Opium Wars

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• National Army Museum - The Opium War
• The Victorian Web - The Chinese Opium Wars
• The National Archives - Hong Kong and the Opium Wars
• GlobalSecurity.org - Opium Wars
• Heritage History - Opium Wars
• Asia Pacific Curriculum - The Opium Wars in China
• History Today - The Opium Wars

While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

• National Army Museum - The Opium War
• The Victorian Web - The Chinese Opium Wars
• The National Archives - Hong Kong and the Opium Wars
• GlobalSecurity.org - Opium Wars
• Heritage History - Opium Wars
• Asia Pacific Curriculum - The Opium Wars in China
• History Today - The Opium Wars

Ken Pletcher was Senior Editor, Geography and History for Encyclopædia Britannica. He holds an M.A. in Japanese studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As part of his master's program.

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.

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The Opium Wars were two conflicts fought in China in the mid-19th century between the forces of Western countries and of the Qing dynasty, which ruled China from 1644 to 1911/12. The first Opium War (1839–42) was fought between China and Great Britain, and the second Opium War (1856–60), also known as the Arrow War or the Anglo-French War in China, was fought by Great Britain and France against China.

The first Opium War was the result of China’s attempt to suppress the illegal opium trade, which had led to widespread addiction in China and was causing serious social and economic disruption there. British traders were the primary source of the drug in China. The second Opium War was the result of the desire of Great Britain and France to win additional commercial privileges in China, including the legalization of the opium trade, as well as to gain more legal and territorial concessions in China.

The first Opium War was fought between China and Great Britain. The second Opium War, also known as the Arrow War or the Anglo-French War in China, was fought by Great Britain and France against China. The United States and Russia, although not combatants, also received concessions from China as a result of this conflict.

Not China. Great Britain won the first Opium War. The opium trade continued, and China had to compensate Great Britain for its losses, give Hong Kong Island to the British, and increase the number of treaty ports where the British could trade and reside. Great Britain and France won the second Opium War. China’s concessions included legalizing the opium trade and providing for the opening of more ports in China, foreign travel in the Chinese interior, residence for Western envoys in Beijing, and freedom of movement for Christian missionaries. China also gave Great Britain the southern portion of the Kowloon Peninsula, adjacent to Hong Kong.

The Opium Wars marked the start of the era of unequal treaties between China and foreign imperialist powers (primarily Great Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia, and Japan) in which China was forced to concede many of its territorial and sovereignty rights. This and other curtailments of the sovereignty of China’s ruling Qing dynasty helped weaken and ultimately topple the dynasty, beginning with a revolution on October 10, 1911. A republican government replaced the Qing dynasty in 1912.

Opium Wars, two armed conflicts in China in the mid-19th century between the forces of Western countries and of the Qing dynasty, which ruled China from 1644 to 1911/12. The first Opium War (1839–42) was fought between China and Britain, and the second Opium War (1856–60), also known as the Arrow War or the Anglo-French War in China, was fought by Britain and France against China. In each case the foreign powers were victorious and gained commercial privileges and legal and territorial concessions in China. The conflicts marked the start of the era of unequal treaties and other inroads on Qing sovereignty that helped weaken and ultimately topple the dynasty in favour of republican China in the early 20th century. Contributing to the start of the Opium Wars was the failed British trade mission of 1792-93 known as the Macartney Embassy.

The first Opium War

The Opium Wars arose from China’s attempts to suppress the opium trade. Foreign traders (primarily British) had been illegally exporting opium mainly from India to China since the 18th century, but that trade grew dramatically from about 1820. The resulting widespread addiction in China was causing serious social and economic disruption there. In spring 1839 the Chinese government confiscated and destroyed more than 20,000 chests of opium—some 1,400 tons of the drug—that were warehoused at Canton (Guangzhou) by British merchants. The antagonism between the two sides increased in July when some drunken British sailors killed a Chinese villager. The British government, which did not wish its subjects to be tried in the Chinese legal system, refused to turn the accused men over to the Chinese courts.

Hostilities broke out later that year when British warships destroyed a Chinese blockade of the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang) estuary at Hong Kong. The British government decided in early 1840 to send an expeditionary force to China, which arrived at Hong Kong in June. The British fleet proceeded up the Pearl River estuary to Canton, and, after months of negotiations there, attacked and occupied the city in May 1841. Subsequent British campaigns over the next year were likewise successful against the inferior Qing forces, despite a determined counterattack by Chinese troops in the spring of 1842. The British held against that offensive, however, and captured Nanjing (Nanking) in late August, which put an end to the fighting.

Peace negotiations proceeded quickly, resulting in the Treaty of Nanjing, signed on August 29. By its provisions, China was required to pay Britain a large indemnity, cede Hong Kong Island to the British (the handover of Hong Kong back to China would not occur until 1997), and increase the number of treaty ports where the British could trade and reside from one (Canton) to five. Among the four additional designated ports was Shanghai, and the new access to foreigners there marked the beginning of the city’s transformation into one of China’s major commercial entrepôts. The British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue (Humen), signed October 8, 1843, gave British citizens extraterritoriality (the right to be tried by British courts) and most-favoured-nation status (Britain was granted any rights in China that might be granted to other foreign countries). Other Western countries quickly demanded and were given similar privileges.

The second Opium War

In the mid-1850s, while the Qing government was embroiled in trying to quell the Taiping Rebellion (1850–64), the British, seeking to extend their trading rights in China, found an excuse to renew hostilities. In early October 1856 some Chinese officials boarded the British-registered ship Arrow while it was docked in Canton, arrested several Chinese crew members (who were later released), and allegedly lowered the British flag. Later that month a British warship sailed up the Pearl River estuary and began bombarding Canton, and there were skirmishes between British and Chinese troops. Trading ceased as a stalemate ensued. In December Chinese in Canton burned foreign factories (trading warehouses) there, and tensions escalated.

The French decided to join the British military expedition, using as their excuse the murder of a French missionary in the interior of China in early 1856. After delays in assembling the forces in China (British troops that were en route were first diverted to India to help quell the Indian Mutiny), the allies began military operations in late 1857. They quickly captured Canton, deposed the city’s intransigent governor, and installed a more-compliant official. In May 1858 allied troops in British warships reached Tianjin (Tientsin) and forced the Chinese into negotiations. The treaties of Tianjin, signed in June 1858, provided residence in Beijing for foreign envoys, the opening of several new ports to Western trade and residence, the right of foreign travel in the interior of China, and freedom of movement for Christian missionaries. In further negotiations in Shanghai later in the year, the importation of opium was legalized.

The British withdrew from Tianjin in the summer of 1858, but they returned to the area in June 1859 en route to Beijing with French and British diplomats to ratify the treaties. The Chinese refused to let them pass by the Dagu forts at the mouth of the Hai River and proposed an alternate route to Beijing. The British-led forces decided against taking the other route and instead tried to push forward past Dagu. They were driven back with heavy casualties. The Chinese subsequently refused to ratify the treaties, and the allies resumed hostilities. In August 1860 a considerably larger force of warships and British and French troops destroyed the Dagu batteries, proceeded upriver to Tianjin, and, in October, captured Beijing and plundered and then burned the Yuanming Garden, the emperor’s summer palace. Later that month the Chinese signed the Beijing Convention, in which they agreed to observe the treaties of Tianjin and also ceded to the British the southern portion of the Kowloon Peninsula adjacent to Hong Kong.