The Opium War, 1840-1842: Barbarians in the Celestial Empire in the Early Part of the Nineteenth Century and the War by which They Forced Her Gates Ajar

by Peter Ward Fay

Overview

This book tells the fascinating story of the war between England and China that delivered Hong Kong to the English, forced the imperial Chinese government to add four ports to Canton as places in which foreigners could live and trade, and rendered irreversible the process that for almost a century thereafter distinguished western relations with this quarter of the globe-- the process that is loosely termed the "opening of China."
Originally published by UNC Press in 1975, Peter Ward Fay's study was the first to treat extensively the opium trade from the point of production in India to the point of consumption in China and the first to give both Protestant and Catholic missionaries their due; it remains the most comprehensive account of the first Opium War through western eyes. In a new preface, Fay reflects on the relationship between the events described in the book and Hong Kong's more recent history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807861363
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	11/09/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	440
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Peter Ward Fay is professor emeritus of history at the California Institute of Technology.

Table of Contents

Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition Preface Introduction List of Characters

Part One. The Old China Trade
1. Papaver Somniferum
2. Canton and Macao
3. Managing the Barbarians
4. The Opium Traffic
5. The End of the Company

Part Two. Christ and Opium
6. The Napier Fizzle
7. The Protestant Mission
8. The Catholic Mission
9. A Rising Tide
10. Peking in Earnest
11. Lin and the Twenty Thousand Chests
12. We Won't Go Back!
13. India and England Take Notice
14. The Coming of the War

Part Three. The War
15. The First Expedition
16. At the Peiho
17. The Blockade and the Barrier
18. Chusan
19. Up the River to Canton
20. The City Spared
21. San-yuan-li
22. A Winter of Waiting
23. Hongkong
24. The Yangtze Campaign
25. China Opened

Appendix: Calcutta Opium Sales Notes A Note on Sources Index

Maps South and East Asia Gulf of Canton The Factories Macao China in the Early Nineteenth Century Chusan and the Yangtze Canton and Vicinity

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

I know of no other study that gives such a first-hand sense of the western participants' actions and reactions during this period. By letting us look at nineteenth-century China through the eyes of the traders, missionaries, and officials who hovered outside of Canton (and then finally assaulted the 'Celestial Empire'), Fay creates a perfect cadre for a lively, wittily written account of the time. It is narrative history in the grand manner.—Frederic Wakeman Jr., University of California, Berkeley



Peter Ward Fay has produced a classic study in The Opium War, 1840-1842, based on a mastery and synthesis of the first-hand Western records of the time and whatever is available in Western languages from the Chinese side.—John K. Fairbank, New York Times Book Review



The Opium War, 1840-1842 demonstrates the academic validity and usefulness, as well as the sheer reading pleasure, of narrative historical treatment done properly.—Queen's Quarterly



The work is rich in detail and made richer still by the author's forceful and robust writing style, which makes it almost possible to see and breathe the opium episode. He paints a historical picture with vivid colors, capturing the imagination of the reader, carrying it with him through the poppy fields of Uttar Pradesh, along the muddy streets of Macao, and into the malaria-infested troop encampments on Chusan.—American Historical Review



Panoramic, thoughtful, and brilliantly presented. . . . [Fay's] special strengths, and they are very considerable, lie in synthesis and presentation, in his flair for handling historical narrative with literary elegance, wit, and a feel for the dramatic. . . . Clearly an excellent piece of work that meets a need and deserves a wide readership.—Pacific Historical Review



Fay has pieced together, from an enormous range of firsthand sources, a vivid, microscopically detailed account.—Historian

Editorial Reviews

Peter Ward Fay has produced a classic study in "The Opium War, 1840-1842".

"John K. Fairbank, "New York Times Book Review"

[D]emonstrates the academic validity and usefulness, as well as the sheer reading pleasure, of narrative historical treatment done properly.

"Queen's Quarterly"

ÝD¨emonstrates the academic validity and usefulness, as well as the sheer reading pleasure, of narrative historical treatment done properly.

"Queen's Quarterly"

Fay has pieced together, from an enormous range of firsthand sources, a vivid, microscopically detailed account.

"Historian"

Panoramic, thoughtful, and brilliantly presented. .

"Pacific Historical Review"

"[D]emonstrates the academic validity and usefulness, as well as the sheer reading pleasure, of narrative historical treatment done properly.

"Queen's Quarterly""

"Fay has pieced together, from an enormous range of firsthand sources, a vivid, microscopically detailed account.

"Historian""

"Panoramic, thoughtful, and brilliantly presented. .

"Pacific Historical Review""

"Peter Ward Fay has produced a classic study in "The Opium War, 1840-1842."

"John K. Fairbank, "New York Times Book Review""

The work is rich in detail and made richer still by the author's forceful and robust writing style.

"American Historical Review"

From the Publisher