Tea has a long history in China. Lu Yu's "Tea Classic" said that the origin of tea as a drink originated from Shennong. Europeans first learned about "tea" in 1550. This gift is a small round jar containing dried green leaves, weighing 2 pounds and 2 ounces, produced in the far e

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When it comes to opium, we must first talk about tea.

Tea has a long history in China. Lu Yu's "Tea Classic" said that

tea is a drink that originates from Shennong's .

Europeans first learned about "tea" in 1550. In 1606, the first box of Chinese tea arrived in Amsterdam through the Dutch East India Company, which was also the first time Chinese tea arrived in Europe.

In 1664, a representative of the British East India Company presented a "mysterious and rare gift" to the British King Charles II who had just succeeded to the throne. This gift is a small round jar containing dried green leaves, weighing 2 pounds and 2 ounces, produced in the far east of China.

After a while, after the green thin leaves were brewed with boiling water, the fragrance filled the air, and the representatives offered it with both hands. Charles II hesitated and sucked it, and suddenly felt the fragrance lingering on his cheeks and teeth. It is said that this is the first time that the British royal family has learned about Chinese tea. Coincidentally, the Portuguese princess Catherine married by Charles II also had a special liking for tea. From then on, the trend of drinking tea quickly became popular in the British court and many European countries.

Charlie II, the third King of Scotland in the Stuart Dynasty, and the first King of England and Ireland after the Restoration

More than a hundred years later, Chinese tea has become a major item of British imported products, exceeding 10,000 pounds every year . The average tax revenue brought by tea to Britain is 3.3 million pounds per year, accounting for about one-tenth of the total revenue of the British treasury and all the profits of the East India Company. Therefore, tea is known as "the most precious gem in the commercial crown of the East India Company" ".

in trade with the United States. Tea also accounts for more than 90% of all its imported goods. So much so that some historians and economic historians call the eighteenth century the "Tea Century" of tea trade between Europe and Asia.

The huge demand for tea caused about 26 million pounds of silver to flow into China, British silver was almost exhausted, and China maintained a long-term trade surplus with Britain. European economic historians admit that in the 1750s, living standards in Europe were lower than those in other parts of the world, especially in China.

Chinese people can live without worries without Western products, but Westerners can no longer get rid of their dependence on Chinese products. In addition to traditional silk, tea has also been added. This situation was not broken until the success of the European Industrial Revolution and the realization of mechanized large-scale production.

Cruiser Challenges "Chinese Prejudice"

The Opium War The state of China's foreign trade before the Opium War gave Emperor Qianlong, and even all Chinese people, reason to be condescending to Westerners and feel good about themselves. However, the Qing government could not have imagined that the eighteenth century was An important turning point in human history.

William John Lulby, 9th Lord Lulby, was a British Royal Navy clerk, politician and diplomat.

In July 1834, Lord Lawlor, the first commercial supervisor sent by the British government to China, arrived in Guangzhou. Mr. Lu has a distinguished royal lineage. He is a Scottish nobleman and lord. He has served as an equerry to the King of England and a lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy. Previously, the East India Company, which had a monopoly on British foreign trade, had been abolished, and the British government had set up commercial supervision to manage overseas trade.

Lu Laobei was elected as the first president, which can be said to be a heavy responsibility. The task set by the British government for this position is: "To protect and promote the trade of His Majesty's subjects to Canton, and to try to find out whether it is feasible to extend British trade to other parts of the Chinese territory. At the same time, obtain naval strongholds to facilitate British Navy "Activities." It should be noted that a large part of "trade with Guangzhou" is the opium trade.

Lu Laobei was full of ambitions, but after arriving in Guangzhou, he hit a hard nail.

In accordance with the instructions of Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary, Lu Laobei notified the Governor of Guangdong and Guangdong in China by letter, requesting direct dialogue with the Governor.The governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Lu Kun was furious when he heard this: How can I, the chief official of Xinjiang, communicate directly with you, a "Yimu" who is doing business? The bank stopped trading with British merchants, and then ordered a "lockdown". All Chinese servants had to evacuate from the British merchant houses. No one was allowed to sell daily necessities to the British, forcing the merchant houses to run out of water and food. Lu Kun also issued a dismissal order to the Guangzhou prefect who had repeatedly tolerated British businessmen.

Lu Laobei finally couldn't hold himself back and ordered two British warships docked in the outer sea to enter the Guangzhou inland river. The British warships sailed through Humen under Qing gunfire and entered Huangpu. Lu Laobei issued a declaration saying that the Chinese Guangdong authorities had begun a prelude to war.

Lu Kun was determined to be tougher than Lu Laobei. He arrested a "British merchant guarantor" general and the helm of the merchant ship, and returned the favor. Under the repeated requests of many British merchants and public merchants, Lu Laobei had no choice but to order the British ships to withdraw and leave Guangzhou for Macau. Lu Laobei died of illness soon after he was in Macau due to "overwork and anxiety".

Henry John Temple, the third Viscount Palmston, also translated as Palmerston and Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary and the British Prime Minister

The death of Law Laobei is both in the history of Sino-British trade and in the history of Sino-British trade. It is a major event in the history of British-British relations. The British government believes that the death of the first commercial governor in China while performing official duties to China was regarded by the cabinet as an opportunity. Palmerston began to consider issues such as occupying Chinese islands, demanding reparations from China, and changing his disrespectful attitude towards British officials.

What particularly attracted the attention of the British Foreign Office was that Lu Laobei wrote in a notification to the British government when he was trapped: The Chinese people, in their "extreme stupidity and moral depravity, imagine that they are the only nation in the world." , completely disregarding the theory and practice of international law." He demanded that China's "Chinese prejudice" be changed by high-pressure means. This was the origin of the British "gunboat diplomacy" policy towards China.

At the same time, the Chinese imperial court sent an imperial envoy to investigate the matter, and expressed no objection to Lu Kun's handling, and asked Lu Kun to expand the publicity of the "Regulations on Preventing Foreign Trade" to foreign businessmen, and repeatedly reiterated that "letters from outsiders must be marked with "report" and must be Please hand it over to a foreign bank for collection, otherwise it will not be accepted."

Lin Zexu Condemned Queen Victoria

The British Isles, which emerged after the Industrial Revolution , have an increasing desire for Eastern wealth, and are determined to open up the big market of the Chinese Empire. The trade requirements that began with Elizabeth I have lasted more than 200 years. Eventually it turned into the shameful Opium War.

The almost one-sided trade deficit in Sino-British trade is simply cruel torture to the British. Of course, they are not willing to be at a disadvantage for a long time. So I racked my brains to find something that the Chinese people can't do without, so as to occupy this huge market. Their choice was opium.

Queen Victoria, became Queen of England in 1837. Crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 28, 1838. Queen who reigned the longest in British history

Opium is made from the condensation of the white milk in the poppy fruit. It especially contains alkaloids, which is also known as morphine. Its main functions are analgesia, refreshing and antidiarrheal. However, overdose can easily cause addiction, also known as drug dependence. This kind of dependence can lead the human body to enter a magical state of transformation, and it is difficult to quit after becoming addicted. This is an academic description of the efficacy of opium, and writers called the poppy the "devil's flower."

hit the nail on the head. The British want to use this devil to push the Chinese into despair.

Opium is also something that the Chinese are familiar with, but it was only used as a medicine, and later gradually became an anesthetic. In 1729, Yongzheng issued the first anti-smoking edict. But decades later, the East India Company established opium cultivation bases in India, and by the early 19th century, the opium trade against China was active again.

In the 1830s, 200 boxes of opium were imported into China. By the 1860s, the number had climbed to 1,000 boxes, a five-fold increase.At this time, opium became the largest export item to China from Western countries led by Britain. At the beginning of the 19th century, the number rose to more than 4,000 boxes, making it the largest single commodity trade in the world at that time.

China's silver outflows account for one-fifth of all exports. The Sino-British trade deficit reached 2.5 million pounds, the opium trade accounted for more than 60% of Britain's total trade with China, and opium revenue provided one-seventh of the entire fiscal revenue of the British and Indian governments. As a result, a huge area of ​​more than 10 million square kilometers has been desolated, and people have suffered.

The "empire on which the sun never sets", which claims to be the most powerful in the world, is so shameless that it uses drugs to open up another country's market and reverse its own trade disadvantage. This is the most despicable and insidious business in the history of trade on earth.

In 1838, the eve of the First Opium War, the imperial court was still at a loss as to whether to ban the opium trade. Xu Naiji, a representative of the anti-opium faction, and Lin Zexu, a representative of the anti-smoking faction were the protagonists of the debate.

Those who relax the ban believe that relaxing the ban on and can solve the financial crisis and prevent money leakage. Opium was taxed as medicinal materials and bartered; no one except officials, scholars, and soldiers were allowed to take it; opium was allowed to be planted in the mainland to reduce the profits of foreign merchants, who could not help but eliminate it.

The anti-smoking faction believes that opium has caused hundreds of millions of silver to flow overseas, and the national stockpile of silver is dwindling, seriously damaging the social economy. Smoking opium also led to the loss of human ethics, made soldiers sluggish, and was unable to defend themselves against foreign enemies, endangering the entire nation.

Emperor Daoguang finally adopted Lin Zexu’s opinion. Lin Zexu was specially appointed as the imperial minister to go to Guangzhou to ban opium.

is required to "strive to investigate and deal with it to eliminate the source of the abuse... all kinds of evils such as trafficking and smoking must be eradicated anywhere and at any time."

Regardless of trafficking in smoking, we must eradicate the roots.

Lin Zexu also wrote a letter to Queen Victoria. Stated the reasons for banning opium in harsh terms: "It is extremely immoral for the British to sell opium in China. You British people don't smoke opium yourself, but you make opium to lure Chinese people to buy it. You really don't care whether others live or die... We are determined Eradicate the poison of opium forever and prohibit smoking. Your country, India, must ban its production. Her Majesty the Queen must immediately confiscate those that have been produced and throw them into the sea... China's anti-smoking laws are very strict. If you continue to manufacture opium, you will not find buyers. Any opium carried by foreign ships in the future will be burned."

Lin Zexu, a native of Houguan County, Fujian Province, was a politician, writer, thinker, and national hero in the late Qing Dynasty of China.

Lin Zexu's hatred of opium was beyond words.

After Lin Zexu arrived in Guangzhou, he first made private visits to the streets and alleys, and then interrogated foreign opium merchants and Chinese people involved in the opium trade. He severely reprimanded the merchants for their shameful role as middlemen in the opium trade. He demanded that the opium trade be stopped immediately and that all opium be handed over to him for centralized destruction within three days, otherwise he would face the death penalty.

then quickly issued a strongly worded imperial order: All foreign businessmen must hand over all existing opium and pledge to never take it with them in the future. If any violation is discovered, the merchant ship will be confiscated and the personnel will be executed on the spot.

British commercial supervisorCharlie Elliot sent a letter to Lin Zexu, expressing his willingness to guarantee that British merchant ships would never carry opium again. However, if the ban is violated, the following two points should be followed: first, the opium will be confiscated, but compensation must be given; second, the violator cannot be executed on the spot, but must be convicted in a public trial. But Lin Zexu did not pick up on Yilu's fault at all. Instead, he made a more ruthless move: If he did not hand over the opium, he would cut off the food supply of the merchant house.

Yilu was surrounded until the tenth day and had to give in. He handed over all 1.4 million kilograms of opium, but refused to confirm. Subsequently, Yi Lutong ordered all British merchants to evacuate Guangzhou and retreat to Macau.

Lin Zexu gave Emperor Daoguang a memorial and prepared to transport the opium to the capital for destruction. Daoguang ordered him to destroy it on the spot in Guangzhou. In June 1839, Lin Zexu destroyed 1.4 million kilograms of opium in public on the beach near Humen, which took 23 days.

Xuanzong Aixinjueluo Minning of the Qing Dynasty was the eighth emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the sixth emperor after his capital was Beijing. Born in the Forbidden City, Xie Fang Hall. Era Daoguang

"The Pirate's Flag Protects the Shameful Trade"

At this time, British businessmen still had as many as 50,000 boxes of opium waiting to be put into the Chinese market. Lin Zexu's smoke burning operation made them feel doomed. Earlier, when news of Lin Zexu's seizure of opium in Guangzhou reached India, the price of opium plummeted from its peak of $600 per box to $200. Sino-British relations are in a state of extreme tension. However, the British government and opposition parties had different opinions on the opium trade.

The opposition mainly came from the opposition "Tory" leader Lord William Gladstone. The MPs headed by him complained to the Holy See, hoping to ban the opium trade, believing that the opium trade was a shame to Britain. They insisted that the British Empire must safeguard its international morality and imperial honor.

Church groups also opposed the export of opium to China. They petitioned the government to ban the opium trade and cooperate with the Chinese government in combating the opium trade. There are also some people in the British House of Commons who oppose the opium trade and British policy towards China.

But Palmerston insisted on fighting a war against China for the industrial capitalists he represented. He regarded this as a bet for accumulating political achievements. He deliberately created an atmosphere of public opinion in which "British products are suppressed by China."

He persuaded Parliament that the share of British goods in the European market has been shrinking. He has the responsibility to find huge overseas markets for the powerful British industry. These markets include all of Asia, especially India and China, two vast territories with large populations. country, which would be of immeasurable value to Britain's long-term interests. If China does not accept our request, it will have to use force to force it open.

Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In 1840, Sir Robert Peel submitted an impeachment motion to Congress, strongly condemning the Whig government for going to war with China.

After three days of heated debate, the House of Commons finally rejected the motion against the use of force against China by a slim majority of 29 votes and passed the resolution that "British businessmen in China must be compensated for their losses."

In June 1840, the first Opium War, which brought a strong mark of humiliation to modern China, finally broke out. The commander of the British Indian Fleet, Colonel Boehmer, led the British Eastern Expeditionary Fleet, consisting of 16 warships, 4 armed motorboats, 28 transport ships, 8,540 large and small artillery pieces, and 4,000 soldiers, to the Pearl River Estuary to implement a blockade, and the army pressed into China's territorial waters . Then, most of the troops went to Zhejiang.

htmlOn July 6, the British army captured Zhoushan Islands after a short period of shelling. "The Times" told the British public in an extremely excited tone: for the first time the flag of the British Empire was flying on part of the territory of the Chinese Empire. The British government added another colony in the Far East.

The war is very detrimental to China. The unfavorable reasons are nothing more than the system, system, military, etc., but one thing is crucial: that is the so-called national policy towards the vassals. Before the First Opium War and even going back to earlier times, China's "vassal policy" was based on three self-confessed brilliant arguments: China's national strength was enough to ensure that it would be in a dominant position in any war; China had The special power to "civilize" foreign peoples; Chinese commodities can easily make foreigners bow to China.

Britain launched a war to protect British trade in China. It was just an excuse. The export of opium was what it really needed but was too shy to say.

Lord William Glaston once publicly criticized: This war is fundamentally unjust... Our flag has become the flag of pirates, and what she protects is the shameful opium trade. God will judge England for all its evil deeds against China.

"0,000 Peace Treaty " brought a century of humiliation

Lin Zexu, who held high the banner of anti-smoking, was regarded as the number one enemy by the British.

Lin Zexu was first "strictly discussed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ordered to return to Beijing". On the way, he was ordered to "dismissal from his post and still return to Guangdong for investigation and questioning by the commission" until he was sent to Xinjiang and exiled to the army.

On January 20, 1841, Chinese and British representatives Qishan and Yilu signed the " Chuanbicao Agreement " that had been drawn up long ago. If the "Nanjing Treaty" is the most typical and profound mark of shame in modern China, then the "Chuanbi Treaty" is the initiator.

The "Chuanbi Grass Treaty" stipulates:

1. cede Hong Kong Island to Britain, but still pay all legitimate taxes and fees to China; 2. China will compensate six million taels of silver for confiscating opium money from British merchants; 3. recognize that China and Britain are two The two countries have equal status and will adopt a reciprocal and direct approach in the future; 4. The Guangzhou port will be opened within ten days for trade in Huangpu until the completion of Hong Kong port equipment.

A few days later, Qishan was dismissed from his post, the lock was taken back to Beijing, and his property was confiscated and returned to the public.

Just when Emperor Daoguang was furious, Queen Victoria also received a letter of complaint from Palmerston: The British Empire fleet has completely brought China to its knees, and Yilu dared to ignore our orders and sign this extreme agreement. Inappropriate treaties. These compensations were far below the price of the destroyed opium, and they did not receive any of the war expenses or public debts, and they also gave up the occupied Zhoushan Islands.

Borjijit Qishan, a member of the Borjijit clan, a native of Zhenghuang Banner in Manchuria, a minister of the Qing Dynasty, and a representative figure of the peace faction during the Opium War.

As for the so-called cession of Hong Kong Island, it still needs to pay taxes to China. Just like Macau, it is not a territory of Her Majesty the Queen. In the opinion of the ambitious Palmerston, Yilu was too polite to the Chinese. Now that they are at war, what else is there to worry about?

The British cabinet also dismissed Yilu from his post one month after Qishan was dismissed. He also refused to approve the Chuanbi Grass Treaty and appointed Pu Dingcha as the "Special Commission". Minister Plenipotentiary and Commercial Director to China”.

Pu Dingcha arrived in Hong Kong more than half a year after the signing of the "Chuanbi Treaty" and led more than 2,500 British officers and soldiers to capture Xiamen, Dinghai, Zhenhai, and Ningbo. Later, Hong Kong and Dinghai were declared "free ports", allowing merchant ships from Britain and other countries to travel without tariffs.

In early June 1842, the British army occupied Shanghai and then marched towards Zhenjiang and Nanjing.

Daoguang appointed Qiying as the imperial minister, and together with Yilibu and Niu Jian, he negotiated peace with the British army. In order to show sincerity and to satisfy Pu Dingcha's vanity, Qiying and other three people boarded the British ship to pay their respects.

On August 29, 1842, the Treaty of Nanjing, the first truly unequal treaty in the history of China's foreign relations, was signed. The treaty's official name was ironically called the "Ten Thousand Years' Peace." But the "peace treaty" failed at all to prevent the great powers led by Britain from embezzling and encroaching on China.

The British feeling can be described as ecstasy. It finally conquered China, albeit ingloriously. But it doesn't matter. For a nation that advocates utilitarianism, the first-class powerful country known as the "Empire on which the Sun Never Sets" can finally be on an equal footing with this ancient civilization in the world.

This is the desire of generations of British people, and it is also the unprecedented gain of the British Empire in the Far East. China has since fallen into a quagmire of humiliation for nearly a century. A foreign historian wrote that

opium was brought to China on a camel's back, and it eventually broke the backbone of the nation.

Reprinted from "Decision and Information", author: Sun Jianwei