from East India Company nearly tripled. The opium monopoly out of India was worth 100 million pounds.

However, around 1915, due to global awareness and moral objections against the fatal drug, the demand for opium dropped, rendering it unprofitable and irrelevant. The British organically terminated their imports and all was well.

Back to the present. Was it fair for the British to demand reparations for goods forced upon the Chinese? We definitely think not. Humour us. What would be the reparation for innumerable drug-riddled families and innumerable lives lost? Although, by Britain’s logic, is it time for China to now ask for reparations?

Should we bury grudges of the past or demand reparations for them? Is the justification, it was long back, sufficient for Britain to enjoy a current GDP of almost three trillion dollars, laboured away by innocent lives?