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I think they felt more strongly about being forced to accept opium on penalty of being bombed.

The thing is that they remember all those things while people in the West are oblivious to them.

"The thing is that they remember all those things while people in the West are oblivious to them." You are so right. Opium wars is major part of history books. Every educated Chinese( or not so educated ones) knows this part of history. There is this "they wronged us" mindset right or wrong. A lot of conflicts come from this.

It's not that we're oblivious to them, we just haven't been trained to feel personally angry about it. I learned about the Opium Wars in my 9th-grade world history class in US public school, nearly a quarter-century ago, and it was treated as a pivotal moment in Chinese history. It's very difficult to avoid being reminded about it regularly if you read news about modern Chinese politics and foreign affairs.

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