| In the 1830s, Britain illegally exported
opium to China in large quantities, bringing severe damage to
China in political, economic social and other aspects. The Qing
Government finally made a resolute decision and dispatched Lin
Zexu, Governor-General of Hubei and Hunan, to ban opium smoking
and the opium trade in Guangdong.
In 1840, Britain launched an undeclared
war on China. Cities and towns along Chinese coast and the
Yangtze River, such as Zhoushan, Ningbo, Wusong and Zhejiang,
were successively attacked by British warships. In August
1842, the Qing Government was forced to sign the Sino-British
Treaty of Nanking, the first unequal Treaty in modern
Chinese history. During the following 60 years, the Qing Government
opened wide its doors to the outside world. Unequal treaties
followed one after another, including the Treaty of Wanghea
with the United States, the Treaty of Whampoa with
France, the Treaty of Aigun with Russia and the Treaty
of Shimonoseki with Japan. The treaties contained the
humiliating and sovereignty-forfeiting articles on the cession
of territory, the payment of indemnities, stationing of foreign
garrisons, free missionary activities and open opium trading.
The colonialist powers took control of China's Customs administration
and rights for tariff agreements. They enjoyed consular jurisdiction
and the power to issue bank notes, seizing China's sovereignty
by piecemeal encroachment or wholesale annexation. The Chinese
people hated the unequal treaties, and when the Boxers rose
in rebellion, they declared: "We resent the treaties
most because they wreck the country and ruin the people. Officials
in subordinate positions follow the example set by their superiors,
and the people cannot have their injustice redressed."
|
