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The Opium War: Britain and the Birth of Modern China, 1839-1842

Module description

In 1839, Britain, at the urging of opium traders, went to war with China. After three years, the victorious British imposed the Treaty of Nanjing on the Qing Empire. Within two decades, China would be ‘opened’ to Western traders; territory, including Hong Kong and much of Shanghai, was ceded to Britain; and Europeans and Americans would no longer be subject to local law on Chinese soil. For historians of the British Empire, the Opium War and the series of conflicts with China that followed it marked the beginnings of ‘gunboat diplomacy’: the use of technological superiority to dictate to lesser powers. For Chinese historians, though, the conflict marks a defining moment in the transformation of a multinational empire into a modern nation state.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The aim of the module is to:

• Introduce this crucial moment in China’s past by looking at the causes, course, and consequences of the conflict through both British and Chinese sources
• Assess the nature of China’s encounter with the West and consider the impact of the conflict on modern China
• Compare and contrast conflicting responses to particular events and issues, such as debates over the rights and wrongs of opium trading, and the diplomatic assumptions and practices of the two powers
• Engage in close reading of primary sources (all in translation) and secondary literature

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Assess the nature of China’s encounter with the West and its impact on modern China
• 2. Work critically with a range of sources related to the Opium War

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Identify the problems of using historical sources, e.g. bias, reliability, etc., and to compare the validity of different sources

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Answer a question briefly and concisely
• 5. Present work and respond to question orally, and think quickly of questions to ask other students
• 6. Conduct independent study and group work, including the presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
• 7. Digest, select and organise material to produce to a deadline a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment.
• 8. Work with others in a team and to interact effectively with tutor and the wider group
• 9. Write to a very tight word-length

Syllabus plan

The module will benefit from the wide range of sources available on the Opium War. From the British side, students will explore travel writing on China, parliamentary debates, newspaper articles, missionary correspondence, and images. From the Chinese side, they will critically evaluate imperial edicts, memoirs and reports. All sources are in English, though the class will consider translation as a historical and historiographical challenge Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• The Treaty of Nanjing alongside subsequent diplomatic agreements
• Who Were the Chinese
  • British perceptions before the war
  • Chinese world view
• The Problem of Opium
  • China: Debates over suppression and legalisation
  • Britain: Intervention or non-interference
• Perspectives on the War
  • British views
  • Chinese views
• Impact
  • The ‘unequal treaties’
  • Modernisation and self-strengthening
  • The ‘Yellow Peril’
  • The Opium War in Chinese memory

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Baumler, lan. Modern China and Opium : A Reader (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2001).
• Brook, Timothy and Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi (eds.). Opium Regimes: China, Britain and Japan, 1839-1952 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000).
• Fairbank, John K. Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842-54 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974).
• Fay, Peter Ward. The Opium War, 1840-42 (Durham, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1998).
• Lovell, Julia. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China (London: Picador, 2012).
• Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China (London: W. W. Norton & Co., 2001).
• Wakeman, Frederic. Strangers at the Gate: Social Disorder in South China, 1839-1861 (Berkeley: California University Press, 1966).
• Waley, Arthur. The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1979).
• Yangwen, Zheng. The Social Life of Opium in China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4029

Key words search

Opium war, Britain, China