Robyn: 0:00

The poor old Chinese admiral replied that although he was not prepared for our reception, he must fight, or he should lose his head by the laws of his country. So he returned to his junk to make preparation.

Thad: 0:30

Today you told me we got to learn about drugs. I am very excited.

Robyn: 0:36

Well, it's not really about drugs. It's more of like a trade war between two countries, and it sounds very dry and economic and super boring.

Thad: 0:47

This sounds less less exciting than drugs.

Robyn: 0:49

I know. It's very much less exciting than drugs.

Thad: 0:52

But it's the opium wars.

Robyn: 0:54

I know, right?

Thad: 0:55

Opium is drugs, right?

Robyn: 0:56

Yeah, but you know what? We can make opium interesting.

Thad: 1:00

Okay. So so tell me about tell me about drugs. I mean, I'm sorry, economic trade wars.

Robyn: 1:06

Well, in order to talk about the opium wars, we have to go back like hundreds and hundreds of years. Because I know it could take a long time. Um, because trade doesn't just happen like in a vacuum. Um and, you know, opi so we need to start with opium because it's the opium wars, right?

Thad: 1:28

All right, right into it.

Robyn: 1:29

Opium came into China during the uh the Han Dynasty, which for those of you who not are not fluent in the different um dynasties of China.

Thad: 1:40

Which I am not.

Robyn: 1:41

I know, and I I really, you know, most people aren't. Not my forte either. The Han Dynasty ran from around 200 BCE to 200 CE, which would be before the Common Era and Common Era, or if you grew up in the 90s like I did, that would be B C and A D.

Thad: 2:04

Okay, so this was a while back then.

Robyn: 2:05

Yeah, so that's about that's about when the Silk Road started. And uh well now people don't really want to call it the Silk Road, they want to call it like the Silk Roots because it went into a bunch of different places. But initially, what we learned in school was the Silk Road. It started then probably by around 900s or so, it had got opium, came from India up through the Silk Road into China. They used it for medicinal purposes, but it but it was already there. And that was during the Tong Dynasty, yeah, it was around that time. And so, yeah, it was it had been there. It was not something new that the British brought. Okay, so the first instance we have of the Chinese going out and exploring and coming into contact with other cultures and stuff was with their treasure fleet, which is talked a lot about in the book when China ruled the seas. But it was a fleet of ships between 250 and over 300 ships that were the largest ships ever, they were wooden ever, that would go out and travel in the early 1400s, 1405 to 1433, which is interesting because in 1433 they either A decided to burn all of them or B just left them to rot.

Thad: 3:27

Um they didn't treasure their treasure fleet?

Robyn: 3:30

No, they didn't. It was actually it's very interesting. It was a cost saving method. So this treasure okay, listen. What? I never so the fleet, you would think, oh well, wow, this fleet's going out to explore early 1400s, right? But like the captain of it, Zen Zing He, and I just want to apologize to everyone now about my Chinese because like because I I'm from Texas and it's not gonna come out right.

Thad: 4:00

And then in some of the So we this is a formal apology to our Chinese listeners. We are sorry for slaughtering these names.

Robyn: 4:08

You know what? I was gonna say butchering, but then I thought that'd be really inappropriate. So uh but but it's because not only that I'm Texan, but in the primary sources and things I read, they're written with the way people used to say things. I'm not sure when like the shift happened, but but you know, it used to be like Peking, and now it's Beijing, and you had Mumbai and for India now, which used to be Bombay, and there's instances like that, you know, throughout the globe that we've changed. And so in the sources I'm reading, you know, it's gonna say different things than you know, maybe what we're accustomed to hearing. But but regardless of any of those things, there's there's a Texas draw involved. So you just kind of have to like extract that out of it and kind of pretend. Right. So they burned the fleet in 1433. But they went out not for stuff, you know, to bring back goods, because the Chinese felt that all their things were superior and they didn't need anybody else's trash.

Thad: 5:14

The original made in China, like it was quality marks.

Robyn: 5:17

Right. The reason they went out, which was incidentally not unlike uh Teddy Roosevelt's great white fleet in America in the early 1900s, was to go demonstrate their power throughout the world. So they would take around probably 300 of these massive wooden ships that were the biggest in the world. This was 1400s. So let's put this in perspective here. Vasco da Gama, you know, we learned the thing in school. Well, I did Vasco da Gama, he's our man, sail around Africa if you can. Well, that was later. And this was before Vasco da Gama, and they were going around Africa. We know they were going around Africa because they would bring back things like zebras, and they brought back an elephant and a giraffe. It's like, so they would go out there, do diplomatic things, but we're basically trying to be like, look how amazing we are. And bring back novelties. So when I think of the king at the time in China, the emperor at the time, I like to think of him as the king from the Earth Kingdom in Avatar the Last Airbender that had Bosco the Bear. And to me, it's like that's the guy because Bosco, you know, he would he would ask Bosco's opinion on things, you know. Um, but it was the having something unique and interesting. And, you know, they brought back a giraffe for him once. It was a big deal. But you can read the accounts of all the places they went in when China rolled the seas. It's very interesting. Complete detour from what I'm here to talk about.

Thad: 6:57

They treasured their treasure fleet and it was cool.

Robyn: 6:59

No, they didn't treasure it, they burned it, remember?

Thad: 7:01

Well, yeah, but they treasured it for a little while while they were showing off, and then eventually they got tired of showing off, and they had they had enough, they had enough novelties, they were done.

Robyn: 7:10

Well, it was super expensive to send this fleet around just to show people how amazing they were. I mean, and the emperor at the time, Zinghee died in um 1433. They I think at C.

Thad: 7:23

No, so wait, wait, wait. So the Emperor who was super excited by the treasure fleet died in immediately.

Robyn: 7:28

No, he died like before then. Zing He was the captain.

Thad: 7:31

Oh, okay, right.

Robyn: 7:32

He died. But I think actually the last one that went out came like was the grandson of the first guy that sent it out. But they moved to much more isolationist China, kind of like we know today. You know, staying more towards the south. Didn't see they didn't see the need of a huge navy going out and just flaunting being China to everyone.

Thad: 7:56

I gotcha.

Robyn: 7:57

All right. So that's what was going on in China. Britain, building up to where they met China, which the first instance where we really read that they met each other was in 1784. But the British before that, they had the East India Company, which was a company that went out and explored, they managed the colonies and stuff, would get things from the colonies, um, specifically in this case uh the Indies, and they would take them to China. So the British were kind of obsessed, as they still are, with tea, and they appreciated China's tea. And since the Chinese were like, yeah, y'all don't really have anything we want, they had to pay in silver, a lot of silver, to get the tea. So the British were like, huh, what can we do to make the Chinese pay us? What would be worth it to the Chinese? So they started to use their colonies in Bengal and India to grow opium. And then they began to take the opium to China, where yeah, it it makes absolute sense. And so then the Chinese started became addicted to opium, and then the trade imbalance it shifted, and the Chinese were the ones having to pay silver for opium.

Thad: 9:22

So China had had opium before. Yeah. But was it now that the British had just come along and made it so much more efficient to get a lot of opium in? Yes. That instead of just having it for medicine, they were now starting to experiment with it recreationally.

Robyn: 9:38

Oh yeah. Okay. Okay. And it was becoming enough of a problem that n people in government were worried that they weren't going to have workers that actually did anything because they were addicted to drugs.

Thad: 9:50

Gotcha. So even though opium had been around for hundreds of years, it just was now very much around and very cheap. It was it was cheaper and easier to get a hold of it.

Robyn: 10:00

Right. So anyway, the British were acknowledging a Norwegian ship that was nearby by um shooting off guns to, I guess, announce their presence. Well, it accidentally hit a Chinese ship and two Chinese people died.

Thad: 10:18

They should be careful what they're feeding their gun salute.

Robyn: 10:20

You know, one would think, which is what the let the lesson was learned. But, you know, the Chinese were like, they killed our guys, and the British were like, yeah, we don't know. It's it's actually still up for legal debate because the British were in Chinese waters, but then they may have been in international waters, and it's, you know, they st I mean I'm sure it's murky. Yeah, it's it's it's murky. Um so they would that was in 1784, and they would refer back to that as, you know, both sides, like, well, you know, this is you know like a major issue that we had. So we get up till 1800. Around this time, we're in Qing, China, and they have what was called the Canton system. And the Canton is a region in like southern China where they had all the foreign ports go. So they all went to the same area. Everything foreign that was trading would come in through there. So it was the Canton system. It's no no longer a thing, but it was at the time. And uh and so they had the system where all the other countries would come and trade goods, and they decided to, they being the emperor in China's government, that they were going to do a prohibition on opium.

Thad: 11:44

Okay. It was getting out of hand. So so the emperor said, yeah, look, the opium, it was great, but now it's just too much, so we we've gotta we've gotta we've gotta put the brakes on.

Robyn: 11:55

Right, right. So in 1800, they banned production and importing opium.

Thad: 12:04

Across the board? Yeah, like across the board. So there wasn't just like a limitation on it. They were like, nah, we're not even gonna use it for medicine anymore. This was a right, so this was this was like the OG war on drugs.

Robyn: 12:15

Yeah, or like the like cutting off of alcohol in the United States. The, you know, prohibition and then the bootlegging came up. Right. We're going cold turkey. Yeah. Okay. Um, well, he gave there was a time, yeah, that they had, you know, so ships anyway, would be able to come in and still have some, you know, that there was like warning so that you wouldn't just show up the next day with opium. Right. And then in 1813, it was outright outlawed. Okay. Completely outlawed. And if you were caught smoking, then you would get beaten a hundred times. Oh wow. Right. So smuggling happened. The British East East India Company ended up turning to smugglers would come, and I think at one point there was over a hundred different ships of Chinese smugglers that would bring the opium in, and it's so it was a whole underground.

Thad: 13:09

So it became outlawed, and the British East India Company decided, well, okay, it may not be technically legal anymore. So instead of just pulling into port and and selling it, as they had been doing, they turned to smugglers that they would meet somewhere else, and the smugglers would bring it in.

Robyn: 13:28

Yeah, they would use um they would use chips. So it was still kind of them, but it was under the radar.

Thad: 13:35

They had to have a middleman.

Robyn: 13:37

And enough so that in from 1810 to 1838, it went from 4,500 chests being like taken to China to over 40,000.

Thad: 13:48

Wait, so so it got outlawed, and they 10x multiplied how much was going in?

Robyn: 13:57

Yeah.

Thad: 13:58

So it doesn't seem like their war on drugs was doing very much at this point.

Robyn: 14:01

No, it wasn't so. And I think it was 1836. The emperor met with a lot of officials and governments to see what are we going to do about this? Right? This is this is crazy, it can't continue. And so there were two schools of thought. There was the group that said, hey, we should totally legalize this, maybe grow it, and then just tax it a lot. And we can use the money from the taxes to help the government, and it should be legalized.

Thad: 14:33

Legalize your opium.

Robyn: 14:35

Yeah.

Thad: 14:35

Okay.

Robyn: 14:36

The thinking was a lot of people wouldn't be able to pay the taxes and it would even out that way.

Thad: 14:42

Gotcha.

Robyn: 14:43

Then the other side, which ended up winning out, was that it was a moral issue and that like it's completely wrong for people to be enabling for foreign um, well, and domestic people to enable the opium trade and keep it going. So their strategy was to go after the enablers.

Thad: 15:06

Okay.

Robyn: 15:07

So the emperor passed a decree in March of 1838 and said that any foreigner or foreigners bringing opium to the central land with design to sell the same, the principles be decapitated, the sorcery strangled, and all property found on board the same ship shall be confiscated. The space of a year and a half is granted within the which, if anyone bringing opium by mistake shall voluntarily step forward and deliver it up, he shall be absolved from all consequences of his crime.

Thad: 15:46

Well, that's intense.

Robyn: 15:48

And so he sent that out in 1838. And to make sure everything got done, the emperor sent out a government official named Lin Se Shu. Lin came from a family who had been well off, but had been losing money over time, spending money on the civil service exams, which is an exam that everyone in China who could take tried to take to get a government position. The exams had been in place for hundreds of years by this time. And it was basically like the way to improve yourself, get better standing in society. In Europe, you had the nobles and the clergy and uh royalty, different places like that. In China, what you could do to move up in society was to become a government official and pass civil service exams.

Thad: 16:43

So it was kind of like a meritocratic type uh pass this test and you can move up.

Robyn: 16:48

Exactly. So no. So I read some about this guy, and it uh said he started studying the classics, which I don't know what the classics were in the 1700s in China, but that he started studying the classics at age three. Wow. Passed the county exams at age 12, provincial exams at 19, and then when he was 26, on his third try, he passed the Metropolitan exam and then was finally accepted with the Imperial examination to an academy to learn more. So he was a guy who had studied a whole lot, um, devoted his whole life to civil service and studying. I read that his dad almost wrecked his eyesight and went blind because he studied so hard for the exams. And so he was trying to push Sinhu was the second oldest son in the family. And so he passed the imperial exam and became pretty well known. He went after pirates, helped rebuild in China when there was a massive flood. He was basically the thing you knew him by was his intolerance of corruption. And they called him, not sure what it is in Chinese, it's translated to clear as the heavens, Lin Clear as the Heavens. When I think of this guy, I think of like Javert from Le Miz. The you know, very much to the letter of the law, wanted to do what was right. Everyone believed he knew it was right. So basically, he went in to this Canton region where trade was happening, the opium trade. And his account, so he had a diary that he kind of wrote, he wrote in not like regularly. Um, and it's like in different places, it's kind of hard. You have to read between the lines to get the best view of the overall what was going on. He talks about, you know, going and his experience where they had he arrested 1600 people and confiscated and destroyed tens of thousands of opium pipes, which when I think of that, I just picture that scene from like Sleeping Beauty, the animated one in my head of all the spinning wheels, you know, where they didn't burn them and then she pricked her finger later. But but anyway, he destroyed tens of thousands of opium pipes and told the British, you know, hey, if you give us your opium, we'll trade you opium for tea, which was a good thought. Um wait, wait, wait.

Thad: 19:27

If you give us your opium.

Robyn: 19:28

Yeah, they would they would do a trade. Opium for tea.

Thad: 19:31

Wait, wait, so he was he was getting legal opium?

Robyn: 19:34

No, he was gonna destroy it.

Thad: 19:36

Oh, oh, oh. So this was like surrender your opium, we'll give you tea, and we're just gonna burn this opium?

Robyn: 19:42

Yeah. Which he did, actually. Um well first he quarantined the area, and then it only you wouldn't want the people hanging out for the opium supplier. But that only lasted six weeks. But in that six weeks, he got two point six million pounds of opium plus. The opium that was on British ships.

Thad: 20:02

Literally, guys, holy smokes.

Robyn: 20:05

And and he destroyed it. And it was a public event.

Thad: 20:09

Well, I bet it was.

Robyn: 20:10

He hired 500 Chinese guys and they mixed opium with lime and salt. So if you ever need to destroy opium, lime and salt does it. And then dumped it in the ocean.

Thad: 20:22

That's the worst. He didn't burn it?

Robyn: 20:24

No. No, but see what when I think of this, all I think of is like the tea party at the American Revolution, except with opium.

Thad: 20:32

Wow.

Robyn: 20:36

Well, he tried to get that. It didn't work out well. But he made some comment like, Well, the British are as addicted to tea as we are to opium. That's amazing.

Thad: 20:46

So he's like, hey guys, bring us your bring us your marijuana. We'll give you some tea instead. I guess it didn't work out. I don't know. Can't imagine why.

Robyn: 20:54

And he convinced the Portuguese that were there to uh expel the British from the island the Portuguese were on to Hong Kong. So the British were forced onto Hong Kong. And at the same time he was doing this.

Thad: 21:06

So So were they completely kicking the British out of China at this point?

Robyn: 21:11

Yeah. Because the British weren't following Chinese mic. The regulations this guy, my dude, wrote a letter to Queen Victoria. And he, yeah, this was around the same time, this letter somehow never made it to Queen Victoria, but made it to the front page of the London Times. So in this first part, he's addressing Queen Victoria. And he says, quote, It is our high and mighty emperor who alike supports and cherishes those of the inner land, that would be China, and those from beyond the sea, who looks upon all mankind with equal benevolence, who, if a source of profit exists anywhere, diffuses it over the whole world, who, if the tree of evil takes root anywhere, plucks it up for the benefit of all nations, who, in a word, hath implanted in his breast that heart, governs the heavens and the earth. He was very into the Emperor of China there. So can you, the queen of your honorable nation, sit upon a throne occupied through successive generations by predecessors, all of whom have been styled respectable and obedient. Looking over the public documents accompanying the tribute sent by your predecessors on various occasions, we find the following All the people of my country arriving at the central land for purposes of trade, have to feel grateful to the great emperor for his most perfect justice, for the kindest treatment, and to other words to that effect. Delighted did we feel that the kings of your honorable nation so clearly understood the principles of our propriety and were so deeply grateful for the heavenly goodness of our emperor. Therefore, it was that we of the heavenly dynasty nourished and cherished your people from afar, and bestowed upon them redoubled proofs of our abundantity and kindness. It is merely from these circumstances that your country, deriving immense advantage from its commercial intercourse with us, which has endured now two hundred years, has become the rich and flourishing kingdom that it is said to be. But during the commercial intercourse which has existed so long among the numerous foreign merchants resorting hither, are wheat and tares good and bad, and of those latter are some who, by means of introducing opium by stealth, have seduced our Chinese people and caused every province of the land to overflow with that poison. These then know merely how to advantage themselves. They care not about injuring others. This is the principle which heaven's providence repugnates, which in which mankind conjointly look upon with abhorrence. Moreover, the great emperor, hearing of it, actually quivered with indignation and especially dispatched me, the commissioner, to Canton, that in conjunction with the viceroy and lieutenant governor of the province, means might be taken for its suppression. We find that your country is about sixty or seventy thousand miles, that's um twenty to twenty three thousand British miles, that your foreign ships come hither striving the one and with the other for our trade, and for the simple reason of their strong desire to reap profit. Now out of the wealth of our inner nation, if we take apart to bestow upon foreigners from afar, it follows that the immense wealth which the said foreigners amass ought properly to speak to be in proportion of our own native Chinese people. We have heard that in your own country opium is prohibited with the utmost strictness and severity. This is strong proof that you know full well how hurtful it is to mankind. Since then you do not permit it to injure your own country, you ought not to have this injurious drug transferred to another country, and above all others, how much less to the inner land? Of the products which China exports to your foreign countries, there is not one which is not beneficial to mankind in some shape or another. There are those which serve for food, those which are useful, and those which are calculated for resale, but all are beneficial. Has China ever sent forth a noxious article from its soil? Not to speak of our tea and rhubarb, things which your country could not exist a single day without. If we of the central land were to grudge you what is beneficial and not to compassionate your wants, then wherewithal could your foreigners manage to exist? And further, as regards your woolens, camlets, and longwills, were it not that you get supplied with our native raw silk, you could not get those manufactured? If China were to grudge you those things which yield a profit, how could you foreigners scheme after any profit at all? Our other articles of food, such as sugar, ginger, cinnamon, etc., and our other articles for use, such as silk peace goods, chinaware, etc., are also many necessaries of life to you. How can we reckon up their number? On the other hand, the things that come from your foreign countries are only calculated to make presents of or serve for mere amusement. It is quite the same to us if we have them, or if we have them not. If then these are of no material consequence to us of the inner land, what difficulty would there be in prohibiting and shutting our markets against them? End quote. Okay, I just have to say here that uh the Chinese did try to grow their own opium, and it it it just wasn't as pure as the uh the the stuff from the British uh colonies, uh Bengal and stuff. So yeah. It was like crack to cocaine.

Thad: 27:16

Okay, so wow. So um so okay, so you're saying that they at what point did they try to grow their own?

Robyn: 27:25

Um this was uh a couple decades earlier.

Thad: 27:28

Okay, so it wasn't a huge as huge a problem yet at this point.

Robyn: 27:32

And it wasn't nearly as good. So they all wanted the British.

Thad: 27:35

I gotcha. So the British were basically just better drug dealers.

Robyn: 27:38

Yes.

Thad: 27:39

And I like how I like how that he he puts the British on notice. He's like, look, we've got the tea. And uh without that, you're pretty much like what are you? Yeah, like what what have you even got?

Robyn: 27:52

What what is a British person without tea?

Thad: 27:55

Right. Come on. He he sounds like uh Lynn sounds like the kind of guy that knows when he's got the uh the ace hand.

Robyn: 28:02

Oh, it gets better.

Thad: 28:03

Okay, okay.

Robyn: 28:04

Okay. So he continues, quote, it is only that our heavenly dynasty most freely permits you to take off her tea, silk, and other commodities, and convey them for consumption everywhere, without the slightest stint or grudge for no other reason but that where a prophet exists, we wish that it be diffused abroad for the benefit of all the earth. Moreover, we've heard that in London, the metropolis where you dwell, as also in Scotland, Ireland, and other places, no opium whatsoever is produced. It's only in the sundry parts of your colonial kingdom of Hindustan such as Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Patwa, Malwa, Benares, Malacca, and other places where the very hills are covered with the opium plant, where tanks are made for the preparing of the drug. Month by month and year by year, the volume of the poison increases, its unclean stench ascends upwards until heaven itself grows angry and the very gods thereat get indignant. You, the queen of said honorable nation, Queen Victoria, ought immediately to have this plant in those parts plucked up by the very root, because the land there to be hoed up afresh, sowed in its stead the five grains, and if any man dare again to plant these grounds a single poppy, visit his crime with the most severe punishment. By a truly beneficial system of government such as this, will you indeed reap advantage and do away with the source of evil? Heaven must support you, and the gods will crown you with felicity. This will get for yourself the blessing of a long life, and from this will proceed the security and stability of your descendants. So that that was part of his letter to uh to Queen Victoria.

Thad: 29:52

So that that letter didn't make it to her, but it did make it to the press page. Yeah, at least.

Robyn: 29:59

Yeah, and and I read in in a lot of places, and you know, there there really is no no one is able to say, well, this is how the press got it, and this is why she didn't get it.

Thad: 30:10

Right. Um Well, I'm sure she was able to read it in the newspaper, right?

Robyn: 30:13

Well, yes, but you know, it wasn't like as she was able to read it, change things, you know, under the radar or anything. Gotcha.

Thad: 30:20

So it sounds like he was pretty clear with how he and and China felt. What what did the British say?

Robyn: 30:28

Well, so it's very interesting because life, as we're gonna see, is just very much about people. This one guy doing this letter to Queen Victoria, which, as we've seen in other episodes, when you do an open letter to a king of the country like George Washington Williams did with the King of Belgium, stuff just gets out. Okay, so I I found the diary of a naval surgeon who was part of the British Navy from 1837 to 1856. His name was Dr. Edward H. Cree, um, from the from the Royal Navy. Only a small segment of the diary took place in China. He traveled in a lot of other places and wrote about it. But I just I want to walk you through his account of getting to uh She Shan, China. So this is as the war was going on, it lasted for a couple of years, the Opium War. Um, and there were just minor battles here and there. So he's talking about one that he was part of.

Thad: 31:32

So when you said the Opium War, like what was that?

Robyn: 31:36

I mean, and it's basically an economic the British were upset when our guy um kicked them out and told them that they couldn't just sell opium anywhere. And so they brought over a fleet of British ships. And I mean, if we're all gonna be honest, most of them were like chartered opium ships from a private company. But the British Navy came. And this guy was a naval surgeon on one of those ships that was already out there in the ocean and was coming. So he says that uh on the night of Thursday the second, I think August, but this was 1840, he said, quote, at daylight we weighed and proceeded towards Chuchan, but the wind fell light. The steamers took the big ships in tow. A lot of junks followed us at a distance. The scenery is pretty amongst the islands which are very numerous and hilly, dotted all about and well cultivated. In the afternoon the wind fell light and we anchored in the Chushan Channel. The tides are very strong and the eddy sometimes turned around. The population seems very large and industrious. The next day, the weather very hot. We were visited by some boats filled with natives who came on board. They were poor fishermen. We brought them into the gun room while we were at dinner and gave them some ale and rum and water, which they seemed to like, and also the pea soup. I was taking the likeness of one of the fellows, who immediately dropped his soup and ran out as fast as he could. The rum makes them very talkative. A pinch of strong snuff, setting them sneezing and we all laughed. They brought us a present of some common looking tea grown on some islands, but we did not like it. It was too smoky in flavor. The city was surrounded by a thick wall about twenty feet high, and a well cultivated plain at the foot of a range of high hills. We anchored in front of the suburb abreast of one of the war junks, and the other men of war and flagship took up their positions along the shore. The transports were left outside. Crowds of natives were to be seen on the beach and on Schoss House Hill, with some to summon the governor, who returned a contemptuous answer to say the outer barbarians, that would be the British, must go away immediately and not dare insult this celestial empire. That would be China. The Commodore was also sent to the Chinese Admiral of the War Junks, but he declined to answer till they were preparing to tow his vessel out to the flagship when he made the appearance with some followers. The Commodore explained to him through Mr Guslav, the interpreter, what he should do if there was any resistance to our occupation of the place. The poor old Chinese admiral replied that although he was not prepared for our reception, he must fight, and he had one man behind his beside himself, or he should lose his head by the laws of his country. So he returned to his junk to make preparation. All that night there was great noise of gongs and excitement on shore. Thousands of lights appeared, moving about, and the Chinese were evidently preparing to give us a warm reception as they could. Um end quote. So basically, Chinese didn't really want to fight. They had some on board and it was fun. They had a fun night, you know, dinner and stuff, and then the admiral came on the next on the boat the next day, and they were like, Yeah, you know, so we have to fight you, and he's just, you know, well, basically, yeah, I have to or or I'm gonna get killed. So the next day, Sunday, the fifth, quote, and then and I'm continuing this thing. He said, The day broke cloudly and lowering, with every prospect of rain. The Chinese appeared to have made the best of their use of time during the night. Troshouse Hill was covered with armed men and flags and banners. The junks were placed in a line before the beach, each having one or two guns in the gangway, and small swivels and wall pieces above the bulwark. Two or three batteries had been constructed on the hill and mounted with old guns. We could see through our glasses that the arms of the Chinese soldiers were a motley description, consisted of bows and arrows, spears and swords, matchlocks and gingles on tripods. A big red flag was mounted on one of the batteries, and large boards with ugly black faces painted on them were suspended on the sides of the junk between the shields to frighten us away. The flagship hoisted the signal, prepare to land troops. The boats with their complement of soldiers assembled under the lee of the flagship, and a final message was dispatched to the Chinese admiral, who was given till one o'clock for his answer, and our men went to dinner. He said, At one PM, no answer. So a shot was fired from the Wellesley, which was their ship, um, and it curiously hit the staff of a big red flag, which brought it down and threw up a cloud of dust behind it. The plucky old Chinese admiral promptly answered with a shot from his junk. Up went the blue flag in the Wesley with the broadside, and all the ships opened fire, and the fight became general, and all noise and smoke. A signal was hoisted, cease firing, which had only lasted about five minutes. On the smoke clearing, the Chinese army were to be seen running in all directions and disappearing over a hill as fast as their legs would carry them. However, they had not all gone, for in about five minutes after we ceased firing, bang bang, came shots again from the junks, and we recommended sending our shots through and through the old junks abreast of us. Away hissed a shell from the Queen steamer and burst into the city beyond. Again, firing ceased, and when the smoke cleared, not a living siestul, the Chinese, were to be seen except in the distance running. The junks and houses along the beach presented a woeful sight, with shot holes pretty thick. The former soon became waterlogged and settled in the mud. Three cheers were given from all the ships and the soldiers in the boats, were landed in the Joss House, which, with the hill, was soon occupied by them. The boats were soon decorated with trophies and the shapes of Chinese flags and banners, and laden with the arms the Chinese had thrown away in their flight. Bows and arrows, spears and swords were plentiful. A good many killed and some wounded Chinamen lay on the beach. The latter were taken on board the flagship to be attended to. There were some shocking sights, a poor fellow with both legs carried away, and another with half his head and still living. I hear that the Chinese had eighty four pieces of ordinance, such as they are, mounted and pointed at ships, not half of which had gone off. The Chinese still held out in the city, and we could see the walls covered with flags, and they kept up the fire from the walls, but our artillery soon got a couple of pieces and threw a few shells amongst them, and they were quiet enough before dark. A few of our sappers crept to the place to blow up the gates, but found the place deserted. The natives, taking what they could, had fled. A quantity of plunder was found in the suburb, and many of our men got drunk on santho, a spirit filled with rice, which they found in the houses. So he went on shore the next afternoon. He said we went on shore with Commodore Brody and landed on the islands where they got fresh water and went to a farmhouse. They found the owner and the family who hadn't fled, and they had confidence in the barbarians, which is what you know the British were called, and were very civil to us and sold us some ducks, for which we paid a dollar for six, and they appeared well satisfied. We visited other farms. The houses seemed well built and roomy, all on the ground, but not very sweet smelling. We saw plenty of pigs about, also bullocks, fowls, and ducks with some goats. In one house we encountered three or four young women with thin, very little feet, and broad flat faces. They were sitting down to drink tea, of which we took some, very hot and very weak, no milk or sugar, and of a very fishy flavor, for I find that they dry their tea on the same mats which we dry our fish. We got a few pumpkins and gourds, and the gardens were kept well kept and fertile, but stink of s stink of sewage. So the last diary entry from Cree um was on Saturday the 11th. After the um the battle, that's in quotation marks, where basically they went into the city and had tea with people and it was, you know, very British. He said that uh quote, and this is very mundane, I remained on board skinning two birds I procured yesterday, a pied and a green woodpecker. The Chinese have it that a great Mandarin is coming with an army to retake this place or lose his head. I think the latter is most likely to happen. End quote.

Thad: 40:32

Coach.

Robyn: 40:33

Well, you know, he's just being honest. He saw this whole thing take place and uh and and like he said, and what i historians say now is that the Chinese lost because the British had better weapons, and that's exactly what he was saying when he was using all those words that were convoluted and complicated and stuff. But basically what he was saying is a lot of their weapons didn't go off. They didn't have as good weapons as we did, they didn't have everything that we brought to it to um technologically. So they overpowered them.

Thad: 41:08

So all right, so they they they busted in there, overpowered these guys, shot them all up. What what were they trying to do? What was the what was the objective?

Robyn: 41:18

Um to be able to win back the rights to sell opium. So you have to look at so look at this from the British perspective, okay, which is they are all about economy, free trade. Free trade, yeah. Yeah, you know, open borders. Um and so that's that was their argument is China is uncivilized, backwards. Look at their weapons, look at the way that they make tea. It doesn't even taste good. We get the tea from these people, and it doesn't even taste right. They're like doing it.

Thad: 41:55

They don't they don't know milk and sugar. I mean, come on.

Robyn: 41:57

Milk and sugar. But that's what's so interesting about this guy's report is that, you know, they went and hung out with the Chinese. They invited them on their ship the night before for rum and smoking.

Thad: 42:09

I mean, it's a very British thing to do. Hide the civilization.

Robyn: 42:13

Yes, and it's and manners. It's that they call it this whole opium war, but it's like nobody that we read on the ground was very invested at all in this war part. You hear them talking to the Chinese admiral who's like, yeah, they're they're gonna cut off my head if I don't fight you.

Thad: 42:32

So, okay, so this wasn't-I mean, i I don't get the impression that this was a full-scale invasion of China. All right, so they were they were they were fighting, they landed. What was their did they have a military objective?

Robyn: 42:44

Or No, they just they just wanted to open their trade again. And you have to remember, this is just the first opium war. There was a whole nother opium war a decade and a half later. Um but so basically, and I'll get to it in a minute, but this the first opium war ended with the Treaty of Nanking, where basically the Chinese said they'd pay for all the opium they dumped in the water, and it was actually done at gunpoint. And they gave the British um Hong Kong, which the British then kept until 1997.

Thad: 43:16

But I want to read Wait, wait, so this is when the British got Hong Kong. Yeah, this is when they got Hong Kong. So, all right, wait, wait, wait, hold on. I need to make sure I understand this correctly. The British wanted to deal drugs to the Chinese. Yes, the Chinese were like, We actually don't like you being our drug dealers, we we want to stop that. And the British were like, no, we want to deal drugs so much that we're gonna fight you for it. And when they beat them, not only did they they gained the ability to sell drugs to the Chinese again, but they also took Hong Kong, and that's how they got Hong Kong. Yeah. Hong Kong went to the British in a drug deal.

Robyn: 44:04

Yeah, pretty much. And they kept it till 1997.

Thad: 44:08

Yep. That's that's amazing. All right.

Robyn: 44:11

Okay, well, I just want to read you this account of um a British officer, another surgeon, because I guess surgeons write more than other people, because those were the only accounts I could find from this time period. But uh it was uh an incarcerated British in China. So um this was published in the Times in London in 1890 and written the previous year. The guy in prison was Mr. Patterson. He said, From the discussion regarding the expedition now on its way to China, which lately took place in the House of Commons, I observed that in one or two very important circumstances connected with the late unfortunate circ transactions in this country, they created ignorance and misconception and appear to prevail amongst many of the members of the House, not accepting Her Majesty's ministers, our debate, and being also entirely unconnected with opium or any other kind of traffic. One of those, in short, when Commissioner Lin in his edicts uniformly designated in the most marked and considerate manner the good neighbor, perhaps you will regard the testimony I now beg to submit to you in reference to my own condition and treatment while under incarceration in China as calculated to disabuse the public mind of the prejudices attempted to be excited against the Chinese by misrepresentation of the facts and therefore deserving a place in columns of your journal. End quote. And he said, quote, a day or two after the embargo was raised, I visited Canton, which was the trading area, and from the top a British merchant pointed out to me a spot about a hundred yards distance where there was a large stock of pigs of the finest Chinese breed, as well as an abundance of poultry of every description, which had been offered during the embargo to us as a present from Commissioner Lynn. But it was refused by Her Majesty's representative from an apprehension that their acceptance might compromise his peculiar situation. And he was basically just like, yeah, there was all this really good stuff that we could have had, but yeah, Britain was just like, nah, guys, uh, peace out. You know, he but it's like the other things we've read from different people. It's like this was just very much a people story. It's you know, you hear about the opium wars, and you hear, you know, we hear the war in general, and yeah, this was more of a commerce war, but when you look at it, it's like, yeah, so a Chinese guy was trying to talk to Queen Victoria in a letter to get her to understand the whole moral part of it. And you have a surgeon on a boat who's was there describing what was going on in the actual war, which wasn't, you know, a bunch of people invading land and fighting, and like you would think of today, it was more like, you know, we don't really want to fight each other, but we have to, and nobody really actually was invested very much in it. And so they were basically both sides just being forced by their governments into this. And yeah, it ended with the uh the Treaty of Nanking, which gave the British Hong Kong, and the Chinese had to pay um for the opium that they got rid of, and British got trading rights in China. But like I said, this was just the first opium war, and the Chinese see it as like the beginning of the century of I think they call it the unequal treaties, where the Westerners just came in and took over a bunch and won a bunch of battles and things with them, and that's when they saw their power decline.

Thad: 48:15

And told them what to do.

Robyn: 48:17

Yeah.

Thad: 48:18

So what happened next with um Lin's issue?

Robyn: 48:22

Oh yeah. So he was scapegoated as uh getting the blame for the war. In his diaries, it's basically like he didn't even know it was gonna happen. He knew that like he was gonna get a letter or something that would tell him what was happening next, but he was exiled.

Thad: 48:38

Because he failed.

Robyn: 48:39

Because he failed. And you know, eventually he was brought back to government service, but not nearly to the position that he was. But that happened after the treaty was signed. It was like, well, this guy went and he didn't fulfill anything he said he was going to do for our government, so he's exiled.

Thad: 48:56

Wow. So when we when we look back, I mean, on on the Opium War or the Opium Wars, like how do we how do you see that in the context of history?

Robyn: 49:06

Um just that when people talk about it today, they see it as more of a clash of civilizations, a clash of the open economic um like capitalism um theories, and then the Chinese is the backward way. But it's really a lot more complicated than that because if you look at it from the Chinese point of view, they're just like, yeah, we've always been this way. It's worked out for a couple millennia so far. Yeah, and the British were coming in with the new trade policies and stuff. And so the British have better technology from the Chinese. It was like an imbalance like that, but a lot of people see it as, oh, it was a clash of civilizations, but they see the Chinese as the lesser civilization in it.

Thad: 49:51

Because of their technology, right? Their their firepower. Right. So basically, it would be as if uh, you know, for example, the the United States has a war on drugs. It would be as if the uh the the nations producing the drugs that they're importing showed up with nuclear weapons and said, Hey, by the way, um you're going to let us sell our drugs, you know, on the market here, and you're not going this war on drugs, no, no, forget about it. Or we're just gonna nuke you. Yes. For example, okay. That's um that's an interesting perspective.