China, Britain and the Opium War

I’m reading Frederic Wakeman’s 1975 study The Fall of Imperial China, which is fun since my knowledge of Chinese history is close to non-existent.

At the moment I’m reading the sections of the book dealing with China’s unfortunate 19th century encounters with European imperialism, in particular the wars waged against China by Britain.

I don’t accept and never have accepted the idea that colonialism was pure evil, or that it was motivated entirely by wickedness. The motivations of colonialism were various and complex. The end results were sometimes disastrous, sometimes beneficial.

But having said that, it has to be admitted that the behaviour of the British towards China was breathtakingly cynical and represents one of the most shameful passages in British history. The Opium War really was exceptionally evil. Not just profiting from the drug trade, but creating the drug problem from which they went on to profit. And was there ever a more vicious politician than Lord Palmerston?

History is always fascinated but it’s not always inspiring!