Battle of Canton ( May 1841 ) The Second Battle of Canton was fought between British and Chinese forces in Canton , China , in May 1841 during the First Opium War . Background . Canton was one of the only ports in China opened to foreign countries , mostly European , for trade . In the early stages of trade , foreign countries needed many things from China , like spice , silk and pottery . On the other hand , China needed fewer objects from these foreign powers . As a result a great trade imbalance was created . The trade imbalance ended when opium was shipped into China . Many previously well - off Chinese spent their whole fortune on opium , and they worked less and less . The number of people using opium in China grew rapidly , to the point that the trade imbalance shifted in the foreign countries ' favour . Eventually , Chinese officials tried to end the opium trade altogether by destroying a large amount of opium in the Chinese ports . This triggered the First Opium War . In January 1841 , the Royal Navy started bombarding Chinese ports near Guangzhou , and successfully created many beachheads . Local Chinese officials were forced to surrender , and signed local peace treaties with the British . When the local officials brought these peace treaties to Beijing they were punished for their failures . Qing refused to acknowledge these peace treaties , neither did they acknowledge any China territories were lost . Instead , they sent in more troops to drive back the British . Battle . On May 21 Chinese forces tried a night ambush on the British positions , but they were repelled . The British continued the bombardment and conquest of Chinese coastal cities . On May 24 the British started to conquer Guangzhou . They successfully took over Tsinghae . They then took over 4 Chinese cannon forts around the cities . This allowed the British to bombard the city at will . The city surrendered afterwards , paying the British 6 million Chinese dollars at the same time . As a result , Canton was not totally destroyed . But afterwards , many civilians were outraged at the looting by the British . On May 28 Chinese reinforcements from the other provinces started to retreat out of Canton . At the same time the British also retreated . On May 30 a Chinese civilian army of around 8 , 000 men attacked the retreating British forces . Major Beecher died to wounds or sickness . The British managed to regroup and strike back at the Chinese . But heavy rainfall came , greatly limiting the British shooting abilities . The Chinese engaged in melee combat with the British , forcing them to retreat . Eventually , Hadfield and his men were trapped and could not make it back to camp . Finally , the British sent reinforcements and helped Hadfield break though . The British reported only 2 men dead , while Chinese civilians reported over 100 British killed . This incident became known as the " San Yuan Li Incident " ( 三元里事件 ) . On May 31 the Guangdong governor met with British commander Hugh Gough , and at the same time a civilian army of around 12 , 000 men arrived from the north . Gough hence concluded that the civilian army was not part of the Qing army . The civilian army departed upon the request from the Guangdong governor . By June 1 all British forces left the Canton area . Aftermath . The " Battle of Canton " had a minor effect on the First Opium War , but it had a major effect on the civilians . This is one of the first times that civilians took matters into their own hands , under the decaying Qing . Stories about this incident started spreading throughout China . The Qing showed in this battle , that they were powerless at stopping the British invasion . At the same time , it was shown that a group of civilians were successful at driving back the British . These stories and rumors led Chinese civilians to begin to believe that forming local armies and militias would be the only successful way to drive out the British , which helped pave the way for the massive rebellions and anti - foreigner movements within the Qing Dynasty later on .