Opium War

In the early 19th century, China was in an era when its feudal social system was on the wane while the Western capitalist countries ( especially Britain) were at the best of ames when they enjoyed a rapid industrial development. In order to expand their commodity market to grab more fortunes, the British colonists exported opium produced in its colony India to China. After opium was introduced to China, silver began to flow out of China at 山 e rate of 30 million taels a year. What's more, many people's health was so seriously ruined by opium that addicts in the army became so weak they could not shoulder a gun. The Qing government was concerned about this, and in 1838 Emperor Daoguang issued an order to ban opium imports and appointed Lin Zexu as a commissioner to carry it out in Guangdong. As a result, 20, 000 chests of opium were confiscated from the British merchants. The British were naturally reluctant to give up such a good source of income. So, under Me pretext of protecting their traders, they sent a fleet of troop ship to attack Guangzhou in June 1840 hence the Opium War broke out. On June 26th,1841, the British troops occupied Hong Kong. In August, the Qing government was forced to sign the Nanjing Treaty and Hong Kong was ceded to Britain. From then on, China was gradually reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country.