Opium Wars Imperialism and China

The Opium wars were one of the very first and biggest drug war in the world. There were two Opium Wars. The war lasted from 1839 top 1842.The main reason why the Opium Wars began was because of opium. Opium is a drug that comes from the juice of poppy seedpods. It could also be used form making heroine. Tea was very popular in Europe and the place where the British got their tea from was from China. China only had one place for the British to trade with which was the Canton port. The British always bought tea from the Chinese, but they now wanted to sell things to China. So to even out things the Bristish introduced the drug, opium, to the Chinese people. The British got opium from India. Opium was first used as a medical drug in China. It was used to treat some diseases like diarhhea. It was also used for making people more active and for sex. Later on, the British taught the Chinese that they could smoke opium by mixing it with tobacco. In the 18th centry the Chinese started to abuse and get addicted to opium. So much people were getting addicted to opium that 10% of the Chinese people smoking opium. This lead to the many deaths of the Chinese people. Emperor Daoguang then chose Lin Tse-Hsua to create an anti-opium campaign. it was to stop the use of opium activity like the use, selling, buying, and importing of opium. Chests of Opium were destroyed and thrown away. The use of Opium was also considered illegal. Users of opium would be executed. A letter was also sent to the Queen of England. However, the letter was unable to reach the queen becuase the messenger was killed. The first opium war started in November, 1839 because the British took over Hong Kong. The Chinese lost the first war becuase the were behind when it came to technology. As a result the Chinese were forced to sign the Treay of Nanjing. This was the end of the first Opium War. Another Opium War was caused becuase of the violation of a few treaties. After that war the Chinese signed the Treaty of Tiangin. The treaties were eventually abolished when communism came in to China.