In foreign affairs these ninety years were marked by the steadily growing influence of the Western powers, aimed at turning China into a colony.  Culturally this period was that of the 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 trade and to shake off the monopoly of the Canton merchants.  In 1840 British ships-of-war appeared off the south-eastern coast of China and bombarded it.  In 1841 the Chinese opened negotiations and dismissed Lin Tse-hsue.  As the Chinese concessions were regarded as inadequate, hostilities continued; the British entered the Yangtze estuary and threatened