Glencoe World History: Modern Times © 2011 Virginia Edition

The Opium War

Introduction
The Opium Wars were the beginning of a period of repeated Western intervention in Chinese affairs. Western intervention created a sense of humiliation as well as a hunger for both reform and revolution. In this activity you will read about the Opium Wars and develop a timeline of the wars’ major events.

Destination Title: Ch’ing China

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Directions

• Click on “Contents” underneath “Browse.”
• Click on “The Opium Wars.” Read the information on the Web site.
• Take notes as you read.

Use the information you found to answer the following questions.

1			Who was Lin Tse-hsü (Lin Zexu)?
2			What was the major British grievance against China?
3			Explain the meaning of extraterritoriality.
4			What were the demands of the Treaty of Nanking (Nanjing)?
5			Create a time line containing five important events of the Opium War. Include a one-sentence description of each event on your time line. In addition, indicate whether the event was in favor of China or Britain.