Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of AnotherIn this tragic and powerful story, the two Opium Wars of 1839 1842 and 1856 1860 between Britain and China are recounted for the first time through the eyes of the Chinese as well as the Imperial West. Opium entered China during the Middle Ages when Arab traders brought it into China for medicinal purposes. As it took hold as a recreational drug, opium wrought havoc on Chinese society. By the early nineteenth century, 90 percent of the Emperor's court and the majority of the army were opium addicts. Britain was also a nation addicted-to tea, grown in China, and paid for with profits made from the opium trade. When China tried to ban the use of the drug and bar its Western smugglers from it gates, England decided to fight to keep open China's ports for its importation. England, the superpower of its time, managed to do so in two wars, resulting in a drug-induced devastation of the Chinese people that would last 150 years. In this page-turning, dramatic and colorful history, The Opium Wars responds to past, biased Western accounts by representing the neglected Chinese version of the story and showing how the wars stand as one of the monumental clashes between the cultures of East and West. "A fine popular account."-Publishers Weekly "Their account of the causes, military campaigns and tragic effects of these wars is absorbing, frequently macabre and deeply unsettling."-Booklist |
Contents
Chapter 1 Lord Elgins Revenge | 3 |
Chapter 2 Disastrous Etiquette | 13 |
Chapter 3 Zero Intolerance | 37 |
Chapter 4 Canton Besieged | 57 |
Chapter 5 The Black Hole of Canton | 71 |
Chapter 6 The Battle in Britain | 77 |
Chapter 7 Drugs and Guns | 85 |
Chapter 8 Diplomacy by Gunboat | 97 |
Chapter 19 Peer Pressure | 193 |
Chapter 20 Scottish Conquistador | 211 |
Chapter 21 Hostilities Renewed | 227 |
Chapter 22 Lord Elgins Return | 241 |
Chapter 23 To the Gates of Peking | 251 |
Chapter 24 A Hostage Crisis | 261 |
Chapter 25 I Am Not a Thief | 271 |
Chapter 26 Rescue and Retaliation | 279 |
Chapter 9 The Economics of Addiction | 103 |
Chapter 10 Crucifixion and Cages | 109 |
Chapter 11 Steamed Victory | 115 |
Chapter 12 A Price on His Head | 125 |
Chapter 13 The Sacking of Amoy Ningbo and Charles Elliot | 133 |
Chapter 14 Chinese Masada | 143 |
Chapter 15 Early Victorian Vikings | 149 |
Chapter 16 The Trade in Poison and Pigs | 163 |
Chapter 17 Strange Interlude | 167 |
Chapter 18 Outrageous Slings and the Arrows Misfortune | 175 |
Chapter 27 The Diktat of Peking | 289 |
Epilogue | 293 |
Illustrations and Maps | 299 |
Notes | 309 |
321 | |
About the Authors | 323 |
325 | |
Back Cover | 335 |
Other editions - View all
Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another William Travis Hanes,Frank Sanello No preview available - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
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