The Expansion of European Colonial Powers into China and the Origins of the Opium War

Early European Ambitions in Ming and Qing China

The story of European colonial expansion into China begins long before the infamous Opium Wars. As early as 1583, during the Wanli era of the Ming dynasty, Queen Elizabeth I of England attempted to establish commercial relations with China by sending a letter to the Ming emperor. However, fate intervened when the ship carrying this diplomatic message sank en route. Undeterred, King James I sent another letter in 1612, which similarly failed to achieve its purpose.

During the early Qing dynasty, British merchants made three separate attempts to establish trade in Guangdong province. These efforts proved unsuccessful due to ongoing regional conflicts that disrupted commercial activities. Facing repeated failures in southern China, British traders shifted their focus to Xiamen and Taiwan. There, they exploited the military needs of Zheng Jing (son of the famous Ming loyalist Zheng Chenggong) during his conflicts with Qing forces by establishing trading posts and supplying weapons. This marked Britain’s first significant involvement in Chinese internal affairs, though it proved short-lived. In 1683, when Qing forces conquered Taiwan, the British trading posts in both Taiwan and Xiamen were forced to close.

The Canton System and Growing British Dominance

A significant turning point came in 1684 when the Kangxi Emperor lifted maritime restrictions and reopened China to foreign trade. Following the Dutch, British merchants quickly reestablished their presence. By 1699, the British had secured permission to establish a factory (trading post) in Guangzhou (Canton), marking the beginning of what would become known as the Canton System.

British trade with China grew rapidly during the 18th century. By 1764, British goods imported to China reached 1.2 million taels of silver, accounting for 63% of all Western European imports to China. Conversely, Chinese exports to Britain reached 1.7 million taels, representing 47% of China’s total exports to Western Europe. This growing economic relationship only whetted British ambitions for further expansion.

Not content with commercial activities along China’s southeastern coast, British interests began probing China’s southwestern regions. In 1774 and 1783, the British East India Company dispatched missions to Tibet, attempting to negotiate trade agreements with local authorities. While these efforts failed politically, they succeeded in gathering extensive intelligence about Tibet’s political, economic, and cultural landscape – information that would prove valuable for future British designs on the region.

French and American Entry into Chinese Trade

While Britain emerged as the dominant European power in China, France and later the United States also sought commercial opportunities. France, whose capitalist development trailed Britain’s, began its colonial expansion in the 17th century. In 1698, the first French merchant ship arrived in China. Significantly, Kangxi exempted this vessel from all customs duties because it had been sent by King Louis XIV. Subsequently, France established permanent commercial representatives in Guangzhou and Macau.

French trade with China developed slowly compared to Britain’s. Before 1840, only one to four French ships arrived annually, with some years seeing no French commercial activity at all. Instead of focusing on trade, France primarily expanded its influence through religious channels. Notable French Jesuit missionaries like Jean-François Gerbillon and Joachim Bouvet, sent by Louis XIV, played important roles as cultural intermediaries during the Kangxi era.

The United States entered the China trade much later, in 1784 – the year after American independence. The American ship Empress of China rounded the Cape of Good Hope to reach Guangzhou, where it purchased large quantities of tea, earning profits exceeding $30,000. This initial success sparked intense American commercial interest in China. Despite their late start, U.S. trade with China grew rapidly, surpassing all European nations except Britain by the early 19th century.

The Qing Dynasty’s Closed Door Policy

As Western commercial activities in China intensified, the Qing government implemented what became known as its “Closed Door Policy” – a series of restrictive measures governing foreign trade. This policy stemmed from several interrelated factors:

First and foremost, China’s self-sufficient feudal economy provided little incentive for foreign trade. The Qing rulers, believing China possessed all necessary goods, viewed foreign trade as a privilege granted to outsiders rather than an economic necessity. As the Qianlong Emperor famously told the British king: “Our celestial empire possesses all things in abundance and lacks no products within its borders. There is therefore no need to import foreign goods in exchange for our own.”

More immediately, the Qing government sought to protect against European colonial expansion. Since the 16th century, European traders had combined commerce with piracy, violence, and deception. Emperor Kangxi presciently warned: “Countries beyond the seas like those in the West will surely become a burden to China after hundreds or thousands of years. In times of peace, we must not forget the possibility of danger.”

Additionally, the Qing rulers, being of Manchu ethnicity, feared foreign influence might encourage Han Chinese rebellion against their minority rule. As Karl Marx later observed: “The primary reason for this new dynasty to adopt such policies was its fear that foreigners might support the discontent that many Chinese harbored during the first half-century after the Manchu conquest.”

Implementation of Maritime Restrictions

The Qing maritime restrictions evolved through several phases. Initially, after the Manchu conquest in 1644, the Qing government imposed a strict maritime ban in 1656 to cut off anti-Qing forces along the coast led by Zheng Chenggong and others. This policy proved devastating to coastal economies and effectively halted foreign trade.

Following the defeat of Zheng’s forces in Taiwan in 1683, the Kangxi Emperor lifted the ban in 1684, establishing customs houses in Guangzhou, Zhangzhou, Ningbo, and Yuntainshan. This reopening led to a flourishing of trade, with merchants from England, the Netherlands, Spain, and other nations establishing commercial ties.

However, as Western traders increasingly violated Qing laws – engaging in smuggling, gathering intelligence, and disrupting local order – the government gradually tightened restrictions. The Qianlong Emperor’s 1757 decision to limit all Western trade to Guangzhou marked a decisive turn toward the Closed Door Policy. This move came after British attempts to expand trade to Zhejiang raised security concerns that foreign presence might create “another Macau” in northern China.

The Canton System in Practice

The Qing government implemented several specific measures to control foreign trade:

1. Regulation of Ships and Goods: Chinese merchant ships faced strict size limitations (no more than two masts, beams under 1.8 zhang, and capacity under 500 dan). Exports of weapons, timber, saltpeter, and iron goods were prohibited. Foreign ships had to surrender their cannons upon arrival and conduct trade only during specified months (May-October).

2. The Cohong System: The Qing established an official merchant guild called the Cohong (or “Hong” merchants) to monopolize and mediate all foreign trade. By 1782, this was formalized as the Thirteen Hongs. These merchants not only handled all commercial transactions but also served as political intermediaries between foreigners and the Qing government.

3. Restrictions on Foreigners: The 1759 “Five Regulations for Preventing Barbarians” and subsequent rules strictly controlled foreign merchants’ activities in Guangzhou. They had to live in designated factories (warehouses), could not remain over winter, were forbidden from bringing women or weapons, and had to be accompanied by Chinese merchants when moving about the city.

Consequences of the Closed Door Policy

The Qing restrictions produced complex historical consequences. On one hand, they represented a legitimate exercise of sovereignty and provided some defense against Western expansion. By controlling trade and limiting foreign contact, the Qing government slowed Western penetration and maintained political stability.

However, the policy also had significant negative effects. It stifled the growth of Chinese capitalism by severely restricting overseas trade opportunities for Chinese merchants. Unlike their European counterparts, Chinese traders faced draconian limitations on ship size, crew numbers, and cargo – making them unable to compete internationally.

Moreover, the policy isolated China from the scientific and industrial revolutions transforming the West. Qing rulers dismissed Western technology as “clever contrivances of no real value,” leaving China increasingly backward. As the Jiaqing Emperor told the British king: “Our celestial empire values no distant curiosities, nor do we consider your country’s ingenious devices as precious.”

British Attempts to Break the System

Frustrated by trade restrictions, Britain made several diplomatic attempts to open China’s markets. The most significant was the 1793 Macartney Mission led by Lord George Macartney. Bearing gifts for the Qianlong Emperor’s birthday, the mission sought to:
– Establish permanent British representation in Beijing
– Open additional ports (Ningbo, Tianjin)
– Obtain territory for British merchants (an island near Zhoushan)
– Secure trade concessions in Guangzhou

Qianlong firmly rejected all requests, declaring: “Every inch of the celestial empire’s territory is marked on maps…even islands and sandbars are clearly demarcated as belonging to particular counties.” While diplomatically unsuccessful, Macartney’s mission gathered valuable intelligence about China’s military weaknesses, with Macartney concluding China would be vulnerable in any future conflict.

Subsequent British missions in 1808 and 1816 (the Amherst Mission) similarly failed to change Qing policy. Facing continued resistance, Britain increasingly turned toward more aggressive measures – including the notorious opium trade.

The Opium Crisis

By the early 19th century, Britain faced a growing trade imbalance. While British demand for Chinese tea, silk, and porcelain created massive imports, China’s self-sufficient economy had little need for British manufactured goods. This imbalance drained British silver reserves, with an estimated 200 million silver dollars flowing to China during the 18th century alone.

To reverse this deficit, Britain turned to opium. Grown in British-controlled India, opium provided the perfect commodity – illegal but intensely desired by Chinese consumers. The British East India Company established a monopoly on opium production, then auctioned the drug to private merchants who smuggled it into China.

Opium imports skyrocketed from 4,570 chests in 1800 to over 40,000 by 1838. The trade proved enormously profitable – in 1813, Indian opium costing 237 rupees per chest sold at auction for 2,428 rupees. By 1829, opium taxes provided 10% of British India’s total revenue.

The social consequences in China proved devastating. Addiction spread through all social classes, from officials to soldiers to commoners. By 1835, an estimated 2 million Chinese were addicted. Economically, opium reversed China’s trade surplus, causing massive silver outflows (30 million taels annually by 1838). This caused severe inflation, as copper coins (used by commoners) depreciated against silver (required for taxes).

The Road to War

Faced with this crisis, the Qing government implemented increasingly strict anti-opium measures. In 1839, the Daoguang Emperor appointed Lin Zexu as Imperial Commissioner to suppress the opium trade. Lin’s forceful actions – confiscating and destroying over 20,000 chests of British opium at Humen – provoked a military response from Britain.

When negotiations failed, Britain launched the First Opium War in 1840. China’s defeat and the subsequent Treaty of Nanjing (1842) marked the beginning of a century of unequal treaties and foreign encroachment. The war fundamentally altered China’s relationship with the West, forcing open its markets and beginning its semi-colonial transformation.

The story of European expansion into China reveals the complex interplay of economic interests, cultural differences, and imperial ambitions. While the Qing government’s restrictions reflected legitimate concerns about foreign influence, its inability to adapt to a changing world order ultimately left China vulnerable to the very threats it had sought to avoid. The consequences of these 18th and early 19th century encounters would shape China’s traumatic modern history and its ongoing relationship with the West.