The difference, of course, is that Mexico is in no position to bombard San Diego, while in 1839 Britain could do whatever it wanted. British ships brushed aside China’s defenses and Qiying signed a humiliating treaty, opening China to trade and missionaries. Daoguang’s wives were not carried off to London, the way Albert went to Beijing in the scene I imagined at the beginning of this introduction, but the “Opium War” broke Daoguang all the same. He had let down 300 million subjects and betrayed two thousand years of tradition. He was right to feel like a failure. China was coming apart.
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