The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes

by Arthur Waley

This volume translates and places in the appropriate historical context a number of private documents, such as diaries, autobiographies and confessions, which explain what the Opium War felt like on the Chinese side.

Originally published in 1958 by Allen & Unwin.

Genres: History, China, Nonfiction, Historical, War, College

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Arthur David Waley was an esteemed English orientalist and sinologist, renowned for his translations of Chinese and Japanese poetry. He received numerous honours, including the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1952, the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1953, and was invested as a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in 1956.
Waley was largely self-taught, and his translations brought Chinese and Japanese classical literature to a broad Western audience. He translated works such as A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918), The Tale of Genji (1925–26), and Monkey (1942), making significant contributions to the understanding of East Asian literary traditions in the West. Despite his extensive knowledge, Waley never visited China or Japan, nor did he speak Mandarin or Japanese, focusing solely on written texts.
Born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, he attended Rugby School and briefly studied Classics at Cambridge University before leaving due to vision problems. In 1913, he became Assistant Keeper of Oriental Prints and Manuscripts at the British Museum, where he taught himself Classical Chinese and Japanese. Waley was also active during WWII, working for the Ministry of Information and running the Japanese Censorship Section.
He maintained a close personal relationship with dancer and orientalist Beryl de Zoete, though they never married. Waley passed away in 1966, shortly after marrying poet Alison Grant Robinson. His work left an indelible mark on the field of translation and introduced the high literary cultures of China and Japan to the English-speaking world. His translations continue to be highly regarded and widely published, influencing generations of readers and scholars.

Reviews

[William2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a treat. The narrative is thin but compelling. Waley gives us excerpts from several Chinese-language sources about the nefarious doings of the British. The first and the longest is from the diary of Lin Tse-hsü — the famous Commissioner Lin — who, at the behest of the Qing emperor Tao-kuang sought to destroy the opium trade in China. An impossibility in a nation with such an endless unguarded coast. But Lin gave it his all. When about halfway through Lin's diary we read of the Emperor' insistence that Lin complete his task (again, an impossible one) so he can take up the reigns of a governorship in another part of China, we realize he is doomed. In time, when he can't deliver, he is investigated though not tried, and reduced in rank. Lin's section verges on a character study. It's fascinating. Subsequent diaries, one by Pei Ch'ing-ch'iao, a young man of no rank but with a gung-ho father, gives us the Chinese military's Keystones Cops-like response to British arms under General I-Ching. It's sad to see the Chinese of the 1840s trying to respond militarily to the British. There is no command and control, no training, no planning. Further diaries include Chu Chih-yün's, a poet who lived near the Grand Canal outside the walls of Chinkiang, ninety miles up the Yangtze estuary. He tells us of the British encroachment on that town and the horror experienced by the residents. It's hard to believe Niall Ferguson now wants us to look on the gentle side of empire. Just think of all the wonderful things it gave to the world, he says. Ok, like what, bureaucracy? See Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons of Global Power. Sorry, Niall. That won't square the Brits with China. Besides, the Chinese were already known for their own homegrown style of administration back when the British were still crawling from the sea on vestigial limbs. It simply strikes one dumb to think that the Brits thought it their right to sell opium to the Chinese, thus creating a vast class of addicts, something of course never permitted in Merry England. Highly recommended.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple dictum of a good, moral life is that it is wrong to make profit out of what is harmful to others. It might surprise you to know that the Opium Wars of the mid 19th century came about because England wanted to sell illegal drugs inside China. That's right. Young Victoria's empire wanted to basically sell crack to gullible Chinese people and make a killing off of it. China refused, thus, Opium Wars.
This volume consists of chunks of the Chinese point of view, which is important for the study of this epically idiotic imperial endeavor. Much of it consists of the journal entries and correspondence of the unflappable and besieged Commissioner Lin Tse-hsu at Canton. Outclassed in the art of duplicity and cynical gain by his European peers, Lin's accounts of the move towards "war" (in quotes since it largely consisted of overpowered British ships bombing Chinese ports so they could be free to sell crack) are important and depressing.
Also included are some other Chinese perspectives from the time once the war got going.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are now used to wars against drugs, but the opium war was the result of state-sponsored narcotrafficking, as the English sought a market for the product it was developing in India. The Qing Empire, which a bare two centuries before had ridden out of Manchuria and swept away the remnants of the Ming, had, by the time the British decided to sell its subjects opium, rotted. The famed Confucian civil system was rife with self-serving lies, the army was inept, the navy not really in existence. Arthur Waley, renowned for his translations of Chinese and Japanese classics, looked at this conflict through the eyes of several Chinese. First, Commissioner Lin, whose dispatches seem always to have overpraised his actions in trying contain the British and occasionally veered into outright lies. Yet he was the kind of man who took great pleasure in retiring to write poetry and practice calligraphy. When the Emperor, who comes across as cross if not perceptive, writing notes in the margins of the false reports sent to him, realized the extent of the looming defeat, he replaced Commissioner Lim with a cousin ordered to undertake a great counter-attack. It is astonishing that an Emperor not far removed from his horseman ancestors could be so distant from military realitiy. At this point, Waley turns from Lim to a junior officer who witnessed the utter failure of the Chinese offensive--one hesitates to call it even that. Pei Ch'ing-ch'iao wrote an unblinking but humane account of the debacle. Then he takes up two diaries of the resulting chaos in Shanghai and Chinkiang, followed by an account of a swashbuckler German missionary on the British side. This is a sobering book. Much has been written about the fall of empires, but never has anyone so clearly shown one that was held together only by its own illusions. And yet the Qing stumbled onward for another seventy years.

[Greg Strandberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a little dry, and certainly more scholarly in tone, but it does do a good job telling you what happened during this time.

The burning of the Summer Palace is a particularly memorable event, and this book covers that well.

[Michael Brough · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to first note that this was written by an English guy.

Don't get me wrong, this book is useful and has a lot of important details but... basically this book is a summary of Arthur's research. He'll add quotes, and there are a couple of verbatim translated documents, but for the most part this book is a summary of what he thought was important from what he read. Since I cannot read the original documents, I have no way of verifying if Arthur did do a great job of summarizing and thus save me a lot of researching, or if he completely missed a lot of points that would be considered important.

This may be an interesting read if you have previous knowledge of the western view of the first Opium War. If you are researching, this book is annoying because it is extremely helpful and does contain information not found in western history books, but seems to be quite lacking and overly summarized. The actual content includes a lot of thoughts from Lin, as well as some diary entries from residents of cities during British occupation.

[Loraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the wars themselves were very interesting, I found Waley's writing style a bit dry. It was very informative and descriptive of what was happening from the journals and records of Chinese people, but it lacked some important context. In reading many other world histories, I've found that terrific defeats in wars usually come on the heels of another disaster that weakened the position of the defeated in the first place, and I got the impression while reading this that something had definitely put the Chinese at a disadvantage prior to hostilities with the English, so I looked into it. As it happened, there was a population boom of epidemic proportions at the time that had so stressed Chinese resources that there was scarcity on every level, from food to jobs to good reputations. I think the author missed an opportunity to show how this set the stage for Chinese vulnerability to opium and to the British opposition.

[Rolf Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based of the diary of Lin Tse-hsu the Chinese commissioner assigned to end the opium trade in Canton. This resulted in the opium wars and annexation of Hong Kong in 1842. This account is an important look at how the Chinese tried to deal with the west. The author/editor does an excellent job of putting events in context. I would also suggest reading at least one other account of these events, especially in view of the importance modern China places on them.

[Sue Fleming · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting alternative to Chinese history through Western eyes. This account of the Opium War is based diaries and letters, mainly those of Commissioner Lin, who played an important part in the war. It shows Lin in a very human light and does not hide his shortcomings and misconceptions about the English enemy he was up against.

[N.W. Martin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish it. I know this book is extremely important for the subject, but I just couldn't get through the constant digressions and bland diary entry after bland diary entry. If you're going to say something, say it. Don't tell me how crooked a ship looks because it's from England (Yeah, I'm talking to you Commissioner Lin!). I can't put the blame on Lin though... It is Waley. He, in my opinion, couldn't pull off what he attempted to accomplish, and instead wrote a boring book that is less about the Opium War and more about how internalized China had become during the mid 19th century. Now, if I had read this while reading another book on the Opium War, perhaps I would've had a much better time.

[Just Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Appreciated this book so much I re-bought it years later after giving it away. Imo there are too many historical counts of western history from western eyes and not enough directly from the people we've interacted with and impacted.