Hong+Kong

It's Lukach giving feedback on your Prezi and wiki. The wiki looks great. Very good answers, solid insight, well-developed, thoughtful, etc. Nicely done. 40/40. The Prezi itself could be improved. There were a lot of typos, and there was not much big picture flow to the presentation. David, when you were presenting, you made it very clear that you had little to no part in it...but you should endorse it anyway! And Kyle, with it being your Prezi, there was a lot that could be improved. As such, you both get 16/20. As for collaboration--this was more of a "you do this, I'll do that" approach....and it didn't work particularly well. more collaboration would have been better. 17/20.

=**HONG KONG**=

The British began colonizing Hong Kong in the year 1841. Well Hong Kong wasn't colonized violently, but the British received the land after the opium wars which was obviously a violent event. So although the colonization itself wasn't violent, the means by which the British obtained the land was.** The British fleet devastated Chinese forts around the Pearl River delta. The destruction of forts on the shore, such as the Bogue forts, combined with the fleet looming over beijing actually produced results before the Nanking Treaty. In 1841 some Chinese-European negotiations, called the Chuanbi conventions, concluded that the Chinese would pay the British six million silver dollars for the opium that Lin Zexu burned. The war flamed up again, and the British launched a full-scale attack on Guangzhou, forcing the Chinese to ransom the city for six million silver dollars more. Eventually, the Chinese gave up the war and signed the Nanking treaty. 3. In one paragraph, describe the life of the indigenous people before the Europeans showed up. Before the Europeans arrived, there was no opium being traded between India and China. However, the drug was available in the 1700's, but not on a massive scale. The Manchu, also referred to as the Qing Dynasty, had kept the Chinese government similar to that of previous dynasties, but introduced some segregation between the Manchus and the Chinese, including separate military forces, banning intermarriage between the two groups and having a Manchu official for every Chinese official that had more powerl. Under the Qing the Chinese prospered, with low taxes and the arts flourishing, especially in short stories and novels. Pottery and painting also was emphasized. European influences arrived with Christian missionaries, which mainly affected the field of science. There were numerous uprising. The Qing mainly pursued a isolationist policy, but they did trade with European traders. 4. What did the European colonizer hope to economically gain in taking this territory?** In the 19th Century the British empire was well-established in trade and conquest. However, Britain had become heavily reliant on the Chinese for tea, a product which had become not only a key component of British culture but furthermore of the British government. The ability for the British to trade with China was put in jeopardy and thus the opium wars started. During these wars Hong Kong was used as a staging post. Later, Hong Kong became the center of "free trade" in the east. It was the port in which all countries could trade with china. Lin Zexu, a commissioner appointed by the emperor, was sent to the port of Canton to cease the opium trade. He took forceful measures, such as having 21,000 chests of opium burned, which amounts to about six million silver dollars worth, and forcing traders to sign bonds to make cease smuggling opium. The British government claimed that by destroying the opium they had destroyed British property and started the Opium Wars. Due to this, Lin Zexu gave the British government the excuse they needed to start the war that put Hong Kong in British hands. Henry Pottinger was the first the first governor of Hong Kong and came to China with the order to seize chinese strongholds and cities on the shoreline, which he promptly did. He then acquired orders to focus on Nanjing, a Chinese capital. By taking the important city of Zhenjiang on the grand canal and the threat of attacking Nanjing, the Chinese gave in to all of the European commands. Lord Palmerston, Foreign secretary of Europe at the time, had been the one who put Pottinger in command of British business in China and got rid of his predecessor, Charles Elliot. Palmerston also pushed Pottinger to get the Chinese to legalize opium. 6. How long was your territory a colony? When did it gain independence, and why?** Hong Kong was a British colony for 155 years. In 1982 Margret Thatcher, the british prime minister, tried to propose a law that would continue British rule over Hong Kong. Her proposition lead to the Sino-British Joint Declaration. This declaration made it so that it was one country but with two systems of government ruling it.In 1990 the Hong Kong basic law was enforced, giving the state more democratic power. When Patten tried to introduce new reforms to the Hong Kong government, the PRC (China government that was controlling Hong Kong) saw it as a breach of the basic law. Hong Kong was handed over to China on July 1 1997 in what is known as "The Handover" 7. **In general, do you think that colonization was a good thing for your territory?** Colonization for Hong Kong, was Lin Zexu one of the best things that happened for it. After the opium wars and several other events China continued to be behind the rest of the world. The chinese were stuck in their old ways and were unwilling to mondernize in other words to except the industrial revolution. However colonization allowed Hong Kong to develop in a magnificent fashion. Hong Kong was somewhat of an oasis of the modernization stuck in a desert of a country stuck in the dark ages. Lin Zexu, the commissioner sent to cease the opium smuggling, wrote a letter to Queen Victora, and, intending for it to reach her indirectly, did not actually send it, and seemly it never reached her. However, it still expresses some of the Chinese views of the situation: ". . .The kings of your honorable country by a tradition handed down from generation to generation have always been noted for their politeness and submissiveness. We have read your successive tributary memorials saying: "In general our countrymen who go to trade in China have always received His Majesty the Emperor's gracious treatment and equal justice," and so on. Privately we are delighted with the way in which the honorable rulers of your country deeply understand the grand principles and are grateful for the Celestial grace. . . . ** But after a long period of commercial intercourse, there appear among the crowd of barbarians [i.e., the private traders] both good persons and bad, unevenly. Consequently there are those who smuggle opium to seduce the Chinese people and so cause the spread of the poison to all provinces. Such persons who only care to profit themselves, and disregard their harm to others, are not tolerated by the laws of Heaven and are unanimously hated by human beings. His Majesty the Emperor, upon hearing of this, is in a towering rage. He has especially sent me. . . to settle this matter. . . . . . Even though the barbarians may not necessarily intend to do us harm, yet in coveting profit to an extreme, they have no regard for injuring others. Let us ask, where is your conscience? I have heard that the smoking of opium is very strictly forbidden by your country; that is because the harm caused by opium is clearly understood. Since it is not permitted to do harm to your own country, then even less should you let it be passed on to the harm of other countries. . . Of all that China exports to foreign countries, there is not a single thing which is not beneficial when eaten, or of benefit when used, or of benefit when resold: all are beneficial. Is there a single article from China which has done any harm to foreign countries? Take tea and rhubarb, for example; the foreign countries cannot get along for a single day without them [ true, perhaps, for the Englishman’s love of a 'cuppa' but certainly not for those red stalks which the Chinese thought essential for the proper bowel movements of the 'barbarians']. If China cuts off these benefits with no sympathy for those who are to suffer, then what can the barbarians rely upon to keep themselves alive? Moreover the woolens. . . of foreign countries cannot be woven unless they obtain Chinese silk. . . As for other foodstuffs, beginning with candy, ginger, cinnamon, and so forth, and articles for use, beginning with silk, satin, chinaware, and so on, all the things that must be had by foreign countries are innumerable. On the other hand, articles coming from the outside to China can only be used as toys. We can take them or get along without them. Since they are not needed by China, what difficulty would there be if we closed the frontier and stopped the trade? Nevertheless our Celestial Court lets tea, silk, and other goods be shipped without limit and circulated everywhere without begrudging it in the slightest. This is for no other reason but to share the benefit with the people of the whole world. . . . Only in several places of India under your control. . . has opium been planted from hill to hill. . . For months and years work is continued in order to accumulate the poison. The obnoxious odor ascends, irritating Heaven and frightening the spirits. Indeed you, O Sovereign, can eradicate the opium plant in these places, hoe over the fields entirely, and sow in its stead the five grains. Anyone who dares again attempt to plant and manufacture opium should be severely punished. This really will be a great, benevolent policy that will increase the common weal and get rid of evil. For this, Heaven must support you and the spirits must bring you good fortune, prolonging your old age and extending your descendants. All will depend on this act. . . . Now we have set up regulations governing the Chinese people. He who sells opium shall receive the death penalty and he who smokes it also the death penalty. Now consider this: if the barbarians do not bring opium, then how can the Chinese people resell it, and how can they smoke it? The fact is that the wicked barbarians beguile the Chinese people into a death trap. How then can we grant life only to these barbarians? . . . Therefore in the new regulations, in regard to those barbarians who bring opium to China the penalty is fixed at decapitation or strangulation. This is what is called getting rid of a harmful thing on behalf of mankind. Moreover we have found that [on Apr 9, 1839] Consul Elliot of your nation, because the opium prohibition law was very stern and severe, petitioned for an extension of the time limit. . . Now we. . have received the extraordinary Celestial grace of His Majesty the Emperor, who has redoubled his consideration and compassion. All those who within the period of the coming one year (from England) or six months (from India) bring opium to China by mistake, but who voluntarily confess and completely surrender their opium, shall be exempt from their punishment. After this limit of time, if there are still those who bring opium to China then they will plainly have committed a willful violation and shall at once be executed according to law, with absolutely no clemency or pardon. This may be called the height of kindness and the perfection of justice. Our Celestial Dynasty rules over and supervises the myriad states, and surely possesses unfathomable spiritual dignity. Yet the Emperor cannot bear to execute people without having first tried to reform themn by instruction. Therefore he especially promulgates these fixed regulations. The barbarian merchants of your country, if they wish to do business for a long period, are required to obey our statutes respectfully and to cut off permanently the source of opium. They must by no means try to test the effectiveness of the law with their lives. May you, O King, check your wicked and sift out your vicious people before they come to China, in order to guarantee the peace of your nation, to show further the sincerity of your politeness and submissiveness, and to let the two countries enjoy together the blessings of peace. . . After receiving this dispatch will you immediately give us a prompt reply regarding the details and circumstances of your cutting off the opium traffic. Be sure not to put this off. . . " (Commissioner Lin's Letter to Queen Victora). That letter expresses the Chinese thoughts; the british had different ideas on the situation and certainly had different intentions. After the Opium Wars, the British returned what they had acquired in return for what was written in the Treaty of Nanking: " HER MAJESTY the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the Emperor of China, being desirous of putting an end to the misunderstandings and consequent hostilities which have arisen between the two countries, have resolved to conclude a Treaty for that purpose. . . . . . . Who, after having communicated to each other their respective Full Powers, and found them to be in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following [selected] Articles:
 * 1. Who colonized your territory, and when?**
 * 2. Was the colonization violent or peaceful?**
 * 5. Identify 3 key characters in the process of colonization. At least one should be European, and at least one should be indigenous.
 * 8. Find two primary sources that are affiliated with your colonization. One must be European, one must be indigenous. (embed them in your wiki)

I. The Government of China having compelled the British merchants trading at Canton to deal exclusively with certain Chinese merchants, called Hong merchants (or Co-Hong), who had been licensed by the Chinese Government for that purpose, the Emperor of China agrees to abolish that practice in future at all ports where British merchants may reside, and to permit them to carry on their mercantile transactions with whatever persons they please; and His Imperial Majesty further agrees to pay to the British Government the sum of 3,000,000 of dollars, on account of debts due to British subjects by some of the said Hong merchants (or Co-Hong), who have become insolvent, and who owe very large sums of money to subjects of Her Britannic Majesty. There shall henceforward be peace and friendship between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and His Majesty the Emperor of China, and between their respective subjects, who shall enjoy full security and protection for their persons and property within the dominions of the other.

II. His Majesty the Emperor of China agrees, that British subjects, with their families and establishments, shall be allowed to reside, for the purposes of carrying on their mercantile pursuits, without molestation or restraint, at the cities and towns of Canton, Amoy, Foochowfoo, Ningpo, and Shanghai; and Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, &c., will appoint Superintendents, or Consular officers, to reside at each of the above-named cities or towns, to be the medium of communication between the Chinese authorities and the said merchants, and to see that the just duties and other dues of the Chinese Government, as hereafter provided for, are duly discharged by Her Britannic Majesty's subjects.

III. It being obviously necessary and desirable that British subjects should have some port whereat they may [maintain] and refit their ships when required, and keep stores for that purpose, His Majesty the Emperor of China cedes to Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, &c., the Island of Hong-Kong, to be possessed in perpetuity by Her Britannic Majesty, her heirs and successors, and to be governed by such laws and regulations as Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, &c., shall see fit to direct.

IV. The Emperor of China agrees to pay the sum of 6,000,000 of dollars, as the value of the opium which was delivered up at Canton in the month of March, 1839, as a ransom for the lives of Her Britannic Majesty's Superintendent and subjects, who had been imprisoned and threatened with death by the Chinese High Officers And it is further stipulated, that interest, at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum, shall be paid by the Government of China on any portion of the above sums that are not punctually discharged at the periods fixed.

V. The Government of China having compelled the British merchants trading at Canton to deal exclusively with certain Chinese merchants, called Hong merchants (or Co-Hong). . . the Emperor of China agrees to abolish that practice in future at all ports where British merchants may reside, and to permit them to carry on their mercantile transactions with whatever persons they please; and His Imperial Majesty further agrees to pay to the British Government the sum of 3,000,000 of dollars, on account of debts due to British subjects by some of the said Hong merchants, who have become insolvent, and who owe very large sums of money to subjects of Her Britannic Majesty.

VI. The Government of Her Britannic Majesty having been obliged to send out an expedition to demand and obtain redress for the violent and unjust proceedings of the Chinese High Authorities towards Her Britannic Majesty's officer and subjects, the Emperor of China agrees to pay the sum of 12,000,000 of dollars, on account of the expenses incurred; and Her Britannic Majesty's Plenipotentiary voluntarily agrees, on behalf of Her Majesty, to deduct from the said amount of I2,000,000 of dollars, any sums which may have been received by Her Majesty's combined forces, as ransom for cities and towns in China, subsequent to the 1st day of August, 1841 VII. It is agreed, that the total amount of 21,000,000 of dollars, described in the 3 preceding Articles, shall be paid as follows: 6,000,000 immediately. 6,000,000 in 1843; that is, 3,000,000 on or before the 30th of the month of June, and 3,000,000 on or before the 3Ist of December. 5,000,000 in 1844; that is, 2,500,000 on or before the 3oth of June, and 2,500,000 on or before the 3Ist of December. 4,000,000 in 1845; that is, 2,000,000 on or before the 3oth of June, and 2,000,000 on or before the 3Ist of December. And it is further stipulated, that interest, at the rate of 5 per cent per annum, shall be paid by the Government of China on any portion of the above sums that are not punctually discharged at the periods fixed.

VIII The Emperor of China agrees to release, unconditionally, all subjects of Her Britannic Majesty (whether natives of Europe or India), who may be in confinement at this moment in any part of the Chinese empire.

IX. The Emperor of China agrees to publish and promulgate, under his Imperial sign manual and seal, a full and entire amnesty and act of indemnity to all subjects of China, on account of their having resided under, or having had dealings and intercourse with, or having entered the service of Her Britannic Majesty, or of Her Majesty's officers; and His Imperial Majesty further engages to release all Chinese subjects who may be at this moment in confinement for similar reasons.

X. His Majesty the Emperor of China agrees to establish at all the ports which are, by the 2nd Article of this Treaty, to be thrown open for the resort of British merchants, a fair and regular tariff of export and import customs and other dues, which tariff shall be publicly notified and promulgated for general information; and the Emperor further engages, that when British merchandise shall have once paid at any of the said ports the regulated customs and dues, agreeable to the tariff to be hereafter fixed, such merchandise may be conveyed by Chinese merchants to any province or city in the interior of the Empire of China, on paying a further amount as transit duties, which shall not exceed [see Declaration respecting Transit Duties below] on the tariff value of such goods. XI. It is agreed that Her Britannic Majesty's Chief High Officer in China shall correspond with the Chinese High Officers, both at the capital and in the provinces,. . . . . on a footing of perfect equality. ..

XII. On the assent of the Emperor of China to this Treaty being received, and the discharge of the first instalment of money, Her Britannic Majesty's forces will retire from Nanking and the Grand Canal, and will no longer molest or stop the trade of China. The military post at Chinhai will also be withdrawn, but the Islands of Koolangsoo, and that of Chusan, will continue to be held by Her Majesty's forces until the money payments, and the arrangements for opening the ports to British merchants, be completed.

XIII. The ratification of this Treaty by Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, &c., and His Majesty the Emperor of China, shall be exchanged as soon as the great distance which separates England from China will admit; but in the meantime, counterpart copies of it, signed and sealed by the.Plenipotentiaries on behalf of their respective Sovereigns, shall be mutually delivered, and all its provisions and arrangements shall take effect.

Done at Nanking, and signed and sealed by the Plenipotentiaries on board Her Britannic Majesty's ship Cornwallis, this 29th day of August, 1842. . ."(Treaty of Nanking). This, with the exception of free trade of opium, is what the British did in response to the Chinese resistance. The ability to freely trade opium was acquired later.

The letter from Lin Zexu to Queen Victora expresses longstanding views the Chinese had held of the European peoples. China, having been a empire of immense power for years before the British traders arrived, believed they had the superior position with better goods and a better standing in the realm of heaven. Their arrogance left them in a state of shock as they lost the Opium War. The intentions of the British, however, are best showed by what they actually did. they forced Chinese to allow them a say in politics, the right to trade, a city do it in and everything the British needed to get past Chinese law. They were there for the money, for some of which they didn't wait for the trading to start to acquire. media type="custom" key="5488791"
 * 9. How do these primary sources help to explain the attitudes of the colonized and the colonizers?**

Sources: 1. [|http://www.marimari.com/cOnTENT/hong_kong/general_info/history/main.html] 2. [|http://www.sacu.org/opium2.html] 3. [|http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/heroin/opichin1.htm] 4. [|http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/later_imperial_china/qing.html] 5. [|http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Opium_Wars] 6. [|http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/chandra.opium] 7. [|http://www.koreanhistoryproject.org/Ket/C18/E1803.htm] 8. [|http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/reference/ob29.html] 9. [|http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/reference/ob24.html]