China, History, and the Shadows of Trade: A First Reflection
During my recent trip to China, I was reminded how deeply history still shapes the way this country sees the world—and the West in particular. One episode kept resurfacing in conversations, museums, and context: the Opium Wars of the mid-19th century.
What many of us in the West barely touch on in school is that China once sat at the center of global trade. For centuries, Europeans wanted Chinese goods—especially silk, tea, and porcelain—but China had little interest in European products. Trade was largely one-sided.
Initially, China traded extensively with Japan, importing silver (then a core monetary metal) and exporting silk and other goods. Silver accumulated inside China and became the backbone of its economy. European powers—most notably Britain—soon entered the picture, buying Chinese goods and paying in silver as well.
That’s when the problem emerged: a severe trade imbalance. Britain was hemorrhaging silver because China simply didn’t want British products. From Britain’s perspective, something had to change.
The “solution” they chose was devastating.
British traders began selling opium—grown mainly in British-controlled India—into China at artificially low prices. Despite Chinese bans, the trade exploded. The result was catastrophic: tens of millions of Chinese became addicted, draining families, weakening society, and destabilizing the economy.
When the Chinese government finally moved to shut the trade down, Britain responded not with diplomacy—but with gunboats.
Thus began the Opium Wars: two conflicts in the mid-19th century between China and European powers (primarily Britain, later joined by others). China lost both wars and was forced to sign humiliating treaties—opening ports, ceding Hong Kong, granting extraterritorial rights, and effectively surrendering sovereignty.
Walking through China today, it becomes clear that this period is not ancient history here. It is remembered as the beginning of the “Century of Humiliation”—a trauma that still informs China’s politics, nationalism, and deep suspicion of foreign powers.
This trip made me realize: to understand modern China, you can’t start with technology, manufacturing, or geopolitics.
You have to start with history—and with wounds that never fully healed.
More reflections to come.
My impressions from a recent visit to China – first in a series