How Britain Starved China

Joseph LaCorte How Britain Starved China By Joseph LaCorte, 13 Chinese junks in battle During the nineteenth century, China was a major victim of one of the worst global famines in history. Various influences, both human and natural, contributed to the nation falling into this state of misery. However, the true catalyst behind the famine was the influence of foreign powers, especially Britain. Although China would have suffered drought due to the abnormal El Niño oscillations regardless, the economic, political, and military pressures of the external powers were what caused them to plunge into famine. According to British Parliamentary Papers, Mike Davis s Late Victorian Holocausts, and other researched information regarding China in the nineteenth century, it is evident that British imperial policies are Rich and poor Chinese alike gathered in opium dens called divans, and the widespread distribution of the drug led to nation-wide addiction to be blamed for Chinese suffering in the late nineteenth century. The British started their exploration of Asia, about the same time as their Dutch rivals did, through the British East India Company, which had tremendous influence over Britain s exploration and international trade. The Company was very successful in early trade with China, and it bought Chinese spices along with their world-famous silk, tea, and porcelain. However, unlike their counterparts in India, the Chinese were very protective of their ports and, as of 1699, only allowed the Portuguese to trade in Macau and the other European powers in Canton. The British East India Company led the way in Canton in the early 1700s, but trading was very Historical 11

How Britain Starved China limited. Chinese import duties and taxes imposed by the Peking government were hugely restrictive. No merchants were allowed to buy more than onehalf of a ship s cargo, and Europeans were usually forced to purchase goods using only silver. European traders grew increasingly frustrated with Chinese policies and petitioned their governments for aid into the nineteenth century. Cheap opium, introduced to the Chinese market in the early 1830s, was the driving force behind the end of China s restrictive trade policies towards the British and other foreigners. The drug had been present in China for some time, but it was expensive and difficult to attain due to the lack of direct access and its illegality outside of medical use. It was grown minimally in China, and its quality was very low. The East India Company s strong foothold in India allowed it to obtain cheap, highquality opium there. The 150-lb chests of opium flowing into China between 1830 and 1831 only numbered 4,010. When the British began obtaining it for a lower price and in larger quantities, that number ballooned to 20,882 by 1836. The people of China, now with much easier access to opium, began using it in huge doses. By 1837, opium represented 57 per cent of Chinese imports in Canton, and the main supplier was British-controlled India. The massive influx of cheap British opium led to a severe backlash from the Chinese government and soon sparked the First Opium War. The principle aim of the Chinese Imperial Government was to prevent opium from being imported into the Qing Empire. This became a major problem when the British began trafficking huge quantities of the narcotic. Unfortunately for the Chinese men smoking opium 12 Kaleidoscope Journal Vol. 4 Issue 1

Joseph LaCorte Imperial government, opium was so profitable that the Chinese merchants and officials of Canton were receiving huge kickbacks for overlooking its importation. The standard rate for an official s turning a blind eye to the importation of a single crate of opium was 80 taels. The merchants, both British and Chinese, grew fabulously wealthy from the opium trade in Canton; and the emperor, approximately 1,000 miles away in Peking, was unable to stop the corruption of his southern port. Rich and poor Chinese alike gathered in opium dens called divans, and the widespread distribution of the drug led to nationwide addiction. The blatant disregard of the Emperor s law on opium imports and the problems it caused in China finally sparked armed conflict in March 1839, setting off the First Opium War. A representative of the Emperor named Lin Zexu finally took the initiative on the Emperor s behalf and demanded that the The Chinese junks were no match for the advanced British gunships British stop trading opium in China. He surrounded and attacked British opium ships with Chinese junks, demanding the surrender of their opium. The small contingent of the British Navy, along with the British merchants, held off capture for six weeks before British naval officer Charles Elliot told the merchants to give up their opium supply, promising that the Queen would reimburse their loss at the going market rate. They obliged, and the Chinese forces destroyed the nearly 2.7 million pounds of opium that was on the ships. However, the fight against the foreigners was not over; despite having forced the British out of Canton, Lin was about to have the tables turned on him. Elliot decided to evacuate all the Europeans out of Canton to a nearby strait called Hong Kong. Lin followed and ordered his Navy to attack and bring the foreigners back to Canton, as he had not intended to lose all foreign trade with the Europeans. The small British Naval party quickly routed the Chinese and used the excuse of the attack and the seizure of the opium to start a war with China. The Queen and her government fully backed the counterattack against the Chinese. In April 1840, Queen Victoria wrote, judicially proceed upon all captures, seizures, prizes and reprisals that have been or shall be made of ships or vessels belonging to the Emperor of China. The majority of the fighting took place along the Chinese coast, and the Chinese junks were no match for the advanced British gunships and were destroyed easily by the British Navy. Using steamers and irons like the Nemesis, the British fought their way northward along the eastern coast of China. The opium trade itself also contributed to the Chinese army s defeat; with so much of the population subdued by this extremely potent narcotic, they were unable to mount a viable defense against the British. Lin Zexu was quoted saying, If we continue to allow this trade to flourish, in a few dozen years we will find ourselves not only with no Historical 13

How Britain Starved China soldiers to resist the enemy, but also with no money to equip the army. This nightmare soon turned into reality when the Chinese were embarrassed in the First Opium War due to ineffective leadership, lack of able soldiers, and glaring military deficiencies. By June 1840, the British were threatening Nanking, and even Peking. Due to the domination of the British Navy, the opium-addicted shell that China had become surrendered. The war ended as a humiliating defeat. The war officially ended in August 1842 with the signing of the Treaty of Nanking. As the victors, the British were able to dictate many new stipulations to the relationship between England and China. The treaty opened up a number of new ports for English subjects to reside and trade in. The British also ordered that the tariffs and duty taxes be made fair for the British to be able to trade freely and equally with the Chinese. They also gained possession of the island of Hong Kong, where the Queen s subjects could refit their ships when required, and keep stores for that purpose. On top of being forced to pay the entire sum for the lost opium trade from the war, the Emperor of China was forced to allow free trade with all Chinese merchants, not just ones licensed by the Emperor. The 6 million dollars-worth that the Emperor had to pay for the lost opium was just part of the 12 million dollars-worth total he would pay in the treaty. The final part of the treaty instructed the Emperor to make a public statement assuming blame for the war and apologizing to both his subjects and the British. This was incredibly demeaning and intended to show the weakness of the Emperor to the rest of the world, and more importantly to his own subjects. This dominating victory by the British and the unequal treaty that followed put the Chinese in a subordinate position to their European counterparts. The second boom The final part of the treaty instructed the Emperor to make a public statement assuming blame for the war of opium in the 1850s and the increase in its negative effects throughout China led to the Second Opium War. The returns from the newly opened ports on the east coast of China and Hong Kong were the highest of any British trade, with the exception of Indian ports. Trading hostilities in 1856 increased tensions, and when Chinese officials arrested British sailors aboard the Arrow for suspected piracy, tensions boiled over. The British, who were allied with the Americans, Russians, and primarily the French, led an attack on China. From entry in Hong Kong, they easily captured Canton in 1857 and continued moving along the east coast. An Anglo-French force destroyed the Chinese forts outside of the city of Tientsin in 1858, effectively ending hostilities. The British forces in the entire war effort never exceeded 10,000, even when they were occupying five different major Chinese cities. The rapid victory by the allies was followed by the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858, which stipulated that eleven more Chinese ports must be opened to foreign trade 14 Kaleidoscope Journal Vol. 4 Issue 1

Joseph LaCorte and that all foreigners with passports would be permitted to travel freely throughout China. Still, the British were not fully satisfied with this treaty since they were unable to attain embassies in Peking. After the Chinese disregarded the British negotiator who was supposed to be working on amending the treaty, the negotiator ordered a military attack on Peking. In a letter from the Earl of Elgin & Kincardine to Parliament, he said, I found that the government of Peking had refused to send a Plenipotentiary to meet me there I at once determined to bring pressure to bear at some point near the capital. This would eventually lead to a successful attack on the summer palace in Peking. Faced with war as well as civil strife, the Chinese surrendered soon after the attack on the palace, and the Emperor conceded in the Convention of Peking that, Her Majesty the Queen, may, if she see fit, appoint Ambassadors, Ministers, or other Diplomatic Agents to the Court of Peking. This piece of the agreement was what the British were looking for, and they now had the power to influence the Chinese politically and economically as they pleased. After this second dominating victory by the British in China, the Convention of Peking was signed, adding to the Chinese humiliation of the Treaty of Tientsin. The opening of The British... now had the power to influence the Chinese politically and economically as they pleased eleven new ports gave the British access to the Yang-tze-kiang, or Great River, which traverses China from east to west. This increased British influence in the Chinese interior and gave them new markets for opium. This treaty was formulated after the British suppression of the Taiping Rebellion as well, which gave them supreme bargaining power over the Emperor during negotiations. The main advantage that the British received was the opening of many new ports and access to the Yangtze and Peiho Rivers. The British and the other foreign nations had soon overtaken control of the Chinese economy, which would have major effects on the upcoming drought of the 1870s. The British mercantile system was based completely on a favorable balance of foreign trade and taking advantage of market prices to maximize profit, a major contrast to the old Chinese agricultural system. In India, the British had encouraged moving focus away from subsistence crops, like millet and lentils, in favor of cash crops, like cotton and opium. The same shift was pushed in China. When the Chinese markets became available to the British, agricultural regions such as Shanxi and Honan were encouraged to stop producing rice and grain in favor of opium and especially cotton due to price increases for textiles during the American Civil War. These cash crops in the previous system were virtually Historical 15

How Britain Starved China useless to these agricultural regions because they had nowhere to sell them. They were worthless to farmers as far as direct utility. However, when British merchants gained access to these farming regions and were able to create markets for those cash crops, it was far more profitable to sell cotton than rice. When crops failed in 1876 and the price of food skyrocketed, the cash that they received from cotton was not nearly enough to buy sufficient food to feed the population. The British economic model had convinced the Chinese that sacrificing their direct food entitlement for a trade entitlement would be more profitable, but they found out in 1876 that they had been misled. This shift in production, caused by the introduction of cash crops intended for distant markets, coupled with the extreme drought in Northern China from 1876 to 1878 caused by extreme El Niño conditions and the flooding of the Yellow River from 1876-1878, created a severe famine that would kill nearly ten million Chinese. Due to the massive starvation occurring in the rural interior, many people fled to large, coastal cities hoping there would be food to support them there. However, as large famine-stricken groups of people gathered together the likelihood of spreading infectious diseases was amplified. In 1877, a British report on the famine said, epidemic disease has committed serious ravages in all the afflicted districts. Typhus fever completed the depopulation of many villages in Shantung Cholera has visited nearly all the coast ports. The rains returned in late 1878, and by 1879 people were going back to their rural homes to plant and raise crops again. Still, throughout the regions in the north of China, over nine million people died in excess mortality due to famine, disease, and starvation. In the end, it was the El Niño conditions and Yellow River flooding that caused the drought, but the British policies and influence that caused the shortage of food and thus the famine. The British economic model had convinced the Chinese that sacrificing their direct food entitlement for a trade entitlement would be more profitable Beginning with opium in 1830, Britain began to gain control through economic and military means in China, which eventually resulted in the suffering of the Chinese people in the famine of 1876-1878. Opium was the illegal commodity that gave Britain a foothold in the southern ports of China. The Chinese tried twice to eradicate the trade by warring with the British, but they were slaughtered both times due to deficiencies in manpower caused by opium addiction and further shortages in military technologies. War and rebellion hurt the Emperor s standing politically and allowed the British to dictate what they wanted in the Convention 16 Kaleidoscope Journal Vol. 4 Issue 1

Joseph LaCorte of Peking. By 1860, Britain dominated China economically and imposed radical changes on the traditionally agricultural society. This caused the farmers of China to begin growing profitable cash crops like cotton, instead of subsistence crops like rice. Without enough food to survive, the Chinese people soon flooded the cities as the drought persisted and epidemic diseases quickly developed. When the famine had ended it was estimated that 9.5 million Chinese died in excess mortality. The root of this mass starvation was the British imperialist system and the changes forced upon the Chinese. It is difficult to speculate on how many fewer would have perished had the Chinese retained their direct entitlements to food, but it can be inferred that there would have been far less distraught than there was under the economic domination of the British. Chinese woodcut of the Second Opium War Historical 17

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