Opium War and Treaty of Nanjing

Also called: First Opium War, Treaty of Nanking

When Qing China cracked down on opium smuggling, Britain went to war and won. By the Treaty of Nanjing China ceded Hong Kong and opened five ports — the start of the opening of East Asia.

Qing China allowed trade with the West only at Canton, through licensed Cohong merchants. To stem the outflow of silver for tea, Britain smuggled Indian opium into China (the triangular trade); addiction spread and silver now drained out of China, driving up its price. In 1839 the imperial commissioner Lin Zexu, sent by the Daoguang Emperor, seized more than 20,000 chests of British opium at Canton and destroyed them at Humen.

Invoking free trade, Britain sent an expedition in 1840. Led by steam warships, British forces moved up the coast, took Xiamen, Ningbo and Shanghai, and sailed up the Yangtze to Nanjing. On 29 August 1842 the Qing signed the Treaty of Nanjing, ceding Hong Kong Island, opening Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai, abolishing the Cohong and paying an indemnity.

A supplementary treaty the next year granted consular jurisdiction and most-favoured-nation status, and in 1844 the United States (Treaty of Wangxia) and France (Treaty of Whampoa) obtained the same. The China-centred tributary order was shaken and the era of unequal treaties began. News of the Qing defeat reached Japan and Korea and heightened their wariness of the Western powers.