The Opium War, 1840-1842: Barbarians in the Celestial Empire in the Early Part of the Nineteenth Century and the War by Which They Forced Her Gates

by Peter Ward Fay

This book tells the fascinating story of the war between England and China that delivered Hong Kong to the English, forced the imperial Chinese government to add four ports to Canton as places in which foreigners could live and trade, and rendered irreversible the process that for almost a century thereafter distinguished western relations with this quarter of the globe-- the process that is loosely termed the "opening of China."
Originally published by UNC Press in 1975, Peter Ward Fay's study was the first to treat extensively the opium trade from the point of production in India to the point of consumption in China and the first to give both Protestant and Catholic missionaries their due; it remains the most comprehensive account of the first Opium War through western eyes. In a new preface, Fay reflects on the relationship between the events described in the book and Hong Kong's more recent history.

Genres: History, China, Nonfiction, War, 19th Century, British Literature, India

440 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Peter Ward Fay was a noted historian and authority on India and China. He was a professor at the California Institute of Technology from 1955 until his retirement in 1997.

Reviews

[Greg]

The Opium War has always been something that peeked my curiosity, but it has also been an event about which I knew very little. Fay has written a good account, complete with an analysis of its primary characters, for anyone interested. The war was born out of many conflicts. The Cantonese vs. the British and other European (and rapacious) traders, or the moral conflict of a trade in such distasteful cargo, are good excuses for war. Ultimately, in my opinion, after reading this book it is primarily about money. On the money tied up in the opium traffic, Fay writes: “Some of this treasure eventually found its way back into the interior to pay for teas, but by now the balance of trade had turned decisively against the Celestial Empire. The fan kuei sold a great deal more than they bought; every year more and more silver dollars and sycee left the Gulf of Canton for Calcutta, Bombay, and London, never to return. Informed Chinese knew this and knew, too, that given how little silver China mined herself, such an outflow threatened the entire monetary system. While day-to-day business was conducted in copper cash—huge quantitites of it—major transactions were always made in silver; taxes, for example, could not be remitted to Peking in any other form. Thus there were always a great many Chinese who need the precious metal…By the middle 1830s the relentless outflow of silver, and its rising price in terms of copper cash, had driven his [the Emperor’s] principal civil servants to distraction; and to a man they blamed the crisis on opium.” (115)

Of interest also is the prosecution of the conflict. The founding of Hong Kong as an important place is tied to the Opium War. Also interesting is the mixing of colonial policy with business interests – a painful linkage in this case – within the far East of the British empire. The Catholic missionaries are an interesting side-story, as is the policy definition and absolute rule of the Cantonese government.

Unfortunately, Fay does not write with any great flare. The pages can be dry at times, and it is a fairly slow read. Still, I have no doubts about Fay’s scholarship, and the story itself is worth learning, overcoming such difficulties.

[Yooperprof]

Fascinating look at notorious nineteenth century episode wherein Great Britain invaded China in order to protect the interests of the opium drug cartel, and in the process inadvertently picked up for the British Empire what was then a neglected and insignificant island and what is now the global megacity of Hong Kong. "You can't make this stuff up."

[Mbuye]

Detailed and exhaustively researched (with an excellent bibliography), this is more of interest to East and South Asian historians, than to a general reader. Although it made excellent reading, there was just too much information, but perhaps that is not the fault of the author: it is the nature of the beast.

[Michael Brough]

A rather excellently researched account of the opium war, giving in depth context surrounding the events leading up to the war, as well as the war itself. He approaches the story from explaining merchant viewpoints, England's viewpoint, Protestant and Catholic missionary viewpoints, and gives cursory respect to China's viewpoints on different events (in the Note on Sources he recognizes he's not a sinologist.)

However, his writing style does "jump" around slightly. He groups things more by themes and characters, so he will finish a section and then jump back in time to summarize the events of a different character and what they had been up to. Because of that, the book is slightly disorienting at times.

If you are deeply interested in the first Opium War and would like a thorough understanding to start research, as well as a list of sources to dive into, this book is for you. If you have a more casual interest in the Opium war, this book may be more in depth than desired.

[John Gunderson]

I was surprised that I enjoyed this as much as I did. I knew very little about the Opium war, only that it happened and was a conflict between the British and Chinese.

Often times, history books about such specific events have too many boring details to pad the word count. Although this book came close to that, I was satisfied that the information was almost all necessary and interesting simultaneously

[Ensiform]

This book is a solid telling of the events leading up to the Opium War and its conclusion (but the title is misleading, as Fay's detailed narrative begins in 1935 or so). Fay writes with wit and a good sense of drama, and his prose flows pretty well despite the fact that he jumps from one idea to another occasionally. Rarely, the text drags, as when Fay goes on a little too long about exactly how a ship arrived on the China coast from India, or what the mail service was like. Also, Fay obviously knows his nautical terminology, and some of it, going unexplained, escaped me (e.g., someone did not want a ship "to put out a kedge lest its bower be overlaid"). The book doesn't really have a thesis, noting that the war could have been about injured pride, or opium, or something else, and it tells the story mostly from Western eyes (Fay notes he's not qualified to speak for the other side). Most interesting, there are some keen analyses of the English and Chinese national characters, especially in the final chapter. A compelling tale, vividly told.

[Cat]

Fascinating BUT pretty turgid. Had to set myself a daily goal of 15 pages and only then was I allowed to read another book or I would never have finished.
The author knows his stuff and writes well but there is so much detail about which ship was where, who was on which one etc that I almost had to admit defeat.
The topic is great, the politics pretty appalling, the links to modern day Hong Kong so apparent with the names of the streets based upon the main "protagonists" and all the promise of a great read. If only It had been edited into a better book.

[Good]

Read this for college class on history of China. This book made such a lasting impression on me of the cost a country pays for its citizens using drugs. China was literally brought to a standstill because of opium. And as is always the motivation of drug trade, an entire war was fought to protect that drug trade and the countries profiting from the destruction of lives and a country. 200 year later it has changed in our world. I kept the book all these years because I thought it was such an important book. It is a very worthy read if you do not know about this part of history.

[Jeremy Chan]

It has a vivid description of the opium war. Howevr, it is way too long...