During the reign of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, Taiwan Province Province was put under the sea ban, so it was used as a method of smoking opium in Nanyang. However, since then, Yongzheng and Jiaqing dynasties have dealt with hell to pay, a cigarette seller and smoker. Therefore, despite this wind, the coastal areas of China have not been flooded.
I. Chinese and foreign trade under "hierarchical obedience"
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the imperial court enforced the maritime ban, but the official foreign trade never stopped. In Qing Dynasty, Guangzhou was only a port for trade, so the characteristics of Guangzhou's foreign trade at that time represented the characteristics of China's foreign trade at that time.
For a long time, China has been in a favorable position in foreign trade. In the dominant Sino-British trade at that time, there was an annual trade balance of about 3.5 million yuan.
In the face of China's natural economy, foreign goods imported from the sea have little appeal to the people, while many goods from China, such as tea, silk and porcelain, are what the British need.
The difference in demand has led to a huge trade deficit. If this gap was acceptable to British businessmen before the Industrial Revolution (at least they would maintain the trade balance by various means), then the profit-oriented Anglo-Saxons would never allow this to happen again when the Industrial Revolution developed to a certain extent, capitalism was mature and the world market was taking shape.
To some extent, the essence of Guangzhou's trade is "grade obedience". The so-called hierarchical obedience means that subordinates obey their superiors.
Foreign businessmen doing business in China should obey the Hong merchants, who should obey the 13th Guangzhou yamen, the 13th Guangzhou yamen should obey the Constitution of Guangdong Province, and the Governor of Guangdong should obey the leadership of the "supreme" emperor of China.
In this way, Chinese and foreign trade is placed in a hierarchical and hierarchical "China system", and the essence of this system is restriction, restriction on freedom.
Of course, these are taken for granted in the eyes of China's rulers, but in the eyes of westerners, free trade and free competition are the principles that should be observed in business activities.
As a result, with the deepening of the industrial revolution in western Europe, the institutional contradiction between China and Britain has become more and more prominent.
Second, "changes in trade"
Like everything that happened in China's 2,000-year feudal history, a high degree of autocratic centralization will inevitably lead to corruption. The same is true of Guangzhou trade.
"According to the public statement of the Qing policy, commercial interests are subordinate to the political interests of the country, but privately, even the Qing emperor regarded Guangzhou trade as an important source of personal interests."
With the development of the feudal dynasty, the privatization tendency of this interest became more and more obvious. By 1775, Hong Kong businessmen in Guangzhou had set up a fund called CCBA Fund by the East India Company for exchange.
In order to enrich the CCBA fund, "it was not until 1780 that the 3% tariff on foreign imports was officially stipulated."
In addition, the military expenditure of the DPRK rose in the middle and late years, and the court asked officials and wealthy businessmen to donate money, and the Chamber of Commerce was no exception. The burden of public banks is paid from CCBA fund, that is to say, a considerable part of it is obtained from foreign investors.
According to the exact survey data, "between 1807 and 18 13, at least a total of 4.988 million silver was publicly spent from government funds."
Such a huge expenditure has caused those foreign businessmen who come to China to bear a huge trade balance and a considerable amount of gold and silver that should not have been invested by them.
It is precisely because of the above reasons that in order to reverse the passive position in trade, foreign businessmen began to dump opium to China, from less to more, which was out of control. This is the so-called opium trade.
Among these foreign businessmen, British opium merchants are the most rampant with the unique interests of Indian colonies.
Opium trade has changed the situation of Chinese and foreign trade for hundreds of years. China has changed from a country outside the country to a country outside the country, and a large amount of silver has flowed out of China.
"/kloc-In the first decade of the 9th century, China's balance of payments was about 26 million yuan. From1828-18.3638 billion RMB, it flowed out of China. "
In addition, the influx of opium has made many people in China become drug addicts. "In the capital and trade avenue, in the densely populated river delta, smoking can not be ignored ... often ... central officials (some people say that smoking accounts for one fifth), small officials in yamen (Lin Zexu estimates that it accounts for four fifths) and soldiers."
The emergence of this situation has worried those officials with a strong sense of responsibility, so they strongly demand a strict smoking ban policy.
Daoguang was greatly stimulated when he learned that there were many opium addicts in Manchuria, the pillar of China. He was very angry. After a long dilemma, he finally decided to strictly ban smoking.
One is for the benefit of trade, the other is for the system of China, and for strengthening the country and enriching the people. As a result, people in two worlds, people with completely different ideas, were tit for tat in the opium trade, which caused great changes in an era.
This is a contest between the British king under the constitutional system and the Qing emperor under the feudal autocratic system, and behind this, it is precisely the contest between two different systems.
As mentioned above, the Qing court imposed serious restrictions on the freedom of trade between China and foreign countries, which did not meet the requirements of foreign businessmen for freedom of trade.
1833, the British Parliament announced a bill on abolishing the monopoly right of the East India Company, which meant that those businessmen with Hong Kong feet could trade freely without the control of the East India Company.
However, the so-called "freedom" here is too relative, because Guangzhou, as the other side of trade, still carries out its inherent policies, which has severely dealt a blow to foreign businessmen's strong pursuit of interests, made them stare at the China market with a population of 40 million, and made those Anglo-Saxons whose interests are supreme miserable.
To put it simply, their so-called free trade cannot be realized without breaking the trade restrictions in Guangzhou, and the trade with China, the largest potential trade market in the world, cannot be placed on an "eternal and decent basis".
However, for the Qing government with a high degree of absolutism, it is impossible to cancel the restrictions on foreign trade and trade with those "barbarian countries" on an equal footing. The incident of law, labor and humiliation in 1833 also shows that the Qing government can never take the initiative to deal with foreigners on an equal footing, which will be a shame to hurt the country.
Therefore, to open the door to China, we must rely on our own means, including war.
Even if there is no opium trade, even if there is no Humen to destroy opium, even if there is no Anglo-American law, a trade war between China and foreign countries is inevitable. As Mr. Meng Sen said, "Opium is just one of the commodities. In fact, there is no burning of cigarettes. Since trade has been going on for a long time, it will change. "
In order to occupy a rest place for goods transportation like Portugal, to break the trade restrictions of the Qing court, and to bring China into the western capitalist world market, it seems that it is no exaggeration for western colonialists to take all means, including war.
Third, the "dispute over artifacts"
In any case, the war that changed the course of China's history began after all.
For the Qing dynasty, the loss was very miserable and pitiful. Perhaps for this nation that is about to win the world, the most hateful thing is to lose the world immediately.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the fact that soldiers were weak and tired and did not repair military equipment was embarrassing. The first is weapons. In the face of western foreign guns, the children of the Eight Banners and the old guns that the Qing Dynasty was proud of all seemed so vulnerable.
What's the problem? Technology, modernization. This is a very difficult problem, which seems to be difficult to solve, at least for a short time, in the era when Daoguang Dynasty was dominated by me and refused to accept the West.
As far as the strength and establishment of the Qing army are concerned, historian Mao Haijian once put forward five shortcomings: first, the troops stationed in defense are scattered; Second, military security is more important than national defense; Third, if it is difficult to deploy, the troops will not know each other; Fourth, the speed of adjusting troops is slow; Fifth, the British army took the initiative in the war, and it was difficult for the Qing Dynasty to defend thousands of meters of coastline.
Mr. Wang's research is original and exquisite. Because in the face of a group of British expeditionary forces with modern military equipment and military establishment, these shortcomings are enough to make them retreat to the British "Qiang Bing" in one battle after another.
Some critics described the situation of the Qing army wonderfully: "In contrast, the army of the Qing Empire was understaffed and under-trained ... In actual combat, the army was likely to either desert or plunder the countryside, so the people of China were afraid of them, not the enemy."
Chinese and western scholars almost gave a unified statement about the situation of the Qing army at that time. Despite various historical reasons, limitations of the times and ideas, such an army could never win the Opium War.
Another question is, if it were not for the British invaders with blue eyes and white skin, would the Qing army be as vulnerable as it was during the Opium War?
"Daoguang military affairs, there was Zhang Geer's rebellion in six years, and Yao's rebellion in twelve years, and it was decided immediately."
From this point of view, the Qing army is generally qualified as far as a traditional national army in the era of cold weapons is concerned.
At the very least, it will not be as vulnerable as most of the troops in the last years of the dynasty, even when fighting the enemy in the era of cold weapons.
Even the performance of the Qing army in Zhenjiang and other battles is more commendable. In the final analysis, weapons can't do it. Without Jin Gangzuan, no matter how good the craftsman is, he can't make this kind of porcelain work; Thought is no good, and traditional tactics have been difficult to control the "British Ocean" under the command of modern military thought.
It was these that led to the complete failure of the Opium War from Zhoushan to Zhenjiang.