Drug Wars and Wars on Drugs Global Connections Coursework Example

Name
Tutor
Course
Date
Drug Wars and Wars on Drugs (Chinese Opium and British Trade) Global Connections
Lin Zexu was a Chinese Governor of Hubei and Hunan when he declared war against the trade of opium. He was known for his high morals and competence as a fierce bureaucrat. In 1839, he joined an imperial committee and together they went against the British illegal opium importation into China. He arrested two thousand opium traders and confiscated their goods in Guangdong Province (McPherson 489). However, he failed to convince other foreign firms to give up their stores for the storage of tea instead of opium. Hence he used brutal force against the western traders and he was able to confiscate over two million pounds of opium from them. The confiscated opium was destroyed by mixing it with salt and lime and then disposing it into the sea.
In his continued spirit of the fight against the immorality of opium trade, he wrote to Queen Victoria of the British Empire. The memorial was supposed to convince the Queen to put a stop to opium trade in Britain but it never reached her and was instead published later on by The Times of London in Canton. His argument was that China provided Britain with commodities that were valuable but in return, they received goods that were harmful to the Chinese people. Lin considered spices, silk, tea and porcelain as respectable and moral goods compared to the opium that was being illegally imported into China (McPherson 551). He accused the western opium traders as people who lacked in morality and driven by greed for profits without considering the welfare of the opium buyers.

Lin assumed that opium being traded was used solely for recreational purposes. This assumption was wrong as the United States, Europe, and the Middle East were using it for medicinal purposes. His call to ban the trade of opium was therefore headed to a sure rejection. He advised the Queen to uphold his efforts in the fight against the drug.
Lin seemed ill-advised or unaware that the British would simply bow to his morals or instructions. He viewed the opium trade problem as just a moral issue rather than the broad aspect of international trade and diplomacy. The imperial committee failed to understand that Britain would not go against the interests of its private opium traders, the overall effect to the traders if they gave up on the trade and the changing structures of international trade. This lack of understanding would cost China greatly through warfare. China not only seized the goods but also refused to compensate the traders, blocked their trade routes and restricted the movement of the traders to their homes.
The British government did not approve of the way the Chinese government handled the issue. Britain responded by using the full gun power of their navy and steam warships in an act of war against China in what is historically known as The First Opium War. Chinese military troops could not counter the major formidable force that was the British naval ships and they soon conceded. In 1842, a treaty was signed by both parties and it granted Britain extraterritoriality and indemnity as well as 5 more treaties that were signed later on. This war brought about the modernization of China into the current status that it beholds. A monument dedicated to Lin Zexu was erected in New York City in 1997 in the Chinatown in Manhattan overlooking the Mott Street. Though he is known for his role in the First Opium War, the statue of Lin Zexu on Chatham Square represents the rise in power of the Chinese immigrants in Chinatown (Lovell 114).

Works Cited
Lovell, Julia. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China. London: Picador, 2011. Print.
McPherson, Duncan. The First Opium War: The Chinese Expedition 1840-1842. Stratford-upon-Avon: Coda Books Ltd, 2013. Print.