Song-Chuan Chen
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888390564
- eISBN:
- 9789888390274
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888390564.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter describes how the British community in Canton used its English-language press (newspapers and journals published in Canton) to debate China, Britain and free trade. The Warlike party ...
More
This chapter describes how the British community in Canton used its English-language press (newspapers and journals published in Canton) to debate China, Britain and free trade. The Warlike party gradually settled on a new perspective of China that was understood in terms of war, while the Pacific party denounced the war rhetoric. The Pacific party saw Britain primarily as a Christian nation of peace. The Warlike party’s aggressive imperialistic discourse became marked when compared to the peace argument of the Pacific party.Less
This chapter describes how the British community in Canton used its English-language press (newspapers and journals published in Canton) to debate China, Britain and free trade. The Warlike party gradually settled on a new perspective of China that was understood in terms of war, while the Pacific party denounced the war rhetoric. The Pacific party saw Britain primarily as a Christian nation of peace. The Warlike party’s aggressive imperialistic discourse became marked when compared to the peace argument of the Pacific party.
Song-Chuan Chen
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888390564
- eISBN:
- 9789888390274
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888390564.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This book challenges conventional arguments that the major driving forces of the First Opium War were the infamous opium smuggling trade, the defence of British national honour, and cultural ...
More
This book challenges conventional arguments that the major driving forces of the First Opium War were the infamous opium smuggling trade, the defence of British national honour, and cultural conflicts between ‘progressive’ Britain and ‘backward’ China. Instead, it argues that the war was triggered by a group of British merchants in the Chinese port of Canton in the 1830s, known as the ‘Warlike Party’. Living in a period when British knowledge of China was growing rapidly, the Warlike Party came to understand China’s weakness and its members returned to London to lobby for intervention until war broke out in 1839.
However, the Warlike Party did not get its way entirely. Another group of British merchants known in Canton as the ‘Pacific Party’ opposed the war. In Britain, the anti-war movement gave the conflict its infamous name, the ‘Opium War’, which has stuck ever since. Using materials housed in the National Archives, UK, the First Historical Archives of China, the National Palace Museum, the British Library, SOAS Library, and Cambridge University Library, this meticulously researched and lucid volume is a new history of the cause of the First Opium War.Less
This book challenges conventional arguments that the major driving forces of the First Opium War were the infamous opium smuggling trade, the defence of British national honour, and cultural conflicts between ‘progressive’ Britain and ‘backward’ China. Instead, it argues that the war was triggered by a group of British merchants in the Chinese port of Canton in the 1830s, known as the ‘Warlike Party’. Living in a period when British knowledge of China was growing rapidly, the Warlike Party came to understand China’s weakness and its members returned to London to lobby for intervention until war broke out in 1839.
However, the Warlike Party did not get its way entirely. Another group of British merchants known in Canton as the ‘Pacific Party’ opposed the war. In Britain, the anti-war movement gave the conflict its infamous name, the ‘Opium War’, which has stuck ever since. Using materials housed in the National Archives, UK, the First Historical Archives of China, the National Palace Museum, the British Library, SOAS Library, and Cambridge University Library, this meticulously researched and lucid volume is a new history of the cause of the First Opium War.
