Hong Kong and the Opium Wars

Enquiry question

Investigate the sources

1. Source 1: Maps of Hong Kong over time

   These three maps show what Hong Kong looked like at three different points in history: 1841, 1868, and 1899.

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   2. 

   3. 

   Examine the source

   • Hong Kong Island – which is just one small part of today’s Hong Kong – is present in all three of these maps. Can you find it?
   • In each map, identify which is the British territory and which is the Chinese territory.
   • What do you think has happened in between each of these maps to change the borders?
   • Look at a map of Hong Kong today. How similar is it to the 1899 map?
   • Today, Hong Kong Island is the political and economic centre of Hong Kong. Looking at these maps, why do you think that is?

2. Source 2: The importance of tea

   These two sources both show how popular tea had become in Great Britain in the 19th century.

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      Phillips and Co's Teas, Coffees and Cocoa are the Best and Cheapest.

   2. 

      No1 - An account of all Goods IMPORTED from CHINA into GREAT BRITAIN from the year 1811 to the Year 1828 both inclusive, specifying the Quantity and Value of the principal Articles imported, and distinguishing the Trade of the East India Company from the Privilege Trade.

   Examine the source

   • Look at the advertisement. Based on the wording in the tagline, do you think tea in the 1800s was a common or occasional purchase?
   • This advertisement depicts a fictional woman whose style and surroundings incorporate stereotypical elements of both China and Japan. Why do you think she has been used to sell tea?
   • Now look at the table of accounts. By looking at the table, can you list three goods that were imported from China into Britain in the early 1800s?
   • Look at the numbers at the very bottom of the table. Based on them, can you tell which item was the most popular and most profitable?
   • What does this table tell you about the British East India Company and their role in British trade at this time?
   • By looking at the sources together, how would you describe Britain’s relationship to tea in the 1800s?

3. Source 3: Opium smuggling and growing tensions

   These sources show Great Britain’s opium smuggling and the ensuing increase in tensions between the two countries.

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      Of those who use it to great excess, the breath becomes feeble, the body wasted, the face sallow, the teeth black: the individuals themselves clearly see the evil effects of it, yet cannot refrain from it. It is indeed indisputably necessary to enact severe prohibitions in order to eradicate so evil a practice.

      On enquiry, I find that there are three types of opium: one is called Company’s, the outer covering it is black, and it is also called ‘black earth’; it comes from Bengal; a second kind is called ‘white-skin’, and comes from Bombay; the third kind is called ‘red-skin’, and comes from Madras. These are all places belonging to England.

      …

      Formerly, the barbarian merchants brought foreign money to China; which, being paid in exchange for goods, was a source of pecuniary [financial] advantage to the people of all the sea-board provinces. But latterly, the barbarian merchants have clandestinely [secretly] sold opium for money; which has rendered it unnecessary for them to import foreign silver. Thus foreign money [i.e., silver] has been going out of the country, while none returns.

   2. 

      Chen [Huacheng], Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces in Fukien and of the Troops of Formosa, and Dou [Zhenbiao], Commander in Kinmen and Surrounding Areas,

      Again issue their clear commands:

      According to the statutes of the Celestial Court, your foreign ships are only allowed to trade in Guangdong; you are not allowed to cross over to other provinces. The established rules have set down these restrictions. But instead of abiding by the regulations, you foreigners repeatedly cruise about off the coast of Fukien. Your coming and going, even if you do not stop in a single place, is already against the law, not to mention the fact that you are trading opium.

      I, the Admiral, have been at sea observing your movements for twenty days. You have been sailing up and down the coast, all the while refusing to return southwards to Guangdong. When the naval vessels arrive in pursuit of you, you sail away, but as soon as you have drawn them away to open water, you approach the coast again. You appear to be respectful and dutiful, but you are in fact crafty and deceitful. It would not be difficult for me, the Admiral, to command the fleet to come together and round you up, so that the problem may be resolved once and for all. But considering that you may still be ignorant, this order is now issued again. All of your foreign ships must immediately return southwards and, in compliance with the law, head for Guangdong to trade. Not a single ship will be allowed to tarry. If you dare continue to disobey the rules by lingering here, by fleeing to a different place after being driven away, or by your going and then coming again, I, the Admiral, will have no choice but to order my fleet to open fire on you. Do not say that you have not been informed in advance. Be warned.

      A special order given in the seventeenth year of Daoguang, on the second day of the eighth month [1 September 1837].

   Examine the source

   • Look at the first letter. Who do you think wrote it and who do you think translated it?
   • Based on this text, name two reasons why the opium smuggling is a problem for the Chinese government.
   • What is the author implying by listing the places where the opium is coming from?
   • Look at the second letter. Who do you think wrote it, and who do you think it’s addressed to?
   • According to this letter, what are the British doing? Why is the Chinese government unhappy with this?
   • The First Opium War started about two years after this letter. Does it give us any clues about why the war started? What do you think might have happened in those two years?

4. Source 4: Nanking treaty

   This is an extract from the Nanking Treaty. This is the treaty signed after Great Britain defeated China in the First Opium War.

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      Article 3

      It being obviously necessary and desirable that British subjects should have some port thereat they may careen and refit their ships when required, and keep stores for that purpose. His Majesty The Emperor of China cedes to Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain the Island of Hongkong to be possessed in perpetuity by Her Britannic Majesty, Her Heirs, and Successors and to be governed by such laws and regulations as Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain shall see fit to direct.

      Article 5

      The Government of China having compelled the British merchants trading at Canton to deal exclusively with certain Chinese merchants called Hong merchants (or Cohong) who had been licensed by the Chinese government for that purpose, the Emperor of China agrees to abolish that practice in future at all ports where British merchants may reside, and to permit them to carry on their mercantile transactions with whatever persons they please…

   Examine the source

   • What is this source? What is its purpose?
   • What does article 3 give to Britain? Why do you think Britain wanted this?
   • What does article 5 give to Britain? Why do you think Britain wanted this?
   • How does this source show the importance of trade to the British Empire at the start of Queen Victoria’s reign?

Extension activities

• Look closer at the Treaty of Nanking.
  • What does it tell you about what Britain wanted through its treaties with China?
  • This treaty is often referred to as one of the first of the ‘unequal treaties’ in China. Why do you think that is?
• Explore Hong Kong under British colonial rule. What was life like for Hongkongers under British rule? How did Hong Kong become known as a global financial centre in the latter half of the 20th century? Potential topics to cover can include:
  • Segregation in colonial Hong Kong
  • The 1894 Hong Kong plague
  • Protests in the 1960s against the colonial government
• Learn about the unique history of the Kowloon Walled City. Why was it not colonised in the same way as the rest of Hong Kong? How did its story end?
• Read up on news and information about modern-day Hong Kong since the 1997 transfer. What has been happening? How do you think today’s political events are linked to Hong Kong’s colonial history?

Background information

Development of the opium trade

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, Britain was experiencing a problem with its trade with China: it bought more than it sold. Chinese goods such as silk, porcelain, and especially tea were very popular. However, Chinese merchants did not want to buy British goods in return. As a result, Britain had to pay silver for the goods that it was importing, eventually risking a silver shortage.

Britain’s solution to this trade imbalance was opium. Opium is an addictive and dangerous drug made from plants. Britain started growing opium in its Indian colonies and smuggling it to China, where it spread through the population. This was to help pay for the large amounts of Chinese tea that they were importing. China now started experiencing its own problems: it was losing silver, and there was a rapidly growing rate of opium addiction amongst its people. In response, opium was completely banned in China in 1796. However, British merchants kept illegally smuggling opium into the country.

Hong merchants restrict British trade

At the same time, the British were unhappy with the restrictions on who they could trade with in China. All foreign trade in China had to go through the Hong merchants. This was a group of officials who made sure that foreign traders followed rules and regulations. British merchants could only trade with the Hong merchants at the southern port of Canton (now Guangzhou), which was close to Hong Kong.

Tensions over the drug trade

By the early 19th century, the drug problem in China was worsening. It was spreading across the country, and the British were smuggling in over 1,000 tonnes of opium per year. Suggestions to ease the prohibitions were rejected and by 1838, opium smugglers risked the death penalty.

In 1839, Chinese official Lin Zexu was tasked with stopping the opium smuggling. He famously seized large amounts of opium from foreign ships and threw it into the sea. He then introduced a system where traders would only be allowed to enter China if they signed a bond stating that they had no illegal goods. The British Superintendent of Trade in China, Charles Elliot, ordered British merchants not to sign.

Other events around this time further heightened tensions – including the murder of Lin Weixi, a villager from Tsim Sha Tsui, by British merchant sailors. Elliot ordered the arrest of the sailors and refused a request from Lin Zexu to turn them over to Chinese authorities. In retaliation, Lin put up a blockade against Macau, where the British had been staying, causing them to be expelled and move to Hong Kong. Lin also prevented food from being sold to the British.

First Opium War

The First Opium War eventually broke out on 4 September 1839 when Elliot issued an ultimatum stating that, if the British would not be allowed to trade for food with locals in Kowloon, British ships would open fire.

Britain won the war in 1842, leading to the Treaty of Nanking. This treaty gave Hong Kong Island to Britain, allowed for free British trade with any merchants in China, and forced China to pay damages for the destroyed opium.

Second Opium War

However, Britain was not completely satisfied with the treaty and demanded that it be renegotiated. Among other things, they wanted the opium trade to be legalised and the whole of China to be open to foreign trade. This led to the Second Opium War breaking out in 1856. China was defeated once again, ending in the Treaty of Tientsin, which gave Britain the area north of Hong Kong Island called Kowloon.

Expansion of Hong Kong

The final expansion of British Hong Kong came in 1898. This was the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory; a lease signed between Britain and China. This lease granted Britain the territory above Kowloon that is today known as the New Territories – but only for 99 years. Britain likely did not think they would ever need to return it.

‘Handover’ of Hong Kong

However, 99 years later, China did indeed demand this land back. By this point, most of Hong Kong’s population lived in the New Territories, and it was not possible to separate it. On 1 July 1997, Britain officially transferred authority over Hong Kong to China, ending over 150 years of British rule. This is known in the English-speaking world as the ‘handover’.

Today, Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. One of the conditions of the 1997 transfer was to maintain the existing colonial systems of government and economy for 50 years. This is known as ‘one country, two systems’.

Useful links

nam.ac.uk

The First China War

This resource from the National Army Museum looks at the First China War (more commonly known as the First Opium War) through objects in their collection.

afe.easia.columbia.edu

The Opium War and Foreign Encroachment

Resource for teachers on the First Opium War from Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University.

bbc.co.uk

History KS3 / GCSE: The First Opium War, 1838-1842

Resource for teachers from the BBC about the causes behind the First Opium War as part of the BBC series The Story of China.