The Opium Wars
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Historical resources referred to in this post reflect the racial prejudices of the era in which they were created, and some items include language and imagery which is offensive, oppressive and may cause upset. This is not condoned by The University of Manchester, but we are committed to providing access to this material as evidence of the inequalities and attitudes of the time period.
The Opium Wars refer to two armed conflicts which occurred in China in the middle of the 19th century. The First Opium War (1839–42) was fought between British and Chinese forces. The war came about due to China’s attempts to stifle the opium trade, which had been exploited by British traders and which was creating social and economic unrest in China. The British were victorious, and their victory led to a series of ‘unequal treaties’ heavily weighted against China. These were the Treaty of Nanjing — which saw China pay Britain a hefty indemnity, Britain take control of Hong Kong Island, and a five-times increase in the number of Chinese ports Britain could trade from — and the Treaty of the Bogue — which secured extraterritoriality and most-favoured-nation treatment for Britain. The Second Opium War (1856–60) was waged by British and French forces against China, whilst the Qing dynasty was busy trying to subdue the Taiping Rebellion which had broken out between themselves and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Distracted and in a weak position, Britain decided it was the right time to renew hostilities with China in an attempt to secure greater trading privileges. In both wars, the European forces were victorious and this led to the weakening and eventual fall of the Qing dynasty (rulers of China 1644-1911/12).
The Bowring Papers (available at the John Rylands Library) contain the personal and political correspondence of Sir John Bowring, who was made plenipotentiary to China, governor of Hong Kong, and superintendent of trade in 1854, two years before the Second Opium War broke out. The letters written by Sir John and his correspondents are a useful source of information about the attitudes and actions of British officials in China during this period, as well as the political and commercial tensions brewing in China in the years immediately preceding the Second Opium War. The bulk of Sir John’s correspondence is directed to his family members; his sons Edgar A. Bowring and Frederick Hermann Bowring and his wife Maria. Some of these letters have been digitised and are available to view here.
The political life of Sir John Bowring, especially in the years leading up to his posting to China at age 57, is an understudied topic. However, the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester has been responsible for publishing a number of articles which provide critical analyses of Sir John’s political life. These articles discuss Sir John in the context of the Second Opium War, the Chinese and Siamese commercial treatise, the Canton City Question, and the question of treaty revision in China. These have been digitised and can be accessed here.
The Special Collections contain further visual and written material on 19th and 20th century China and the political context of opium, such as this photograph of the approach to the 10,000 Pass Way into Kangting taken in 1947. This photograph was taken by a missionary travelling through China and shows a ‘place where men last smoked opium before going over’.
Discussion Points
- What can the records of Sir John Bowring tell us about the Opium Wars and British-Chinese relations in the 19th century?
Further Resources
Bowring Papers: https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/manchesteruniversity/archives/36400e42-f77e-3150-95fb-baf8335a96d0
Correspondence of Sir John Bowring: https://luna.manchester.ac.uk/luna/servlet/view/search/what/Correspondence?q=Bowring
Articles on Sir John Bowring published in the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester: https://luna.manchester.ac.uk/luna/servlet/view/search/what/Academic%2Bpublication%2Bseries?q=bowring
Images reproduced with the permission of The John Rylands University Librarian and Director of the University of Manchester Library. All images used on this page are licenced via CC-BY-NC-SA, for further information about each image, please follow the link in the caption description.
