he gradual infiltration of
Western civilization into the Far East; it was recognized in China that
it was necessary to learn from the West. In home affairs we see the
collapse of the dynasty and the destruction of the unity of the empire;
of four great civil wars, one almost brought the dynasty to its end.
North and South China, the coastal area and the interior, developed in
different ways.

Great Britain had made several attempts to improve her trade relations
with China, but the mission of 1793 had no success, and that of 1816
also failed. English merchants, like all foreign merchants, were only
permitted to settle in a small area adjoining Canton and at Macao, and
were only permitted to trade with a particular group of monopolists,
known as the "Hong". The Hong had to pay taxes to the state, but they
had a wonderful opportunity of enriching themselves. The Europeans were
entirely at their mercy, for they were not allowed to travel inland, and
they were not allowed to try to negotiate with other merchants, to
secure lower prices by competition.

The Europeans concentrated especially on the purchase of silk and tea;
but what could they import into China? The higher the price of the goods
and the smaller the cargo space involved, the better were the chances of
profit for the merchants. It proved, however, that European woollens or
luxury goods could not be sold; the Chinese would probably have been
glad to buy food, but transport was too expensive to permit profitable
business. Thus a new article was soon discovered--opium, carried from
India to China: the price was high and the cargo space involved was very
small. The Chinese were familiar with opium, and bought it readily.
Accordingly, from 1800 onwards opium became more and more the chief
article of trade, especially for the English, who were able to bring it
conveniently from India. Opium is harmful to the people; the opium trade
resulted in certain groups of merchants being inordinately enriched; a
great deal of Chinese money went abroad. The government became
apprehensive and sent Lin Tse-hsue as its commissioner to Canton. In 1839
he prohibited the opium trade and burned the chests of opium found in
British possession. The British view was that to tolerate the Chinese
action might mean the destruction of British trade in the Far East and
that, on the other hand, it might be possible by active intervention to
compel the Chinese to open other ports to European tr