Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #234140 in Books
• Published on: 1977-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Synopsis
An account of the demoralizing introduction of opium addiction in nineteenth-century China by British and American traders, its impact on Chinese society and life, and the resulting series of Opium Wars.

Customer Reviews

A little remembered, perhaps repressed
chapter in British history? For this excellent book exposes in riveting detail Britain's shameful and pernicious Bengalese opium trade with China. Jack Beeching traces Britain's thirst for tea and her inability to pay, essentially, in anything other than opium; her maintenance of this trade through two wars advanced upon spurious pretexts encouraged, in part, by parliamentary lobbyists. Interleaved with these events the author describes, just as vividly, the tragic consequences of the Taiping insurrection signalling a further weakening of the Manchu dynasty. Altogether a fascinating read whether you are interested in either Chinese or Indian history.

Even-handed and well-written
'Colonial' and empire histories often lend themselves to partisanship: either they present Britain as an arrogant and cynical force acting upon innocent and noble other races, or as a glorious and idealistic nation bringing peace and civilisation to grateful peoples. In the Opium Wars, Britain's opponent was the world's proudest and oldest civilisation, which has never been fully conquered. It is perhaps for this reason that Jack Beeching's book is able to avoid that tired - and to my mind over-simplistic - dialectic of 'for' or 'against', in which so many writers impose 21st century value judgments upon the events of a different age; equally it may simply be that Mr. Beeching is just a good judge of history. This book is informative, exciting to read - the description of the British navy's war upon the Chinese pirates knocks Hornblower into a cocked hat - and insightful into both Chinese and English mentalities of the day. It manages to knit together the many widely different factors that shaped relations between China and the West, from the Christian evangelism of the Victorians to the decadence of the Manchu empire and the burgeoning nationalism of the Chinese people. It leaves the reader with a view of an age that was groping its way around cultural confusions, that was brutally selfish as well as idealistic and brave, and it tells the story simply and elegantly.