How did the Opium War impact China's economy and society?

There were, I would argue, two major impacts of these wars on China's economy and society.

First, the wars led to an increase in opium use in China.  According to one book I use as a teaching resource, the amount of opium being imported into China in the 1850s was double the amount being imported in the 1830s (East Asia: Tradition and Transformation. Fairbank, Reischauer and Craig).  This had an impact on Chinese society and economy as more people became dependent on the drug.

Second, the increase in foreign contact with the Chinese led to major changes in Canton, where the contact was most intense.  This led to a major increase in the amount of business being done by Chinese.  It also is said to have helped lead to Chinese nationalism and a desire to overthrow the Manchu because the Chinese saw the way the westerners showed patriotism and nationalism, and they wanted to copy that example.

These are some of the major impacts of the wars on China's economy and society.

The Opium Wars affected China in a number of ways.  Let us look at three of the most important of these ways.

First, the Opium Wars forced China to open up to foreign trade.  This completely changed the Chinese economy.  It increased the importance of silk and tea (items that foreign countries wanted to buy) in the Chinese economy.  At the same time, it hurt other sectors of the economy.  For example, many people stopped buying Chinese textiles since imported textiles were so much cheaper.  This meant that the Chinese textile industry crashed and unemployment rose.

Second, the Opium Wars seriously harmed China’s sovereignty.  After the Opium Wars, foreign countries forced China to grant them concessions.  They forced China to trade with them.  They forced China to give them areas in Chinese cities that were essentially foreign territory. In these areas, Chinese laws had no effect and the foreigners were, in effect, the rulers.  This meant that China no longer had control over its own territory.

Finally, these two factors helped make the Chinese government much weaker than it had been.  People saw that their government had been unable to protect them against the foreigners. They saw that foreigners had been able to take control over Chinese territory.  They saw that their economy was growing weaker.  All of these things seemed to them to be, at least in part, the fault of their government.  This weakened their support for their government and  helped lead to its eventual fall.

The Opium Wars were the climax events caused by friction between the British Empire and the Qing Dynasty. After British forces from Indian ravaged the Chinese coast and forced Qing rulers to come to terms during the Treaty of Tientsin, a number of different things happened. First, The Chinese were forced to cede certain territories to the British. Hong Kong was ceded and only recently returned to China. The opium trade was restarted and expanded throughout China, which benefitted the British immensely. Chinese tariffs were fixed at a reduced rate which helped with the British trade imbalance. They also forced China to agree to a “most favored nation” clause in the treaty giving British citizens extraterritorial rights that were not extended to other countries.

This treaty was eventually extended to the U.S. and France, creating what the Chinese called a, “century of humiliation” Imperialism would reign in China for years and years.

How did the Opium War of 1839 affect China?

To me, the main impact of this war was that it acted as a wedge to open China up.  As China was forced to open up more and more to the West (and eventually Japan) it lost its sovereignty and its whole society was undermined.

The actual immediate impacts of the war were not that great.  Some opium came into China.  Some ports were opened up and some missionaries were allowed in.  But in the long run, this was just the start.  From there, the British and other countries started to demand more and more access until they practically destroyed the soveriegn power of the Chinese government.