About the Opium War

1840- 1842 The Opium War was the turning point for feudal China to become a semi-colonial and semi-feudal China. In 1970s, Britain began to import a large amount of opium to China, and it increased year by year. Due to the sharp increase in opium imports, a large amount of silver flowed out of China, and opium addicts were greatly devastated mentally and physically. Therefore, the Qing government decided to ban opium imports.

1839 In March, Lin Zexu, an imperial envoy of the Qing Dynasty, arrived in Guangzhou and informed foreign businessmen to hand in all opium cigarettes within three days for disposal. * * * From June 3rd to 25th, more than 2.37 million kilograms of foreign opium cigarettes were seized and destroyed at Humen Beach. The British bourgeoisie, especially the opium interest group among them, immediately launched a war of aggression against China. The British government soon decided to send troops to China.

1in June, 840, the commander-in-chief of the British invasion of China commanded more than 40 ships and more than 4,000 soldiers and arrived in the South China Sea of China one after another, and the first Opium War officially broke out. In early July, British troops invaded Dinghai, Zhejiang, and arrived outside Dagukou, Tianjin in early August, approaching the two capitals. Daoguang was afraid, so he quickly dismissed Lin Zexu and appointed Qi Shan as an imperial envoy. 184 1 year 1 month, Qishan was forced to agree to cede Hong Kong, pay 6 million yuan for tobacco and open Guangzhou.

The British government is not satisfied with this and continues to expand the war of aggression against China. 184 1 In late August, Pu Dingcha led an English ship north from Hong Kong and captured Xiamen on 26th. British troops invaded Taiwan Province Province in September. 10 captured Dinghai, Zhenhai and Ningbo. 1In May of 842, the British army continued its northward invasion. In June, Wusongbao in the Yangtze River estuary was captured, and Baoshan and Shanghai were successively lost. Then, the British army returned to Jiangxi and arrived in Jiangning (Nanjing) on August 5. The corrupt and incompetent Qing government ordered Yingjie, the general of Shengjing, to rush to Nanjing. On 29th, he and Pu Dingcha signed the treaty of nanking, the first unequal treaty in China's modern history, and the first Opium War ended here.

As a result of the First Opium War, foreign capitalism ceded Hong Kong from China, paying compensation of 2 1 10,000 yuan, opening five trading ports in Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo and Shanghai, and agreeing on a series of privileges such as customs rights and consular jurisdiction, which seriously damaged China's independent sovereignty. The Opium War marked the beginning of China's modern history. Since then, China has suffered more and more, and the people of China are facing more complicated and tortuous struggles.

In the 1950s, the industrial production of capitalist countries such as Britain, France and the United States further developed, requiring more raw material producing areas and commodity markets. They are increasingly dissatisfied with the rights and interests plundered from China in the First Opium War. 1854 and 1856, Britain, France and the United States put forward unreasonable demands to the Qing government, including opening the whole territory of China and legalizing the opium trade, on the pretext of helping suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which were rejected by the Qing government. Subsequently, Britain and France planned a new war of aggression against China to achieve their evil goals by force. This was the second Opium War when Britain and France invaded China.

1April, 858, the British and French fleets arrived in the waters off Dagukou. On May 20th, the allied forces launched an attack, and Dagubao fell after tenacious resistance. The British and French fleets arrived in Tianjin immediately. In a panic, the Qing government immediately sent Gui Liang, a college student, to Tianjin to make peace. In late June, it signed shameful traitorous treaties with Britain and France-Sino-British and Sino-French Tianjin treaties.

At the beginning of 1859, the British and French governments appointed Proust and Boolean Brown as ambassadors to China respectively. In mid-June, the British and French ministers led warships to Dagukou, refused to land from Beitang designated by the Qing government, and arrogantly returned to Beijing via Dagukou to exchange contracts. On June 25th, British and French warships launched an attack on Dagu Fort. After rectification, the defenders of Dagu fought back, sinking and injuring more than one British and French warship 10, and killing four or five hundred invaders. The British and French allied forces hastily evacuated Dagukou.

1860 In April, the plenipotentiaries of Britain and France, Erkin and Gro, once again led a large number of troops to China. In late May, British troops occupied Dalian Bay. In early June, the French army occupied Yantai. 1 year in August, the British and French allied forces landed in Beitang, and fell into Dagu Fort in February1year, and occupied Tianjin on August 24. Emperor Xianfeng fled to Jehol when he heard the news. /kloc-at the beginning of 0/0, the allied forces occupied Yuanmingyuan, wantonly looted and destroyed it, and set it on fire. Therefore, one of the most magnificent palace masterpieces in the world was destroyed by the British and French invaders. 10 10 In late October, Yi Xin, a representative of the Qing government, and Prince Gong successively exchanged the ratification documents of the Tianjin Treaty with the representatives of Britain and France, and concluded the Beijing Treaty. The Second Opium War ended here.

During the Second Opium War, the Qing government once again gave in to foreign invaders, which caused extremely serious consequences, and China fell deeper into the semi-colonial road. However, the struggle of the broad masses of China people against foreign aggression has never stopped. Wherever the British and French allied forces went, they fought to defend the motherland, showing the heroic spirit of the people of China fighting the enemy to the end.