Thread by @CarlZha

Since the photo of Queen Elizabeth visiting her crown colony of Hong Kong in 1975 is making the round, it’s perfect time to remind people Britain forcibly made Hong Kong its colony as result of waging a war to sell Opium to China. A 🧵

Vice UK actually did a decent job of summarizing how Britain trafficked tons of illegal drugs to China and then waging TWO Opium Wars to protect its drug trade

Opium had been known to Chinese tradition medicine since Tang Dynasty. It was used as painkiller but it's known large amount ingested would kill you

When European colonialists introduced tobacco frm Americas, Opium was mixed w tobacco in Dutch East Indies (modern day Indonesia)

Thru Dutch colony of Batavia (Jakarta) and Taiwan (1624-1662), Opium smoking spread frm Chinese diaspora to Chinese mainland. Smoking allow more Opium consumption because it doesn't kill user right away.

Pic: Opium smoking in Dutch East Indies

But it would be Britain that come to dominate the Opium trade. This was accomplished by the British conquest of India.

British East India Company established an Opium Monopoly, forcing Indian farmers to switch frm growing staple food to Opium, leading to regular famine in India

British traders thru Chinese pushers gave free sample of Opium on the streets of Canton. Opium soon became the biggest British export to China growing frm 300 tons in 1830 to 6,500 tons of Opium in 1880.
15 million Chinese became addict.

Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu arrived in Canton (Guangzhou) in 1839 to stamp out the illegal Opium trafficking. He ordered British traders to surrender their Opium stockpiles totaling 20,283 chests and 200 sacks of opium. He had them publicly destroyed by mixing w water and lime

Biggest Opium smuggler William Jardine traveled to London, bought off British press and lobbied Foreign Secretary Palmerston for war against China for having stopped the Opium trade. Parliament voted for War.

Jardine Matheson is 1 of the wealthiest multinational company today

1st Opium War broke out in 1839 and was 1 sided affair as industrialized Britain overwhelmed antiquated Qing military.

British ironclad steamship Nemesis firing rockets blowing up Chinese war junk in Pearl River on Jan 7, 1841

On Aug 29th, 1842. British gunboat sailed up Yangtze to force China sign the treaty of Nanking, ceding island of Hong Kong and paying 6 million silver dollars to Britain.

This year marks 180th anniversary of the Treaty of Nanking, ending the 1st Opium War.

But Britain wasn't satisfied w the result of First Opium War because China still refused to legalize Opium trade, so Britain and France teamed up to launch the Second Opium War in 1856, sacking Guangzhou and Beijing and looted and burned down Summer Palace.

Mongol Prince Sengge Rinchen leading Mongol cavalry charge agst the Anglo-French line outside of Beijing in the battle of Palikao 八里橋之戰 in 2nd Opium War, recreated in 1983 HK-mainland co-production "The Burning of Imperial Palace" 火燒圓明園

British Bank Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Corporation got its start financing Opium trade to China. Today HSBC is 1 of the largest multinational bank in the world. HSBC also tried to whitewash its origin from its corporate history

I have done a podcast series on the Opium trade frm 18th century to the present and its impact on China and surrounding regions on the Silk and Steel podcast patreon.com/posts/47233615