Modern World History Fall 2001
Week 4 Web-linked documents
On Chinese-British relations on the eve of the Opium War (1839)
In the late 1830s the Chinese government decided to act against the British practice of importing Opium into China. The English were smuggling the drug into China (it was against the law there) as a way of "balancing" their trade with the Chinese. The Chinese had been selling porcelain, tea, silk, and other goods to England but not buying any goods from England. The English discovered, however, that they could more than make their money back by selling Opium to the Chinese (with help from corrupt Chinese officials and support from the British government).
The linked document, "Lin Zixu/ Lin Tse-Hsü, Letter of Advice to Queen Victoria (1839)" (at http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/com-lin.html), is from the Chinese official in charge of anti-drug enforcement to the Queen of England.
Read the document (click on this link http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/com-lin.html), and answer the questions at the bottom of the linked web-page.