ABSTRACT
The Opium War was the opening salvo of a century of aggression by Western nations against China, a century of conflict between very different cultures with sharply differing values; yet each clash would have its own particulars and realities. During the Opium War, China came face-to-face with modern technology in the form of ships and weapons; the experience was a catalyst, spurring some Chinese to begin to think initially about buying them from the West and ultimately to consider manufacturing them themselves. But Chinese efforts to establish modern industry, both heavy and light, were hampered by their inability to raise tariffs to protect their infant industry. Called the Arrow War and the Second Opium War, this struggle began with the British accusation that a Chinese ship under British registry had been illegally searched by Chinese officers pursuing a Chinese pirate. Unhappily, the missionaries retained the same attitudes toward the Chinese people that they had shown during the Opium War period.
