Student Web Activity Lesson Plans

Chapter 15: East Asia Under Challenge

The Opium War

Introduction

The Opium War marked the establishment of repeated Western intervention in Chinese affairs. Pressure from the West created a sense of humiliation in China as well as a hunger for both reform and revolution. In this activity students will read about the Opium War and develop a time line of the wars’ major events.

Lesson Description
Students will go to a Web site about the Opium War between Britain and China. Students will read the information and answer four questions about what they have read. They will then create a time line of five important events in the Opium War and write a brief description of each event.

Instructional Objectives
The learner will be able to evaluate the significance of events in China during the Opium War.
The learners will be able to apply what they have learned by creating a time line of major events in the Opium War.

Student Web Activity Answers

Lin Tse-hsü was the Chinese Imperial Commissioner at Canton who tried unsuccessfully to end the opium trade and the government corruption it produced in China.

The major British grievance involved the lack of formal treaty relations between the two countries. The British regarded the Chinese legal system as barbaric. In the absence of formal relations, when British citizens were accused of crimes, the British refused to hand them over to the Chinese for prosecution.

Extraterritoriality means that British citizens accused of crimes in China would be subject to British, not Chinese, law.

Britain’s other demands included five open ports for British trade, most-favored nation status for trade, and no restrictions on trade.

Students' time lines will vary but may begin with “1836—The imperial government makes opium illegal” and end with “1842—Chinese sign Treaty of Nanking (Nanjing).”