First Opium War - Trade Deficits and the Macartney Embassy - Extra History - #1 (Kan 2024)
Opiumhandel, i kinesisk historie, trafikken, der udviklede sig i det 18. og 19. århundrede, hvor de vestlige lande, for det meste Storbritannien, eksporterede opium dyrket i Indien og solgte den til Kina. Briterne brugte overskuddet fra salget af opium til at købe sådanne kinesiske luksusvarer som porcelæn, silke og te, som var meget efterspurgt i Vesten.
Opium blev først introduceret til Kina af tyrkiske og arabiske handlende i slutningen af det 6. eller begyndelsen af det 7. århundrede. Oralt taget for at lindre spændinger og smerter blev stoffet brugt i begrænsede mængder indtil 1600-tallet. På det tidspunkt spredte man sig med at ryge tobak fra Nordamerika til Kina, og opiumrygning blev hurtigt populær i hele landet. Opiumafhængighed steg, og opiumimport voksede hurtigt i løbet af det første århundrede af Qing-dynastiet (1644–1911 / 12). I 1729 var det blevet et sådant problem, at Yongzheng-kejseren (regerede 1722–35) forbød salg og rygning af opium. Det undlod at hindre handelen, og i 1796 forbød Jiaqing-kejseren opiumimport og -dyrkning. På trods af sådanne dekret fortsatte opiumhandelen imidlertid med at blomstre.
Tidligt i 1700-tallet fandt portugiserne, at de kunne importere opium fra Indien og sælge det i Kina med en betydelig fortjeneste. I 1773 havde briterne opdaget handlen, og det år blev de de førende leverandører af det kinesiske marked. Det britiske østindiske selskab etablerede et monopol på opiumdyrkning i den indiske provins Bengal, hvor de udviklede en metode til dyrkning af opiumsvalmuer billigt og rigeligt. Andre vestlige lande deltog også i handlen, herunder De Forenede Stater, der handlede både med tyrkisk og indisk opium.
Storbritannien og andre europæiske lande påtog sig opiumhandelen på grund af deres kroniske handelsubalance med Kina. Der var en enorm efterspørgsel i Europa efter kinesisk te, silke og porcelænskeramik, men der var tilsvarende lille efterspørgsel i Kina efter Europas fremstillede varer og andre handelsvarer. Derfor måtte europæerne betale for kinesiske produkter med guld eller sølv. Opiumhandelen, der skabte en stabil efterspørgsel blandt kinesiske narkomane for opium importeret af Vesten, løste denne kroniske handelsbalance.
The East India Company did not carry the opium itself but, because of the Chinese ban, farmed it out to “country traders”—i.e., private traders who were licensed by the company to take goods from India to China. The country traders sold the opium to smugglers along the Chinese coast. The gold and silver the traders received from those sales were then turned over to the East India Company. In China the company used the gold and silver it received to purchase goods that could be sold profitably in England.
The amount of opium imported into China increased from about 200 chests annually in 1729 to roughly 1,000 chests in 1767 and then to about 10,000 per year between 1820 and 1830. The weight of each chest varied somewhat—depending on point of origin—but averaged approximately 140 pounds (63.5 kg). By 1838 the amount had grown to some 40,000 chests imported into China annually. The balance of payments for the first time began to run against China and in favour of Britain.
Meanwhile, a network of opium distribution had formed throughout China, often with the connivance of corrupt officials. Levels of opium addiction grew so high that it began to affect the imperial troops and the official classes. The efforts of the Qing dynasty to enforce the opium restrictions resulted in two armed conflicts between China and the West, known as the Opium Wars, both of which China lost and which resulted in various measures that contributed to the decline of the Qing. The first war, between Britain and China (1839–42), did not legalize the trade, but it did halt Chinese efforts to stop it. In the second Opium War (1856–60)—fought between a British-French alliance and China—the Chinese government was forced to legalize the trade, though it did levy a small import tax on opium. By that time opium imports to China had reached 50,000 to 60,000 chests a year, and they continued to increase for the next three decades.
By 1906, however, the importance of opium in the West’s trade with China had declined, and the Qing government was able to begin to regulate the importation and consumption of the drug. In 1907 China signed the Ten Years’ Agreement with India, whereby China agreed to forbid native cultivation and consumption of opium on the understanding that the export of Indian opium would decline in proportion and cease completely in 10 years. The trade was thus almost completely stopped by 1917.
Opium smoking and addiction remained a problem in China during the subsequent decades, however, since the weakened central republican government could not wipe out the native cultivation of opium. Opium smoking was finally eradicated by the Chinese communists after they came to power in 1949.
