First Opium War The First Anglo - Chinese War ( 1839 – 42 ) , known popularly as the First Opium War or simply the Opium War , was fought between Great Britain and China over their conflicting viewpoints on diplomatic relations , trade , and the administration of justice for foreign nationals . Prior to the conflict Chinese officials wished to end the spread of opium , and confiscated around 20 , 000 chests of opium ( approximately ) from British traders . The British government , although not officially denying China ' s right to control imports of the drug , objected to this seizure and used its military power to enforce violent redress . Alternatively , author Glenn Melancon argues that the " casus belli " of the war was not opium but Britain ' s need to uphold its reputation , its honor , and its commitment to global free trade . In the end , says Melancon , the government ' s need to maintain its honor in Britain and prestige abroad forced the decision to go to war . In 1842 , the Treaty of Nanking — the first of what the Chinese later called the unequal treaties — granted an indemnity to Britain , the opening of five treaty ports , and the cession of Hong Kong Island , thereby ending the trade monopoly of the Canton System . The failure of the treaty to satisfy British goals of improved trade and diplomatic relations led to the Second Opium War ( 1856 – 60 ) . The war is now considered in China as the beginning of modern Chinese history . Background . From the inception of the Canton System by the Qing Dynasty in 1756 , trade in goods from China was extremely lucrative for European and Chinese merchants alike . However , foreign traders were only permitted to do business through a body of Chinese merchants known as the Thirteen Hongs and were restricted to Canton ( Guangzhou ) . Foreigners could only live in one of the Thirteen Factories , near Shameen Island , Canton and were not allowed to enter , much less live or trade in , any other part of China . Tea and silver trade . There was an insatiable demand for tea in Britain . Only silver was accepted in payment by China for tea which resulted in chronic trade deficits . A trade imbalance came into being that was highly unfavourable to Britain . The Sino - British trade was dominated by high - value luxury items such as tea ( from China to Britain ) and silver ( from Britain to China ) , to the extent that European gold and silver became widely used in China . Britain had been on the gold standard since the 18th century , so it had to purchase silver from continental Europe and Mexico to supply the Chinese appetite for silver . Attempts by the British ( Macartney in 1793 ) , the Dutch ( Van Braam in 1794 ) , Russia ( Golovkin in 1805 ) and the British again ( Amherst in 1816 ) to negotiate access to the China market were vetoed by the Emperors , each in turn . Opium trade . By 1817 , the British decided that counter - trading in a narcotic drug , Indian opium , was a way to reduce the trade deficit and to turn the Indian colony profitable . The Qing Administration originally tolerated opium importation , because it created an indirect tax on Chinese subjects , while allowing the British to double tea exports from China to England — which profited the monopoly for tea exports of the Qing imperial treasury and its agents . Opium was produced in traditionally cotton - growing regions of India under British East India Company monopoly ( Bengal ) and in the Princely states ( Malwa ) outside the company ' s control . Both areas had been hard hit by the introduction of factory - produced cotton cloth , which used cotton grown in Egypt . The opium was sold on the condition that it be shipped by British traders to China . Opium as a medicinal ingredient was documented in texts as early as the Tang dynasty but its recreational use was limited and there were laws in place against its abuse . But opium became prevalent with the mass quantities introduced by the British ( motivated , as noted above , by the equalisation of trade ) . British sales of opium in large amounts began in 1781 and between 1821 and 1837 sales increased fivefold . East India Company ships brought their cargoes to islands off the coast , especially Lintin Island , where Chinese traders with fast and well - armed small boats took the goods for inland distribution . However , by 1820 the planting of tea in the Indian and African colonies along with accelerated opium consumption reversed the flow of silver , just when the Imperial Treasury needed to finance suppression of rebellions against the Qing . The Qing government attempted to end the opium trade , but its efforts were complicated by local officials ( including the Viceroy of Canton ) , who profited greatly from the bribes and taxes . A turning point came in 1834 . Free trade reformers in England succeeded in ending the monopoly of the British East India Company , leaving trade in the hands of private entrepreneurs . Americans introduced opium from Turkey , which was of lower quality but cheaper . Competition drove down the price of opium and increased sales . In 1839 , the Daoguang Emperor appointed Lin Zexu Governor of Canton , with the goal of reducing and eliminating the opium trade . On his arrival , Lin Zexu banned the sale of opium , demanded that all opium be surrendered to the Chinese authorities , and required that all foreign traders sign a ' no opium trade ' bond , the breaking of which was punishable by death . Lin also closed the channel to Canton , effectively holding British traders hostage in Canton . The British Superintendent of Trade in China , Charles Elliot , got the British traders to agree to hand over their opium stock with the promise of eventual compensation for their loss from the British government . ( This promise , and the inability of the British government to pay it without causing a political storm , was an important cause for the subsequent British offensive ) . Overall 20 , 000 chests ( each holding about 55 kg ) were handed over and destroyed beginning 3 June 1839 . Following the collection and destruction of the opium , Lin Zexu wrote an official memorial ( 折奏 / 摺奏 ) to Queen Victoria in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the trade of opium , as it had poisoned thousands of Chinese civilians ( the memorial never reached the Queen ) . Kowloon incident ( July 1839 ) . After the chest seizure in April , the atmosphere grew tense and at the end of June the Chinese coast guard in Kowloon arrested the commodore of the " Carnatic " , a British clipper . On Sunday , 7 July 1839 , a large group of British and American sailors , including crew from the " Carnatic " , was ashore at Kowloon , a provisioning point , and found a supply of " samshu " , a rice liquour , in the village of Chien - sha - tsui ( Tsim Sha Tsui ) . In the ensuing riot the sailors vandalised a temple and killed a man named Lin Weixi . Because China did not have a jury trial system or evidentiary process ( the magistrate was the prosecutor , judge , jury and would - be executioner ) , the British government and community in China wanted " extraterritoriality " , which meant that British subjects would only be tried by British judges . When the Qing authorities demanded the men be handed over for trial , the British refused . Six sailors were tried by the British authorities in Canton ( Guangzhou ) , but they were immediately released once they reached England . Captain Charles Elliot ' s authority was in dispute ; the British government later claimed that without authority from the Qing government he had no legal right to try anyone , although according to the British Act of Parliament that gave him authority over British merchants and sailors , " he was expressly appointed to preside over ' Court of Justice , with Criminal and Admiralty Jurisdiction , for the trial of offences committed by His Majesty ' s subjects in the said Dominions or on the high seas within one hundred miles off the coast of China ' " . The Qing authorities also insisted that British merchants not be allowed to trade unless they signed a bond , under penalty of death , promising not to smuggle opium , agreed to follow Chinese laws , and acknowledged Qing legal jurisdiction . Refusing to hand over any suspects or agree to the bonds , Charles Elliot ordered the British community to withdraw from Canton and prohibited trade with the Chinese . Some merchants who did not deal in opium were willing to sign the bond , thereby weakening the British position . Opium War ( 1839 – 42 ) . In late October the " Thomas Coutts " arrived in China and sailed to Guangdong . This ship was owned by Quakers who refused to deal in opium , and its captain , Smith , believed Elliot had exceeded his legal authority by banning trade . The captain negotiated with the governor of Canton and hoped that all British ships could unload their goods at Chuenpee , an island near Humen . To prevent other British ships from following the " Thomas Coutts " , Elliot ordered a blockade of the Pearl River . Fighting began on 3 November 1839 , when a second British ship , the " Royal Saxon " , attempted to sail to Guangdong . Then the British Royal Navy ships HMS " Volage " and HMS " Hyacinth " fired a warning shot at the " Royal Saxon " . The Qing navy ' s official report claimed that the navy attempted to protect the British merchant vessel , also reporting a great victory for that day . In reality , they were out - classed by the Royal Naval vessels and many Chinese ships were sunk . Elliot reported that they were protecting their 29 ships in Chuenpee between the Qing batteries . Elliot knew that the Chinese would reject any contacts with the British and there would eventually be an attack with fire boats . Elliot ordered all ships to leave Chuenpee and head for Tung Lo Wan , from Macau , but the merchants preferred to harbour in Hong Kong . In 1840 , Elliot asked the Portuguese governor in Macau to let British ships load and unload their goods there in exchange for paying rent and any duties . The governor refused for fear that the Qing Government would discontinue supplying food and other necessities to Macau . On 14 January 1840 , the Qing Emperor asked all foreigners in China to halt material assistance to the British in China . In retaliation , the British Government and British East India Company decided that they would attack Guangdong . The military cost would be paid by the British Government . Lord Palmerston , the British Foreign Secretary , initiated the Opium War to maintain the principle of free trade . Melancon argues that the issue in going to war was not the opium but the Britain ' s need to upholding its reputation , its honor , and its commitment to global free trade . China was pressing Britain at just the moment when it faced serious pressures in the Near East , on the Indian frontier , and in Latin America . In the end , says Melancon , the government ' s need to maintain its honor in Britain and prestige abroad forced the decision to go to war . Critics , however , focused on the immorality of opium . William Ewart Gladstone denounced the war as " unjust and iniquitous " and criticised Lord Palmerston ' s willingness " to protect an infamous contraband traffic . " The public and press in the United States and Britain expressed outrage that Britain was supporting the opium trade . In June 1840 , an expeditionary force of 15 barracks ships , 4 steam - powered gunboats and 25 smaller boats with 4000 marines reached Guangdong from Singapore . The marines were headed by James Bremer . Bremer demanded the Qing Government compensate the British for losses suffered from interrupted trade . Following the orders of Lord Palmerston , a British expedition blockaded the Mouth of Pearl River and moved north to take Chusan . Led by Commodore J . J . Gordon Bremer in , they captured the empty city after an exchange of gunfire with shore batteries that caused only minor casualties . The next year , 1841 , the British captured the Bogue forts that guarded the mouth of the Pearl River — the waterway between Hong Kong and Canton . Meanwhile , at the far west in Tibet , the start of the Sino - Sikh war added another front to the strained Qing military . By January 1841 , British forces commanded the high ground around Canton and defeated the Chinese at Ningbo and at the military post of Dinghai . By the middle of 1842 , the British had defeated the Chinese at the mouth of their other great riverine trade route , the Yangtze , and were occupying Shanghai . The war finally ended in August 1842 , with the signing of China ' s first Unequal Treaty , the Treaty of Nanking . Legacy . The ease with which the British forces defeated the numerically superior Chinese armies seriously affected the Qing Dynasty ' s prestige . The success of the First Opium War allowed the British to resume the opium trade . It also paved the way for opening of the lucrative Chinese market to other commerce and the opening of Chinese society to missionary endeavors . Among the most notable figures in the events leading up to military action in the Opium War was the man that Daoguang Emperor assigned to suppress the opium trade ; Lin Zexu , known for his superlative service under the Qing Dynasty as " Lin the Clear Sky " . Although he had some initial success , with the arrest of 1 , 700 opium dealers and the destruction of 2 . 6 million pounds of opium , he was made a scapegoat for the actions leading to British retaliation , and was blamed for ultimately failing to stem the tide of opium import and use in China . Nevertheless , Lin Zexu is popularly viewed as a hero of 19th century China , and his likeness has been immortalised at various locations around the world . The First Opium War was the beginning of a long period of weakening of the state and anti - Qing rebellions , such as the Taiping Rebellion , a war from 1850 – 64 in which at least 20 million Chinese died . The Qing Dynasty , led by ethnic Manchus , was seen by much of the Chinese population , who were mainly Han Chinese , as an ineffective and corrupt foreign regime . See also . Individuals : Contemporaneous Qing Dynasty wars :