The #Opium Wars probably sounded like a good idea at the time. In retrospect they were is not so pretty. Karl Marx wrote about the business in The Opium Trade. A much better account is given by George MacDonald Fraser in his novel, Flashman and the Dragon. It deals with the #Second Opium War from 1856 to 1860.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Smith_Parkes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bruce,_8th_Earl_of_Elgin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Browne VC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nicholson_%28general%29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Abbott_%28Indian_Army_officer%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Xiucheng = Loyal Prince Lee - very bad article - see http://www.dighist.org/2011/01/wikipedia-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Townsend_Ward
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Townsend_Ward
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Hamberg on "hung jen kan "
Opium Wars ex Wiki
The Opium Wars (simplified Chinese: 鸦片战争; traditional Chinese: 鴉片戰爭) were two wars waged between the Qing dynasty and Western powers in the mid-19th century. The First Opium War, fought in 1839–1842 between Qing China and the United Kingdom, was triggered by the dynasty's campaign against the British merchants who sold opium in China. The Second Opium War was fought between the Qing and the United Kingdom and France, 1856–1860. In each war, the European force's modern military technology led to easy victory over the Qing forces, with the consequence that the government was compelled to grant favourable tariffs, trade concessions, reparations and territory to the Europeans.The wars and the subsequently-imposed treaties weakened the Qing dynasty and the Chinese imperial government, and forced China to open specified treaty ports (especially Shanghai) that handled all trade with imperial powers.[1][2] In addition, China gave the sovereignty over Hong Kong to the United Kingdom. Around this time, China's economy also contracted slightly, but the sizable Taiping Rebellion and Dungan Revolt had a much larger effect.[3]
George MacDonald Fraser ex Wiki
George MacDonald Fraser OBE FRSL (2 April 1925 – 2 January 2008) was a British author and screenwriter. He is best known for a series of works that featured the character Flashman.
Flashman and the Dragon ex Wiki
Presented within the frame of the supposedly discovered historical Flashman Papers, this book describes the bully Flashman from Tom Brown's School Days. The papers are attributed to Flashman, who is not only the bully featured in Thomas Hughes' novel, but also a well-known Victorian military hero. The book begins with an explanatory note detailing the discovery of these papers.The present novel takes place shortly after Flashman's service with John Brown in the United States (detailed in Flashman and the Angel of the Lord). There is no explanation as to how he ends up in Hong Kong, but it is from here that he begins his adventures in China. Flashman meets both the leaders of the Taiping Rebellion and members of the Qing Dynasty who participated in the Second Opium War.
Plot summary
In Hong Kong, Flashman is convinced by Phoebe Carpenter, a lovely minister's wife, to accompany a shipment of opium into Canton, in exchange for a large sum of money and the promise of a later, more pleasant meeting. On the way he discovers that instead of opium he is carrying guns to the Taiping rebels. In Canton, Flashman manages to convince Harry Smith Parkes that he was trying to stop the shipment. However, instead of being able to head for home as he originally intended, he is put on the intelligence staff in Shanghai. From Shanghai he travels to Nanking and meets the leaders of the Taiping rebels, in order to convince them not to march on Shanghai.Flashman then proceeds to the mouth of the Peiho to join Lord Elgin's staff for his march to Peking. After being captured by the Imperials, he meets Xianfeng Emperor and becomes the prisoner and lover of Yehonala, the imperial concubine. When Lord Elgin's army arrives at Peking, he witnesses the destruction of the Imperial Summer Palace. But after that event, while heading for home, he is drugged and apparently kidnapped (perhaps shanghaied, given the dress of his kidnappers) while attempting to fulfil his promise with Phoebe Carpenter. There the story ends, and it is never revealed in any subsequent volume what then became of him immediately afterwards. However, there are several references in other books to his service in the American Civil War, suggesting that he must have returned to that country before 1864, and we know (from Flashman on the March) that he was in Mexico in 1867.
David Sassoon ex Wiki
Sassoon was born in Baghdad, where his father, Sassoon (1750-1830),[2] was a wealthy businessman, chief treasurer to the pashas (the governors of Baghdad) from 1781 to 1817, and president (Nasi) of the city's Jewish community.The family were Iraqi Jews. His mother was Amam Gabbai. After a traditional education in the Hebrew language, Sassoon married Hannah Joseph in 1818. They had two sons and two daughters before she died in 1826. Two years later he married Farha Hyeem (who was born in 1812 and died in 1886). The pair had six sons and three daughters.
Following increasing persecution of Baghdad's Jews by Dawud Pasha,[citation needed] the family moved to Bombay via Persia. Sassoon was in business in Bombay no later than 1832, originally acting as a middleman between British textile firms and Persian Gulf commodity merchants, subsequently investing in valuable harbour properties. His major competitors were Parsis, whose profits were built on their domination of the Sino-Indian opium trade since the 1820s.[3]
When the Treaty of Nanking opened up China to British traders, Sassoon developed his textile operations into a profitable triangular trade: Indian yarn and opium were carried to China, where he bought goods which were sold in Britain, from where he obtained Lancashire cotton products. He sent his son Elias David Sassoon to Canton, where he was the first Jewish trader (with 24 Parsi rivals). In 1845, David Sassoon & Co. opened an office in what would soon become Shanghai's British concession, and it became the firm's second hub of operations.
In 1844, he set up a branch in Hong Kong, and a year later, he set up his Shanghai branch on The Bund to cash in on the opium trade.
Second Opium War ex Wiki
The Second Opium War (Chinese: 第二次鴉片戰爭; pinyin: Dì'èrcì Yāpiàn Zhànzhēng), also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China,[4][full citation needed] was a war pitting the British Empire and the French Empire against the Qing dynasty of China that lasted from 1856 to 1860.In 1860, British and French troops landed near Beijing and fought their way into the city. Negotiations quickly broke down and the British High Commissioner to China ordered the troops to loot and destroy the Imperial Summer Palace, a complex and garden where Qing Dynasty emperors had traditionally handled the country’s official matters.
The second Opium War forced the Qing government to sign peace treaties between China and Russia such Tianjin Treaty and Beijing Treaty. As a result, China lost more than 1.5 million square kilometers of territory in northeast and northwest China. After the war, the Qing government was able to concentrate on the Taiping Rebellion and maintaining its rule.[5] The agreements of the Convention of Peking led to the ceding of Kowloon Peninsula as part of Hong Kong.
It was the second major war in the Opium Wars, fought over issues relating to the exportation of opium to China, and resulted in a second defeat for the Qing dynasty. The war caused many Chinese officials to believe that conflicts with the Western powers were no longer traditional affairs, but part of a looming national crisis.[6]