Читать книгу A Brief Modern Chinese History - Haipeng Zhang - Страница 6

Once the British discovered that Qing was going to confiscate the British smugglers’ opium, the Anglo-American capitalists and groups with an interest in opium began to rise up against China. On October 1, 1839, Queen Victoria in Britain decided to send troops to China. Five months later, George Elliot, a naval officer, was appointed to lead the invading British forces. More than forty British warships and four thousand British men-at-arms entered Chinese waters south of Macao. The British war of aggression against China had begun. After failing to capture Guangzhou due to strong resistance from Qing’s army, the British headed north. In July, British troops attacked Dinghai in Zhejiang and, in August, arrived at Dagukou, Tianjin, the gateway to Beijing, continuing their attempt to force Qing into submission. At this time, Emperor Daoguang’s resolution to combat opium began to falter. He sent Qishan, a leading imperial official and the Governor of Zhili, to negotiate with the British. Qishan made a promise that the imperial court would punish the hardline anti-opium officials such as Lin Zexu. Convinced by Qishan, the British withdrew to Guangdong. The Qing government then immediately removed Lin and Deng Tingzhen from office and appointed Qishan as the Imperial Envoy to further negotiate with the British. Despite Qishan almost submitting to the British demands, British troops unexpectedly occupied Qing’s two strategic garrisons at the estuary of the Pearl River. Without the imperial court’s consent, the frightened Qishan agreed to cede Hong Kong to Britain, paying six million silver dollars for the losses suffered by opium traders, and to open Guangzhou to foreigners. The first phase of the Opium War ended with Britain’s capture of Hong Kong.

Qing declared war against Britain. Yishan, a high general in the royal family, was sent to Guangzhou. However, before he arrived, British troops seized garrisons in Hu’men and southern Guangzhou. After trying to fight against the British in May, 1841, Yishan and his army withdrew to the inner city of Guangzhou. Yishan then signed an agreement with the British and a ransom of six million silver dollars was paid for the complete withdrawal of Qing troops. marking the end of the second phase of the Opium War. Britain, however, was insatiable and sent more troops, led by Henry Pottinger, to China. In August, 1841, the reinforcements reached the South Sea and then captured Xiamen, Dinghai, Zhenhai and Ningbo. One year later, British warships entered the waters of the Yangtze River near Nanjing. Qiying, one of Qing’s top generals, was commissioned to launch peace talks with the British. On August 29, 1842, the Treaty of Nanjing was signed on board HMS Cornwallis signalling the end of the Opium War.

In October of 1843, China and Britain signed the Hu’men Treaty. The United States and France then later coerced Qing into signing the Wangxia Treaty and Huangpu Treaty. The result was that China was drawn into the British colonial system. The British gained huge profits from colonizing China, which included the cession of Hong Kong to the British empire; 21,000,000 silver dollars; five treaty ports (providing the justification for foreign settlements); direct interference in Chinese customs; extraterritorial jurisdiction; the right to navigate in China’s waters; unilateral most-favored-nation treatment; freedom to carry out missionary work (in treaty ports); and so on. The Western powers had made their way into China, pushing China into an abyss of semi-colonialism and semi-feudalism.