The First Opium War (2011) [pdf]

ocw.mit.edu

15 points·arnie001··4 comments

For those who don't know, the British were the opium dealers, the Chinese banned the opium and once confiscated it, and the result was the war in 1839:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Opium_War

"The British East India Company began to auction opium grown on its plantations in India to independent foreign traders in exchange for silver. The opium was then transported to the China coast and sold to Chinese middlemen who retailed the drug inside China. This reverse flow of silver and the increasing numbers of opium addicts alarmed Chinese officials."

"In 1839, the Daoguang Emperor" "confiscated around 20,000 chests of opium." "The British government, although not officially denying China's right to control imports of the drug, objected to this unexpected seizure and used its naval and gunnery power to inflict a quick and decisive defeat."

Apparently, the argument for the war was, familiarly, that China "resisted to the free trade."

Of the opium, peddled by the Brits.

Additional note for those, who don't know:

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (familiar as HSBC) was funded after the Second Opium War to finance the opium trade. Also other trade, but the focus was to service the drug dealers and then move profits back to Britain.

It could be said, that when they were caught servicing Mexican drug cartels, it was return to the roots.

Thanks for the tip. This source is not so explicit:

http://mondediplo.com/2010/02/04hsbc

Reading wikipedia, the connection is somewhat clearer:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hongkong_and_Shanghai_Bank...

HTML Version: http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/opium_wars_01/ow1_ess... (The pdf is an exercise in html printing gone terrible)

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