The Opium Wars
Learn about the Opium Wars — the conflicts that forced China to open its markets to Western trade, beginning a 'century of humiliation.'
The Opium Wars (1839–1842 and 1856–1860) were the military conflicts through which Britain and other Western powers forced China to accept the opium trade, cede territory, and open its markets — events that marked the beginning of China's 'century of humiliation' and the decline of the Qing dynasty.
The First Opium War began when China attempted to halt the British opium trade, which was creating millions of addicts and draining silver from the Chinese economy. When Chinese officials seized and destroyed 20,000 chests of British opium in Canton, Britain responded with overwhelming naval force. The Treaty of Nanjing (1842) — the first of the 'unequal treaties' — ceded Hong Kong to Britain, opened five treaty ports, and imposed an indemnity.
The Second Opium War (1856–1860) resulted in further concessions, including the legalization of the opium trade, the opening of additional ports, and the burning of the Summer Palace in Beijing by British and French forces. These treaties, imposed at gunpoint, created the treaty port system that gave Western nations extraterritorial privileges in China — a source of humiliation that fueled Chinese nationalism and revolutionary movements for the next century.