In June 1840, the British commander-in-chief of the invasion of China, YiLu rate of more than 40 ships, more than 4,000 soldiers, one after another arrived in the South China Sea sea. 28 June British ships blockade the Pearl River estuary, the first Opium War formally broke out, the British invasion of China's war officially began.
Early July, the British invaded Zhejiang Dinghai, arrived in early August outside the mouth of Tianjin Dagu, pushing the capital. Emperor Daoguang was afraid, and hastened to remove Lin Zexu's position, appointed Qishan as Minister of Qin. At the end of the year, Qishan negotiated with the British invaders in Guangzhou.
British troops, however, suddenly launched an attack on January 7, 1841, in the Penetrating Ocean, capturing the Shajiao and Dajiao fortresses.
In mid-January, Qishen was forced to agree to the British plenipotentiary Yilu's proposed cession of Hong Kong, compensation for the price of cigarettes of 6 million yuan, and the opening of Guangzhou, etc. The British army was forced to negotiate with the British invaders in Guangzhou.
Qishen privately agreed to the British conditions, contrary to the spirit of the instructions of the Qing court, and was later severely punished. However, on the 26th, British troops occupied Hong Kong without waiting for the Chinese government's consent. The Qing government declared war on Britain as soon as it learned of the loss of the Sha Kok and Tai Kok forts.
Late in February, the British captured the Humen Fortress, where Guan Tianpei, a patriotic general and governor of the navy, died heroically along with hundreds of defenders.
In May, the British closed in on the outskirts of Guangzhou, and the Qing army retreated into the city.
In the second half of the year, the new general Yishan begged for peace with the British, and made a shameful alliance with Britain under the city - the Peace Treaty of Guangzhou, which stipulated that the Qing side of the Qing Dynasty to the British army to hand over the ransom fee of 6 million yuan for the ransom of the city of Guangzhou.
The British government was not satisfied with the benefits of the Yilu from China, sent Pu Dingcha as Minister Plenipotentiary, additional reinforcements, expanding the war of aggression against China. 1841 late August, Pu Dingcha rate of British ships from Hong Kong north of the invasion of Xiamen on the 26th captured in September, the British army invaded Taiwan.
October captured Dinghai, Zhenhai, Ningbo. 1842 May, the British army continued northward, June captured the Yangtze River mouth of the Wusong Fortress, Baoshan, Shanghai fell one after another. Then, the British army retraced their steps up the Yangtze River, reaching the Jiangning (Nanjing) River on August 5th.
The corrupt and incompetent Qing government ordered the Shengjing General Jieying rushed to Nanjing, and on the 29th and Pu Dingcha signed the first unequal treaty in modern Chinese history on a British warship - the Treaty of Nanjing, the first Opium War came to an end.
Expanded:
Impact:
The defeat in the Opium War and the signing of a series of unequal treaties led to a fundamental change in the nature of Chinese society.
Foreign capitalism got from China a series of privileges such as the cession of Hong Kong Island, the compensation of 21 million taels of silver dollars, the opening of the five ports of Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai for trade, as well as the right to agree on tariffs, the right to consular adjudication, and the lopsided most-favored-nation treatment, which seriously undermined China's independent sovereignty.
After the signing of the Treaty of Nanking, the United States and France came one after the other, taking advantage of the opportunity to claim privileges and forcing the Qing government to sign a series of unequal treaties.
The Opium War marked the beginning of China's modern history, and from then on, China began to experience deeper suffering, and the Chinese people faced a more complex and tortuous struggle.
After the Opium War, some intellectuals began to abandon their stereotypes, to look at the world, to seek new knowledge, and to seek ways to strengthen the country and resist insults, and a new trend of learning from the West emerged, which had a certain impact on feudalism.
Social contradictions, with the change in the nature of society, the main contradiction in Chinese society also changed from the contradiction between the landlord class and the peasant class to the contradiction between foreign capitalism and the Chinese nation, and the contradiction between feudalism and the masses.
The revolutionary task of the Chinese people changed from anti-feudalism to both anti-feudalism and anti-invasion. As a result, China stepped from a feudal society into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, which was the beginning of China's modern history and the beginning of China's old democratic revolution.
Along with the economic deepening, the advanced culture from abroad was also introduced into China at the same time: natural sciences washed away the feudal superstitions and ignorance of the Chinese people;
The lifestyle of the foreign countries began to be integrated into the life of the upper class; and the ideology of democracy, freedom and equality was also spreading in China, which began to lay down the ideological foundation of the Hundred Days' Reform and the Xinhai Revolution later on.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Opium War