EMPEROR DAOGUANG DOCUMENTARY - THE OPIUM WAR

[Music] during the first half of the 19th century the mighty Singh dynasty began to decline in parallel Western powers recently industrialized were eager to trade with this exotic nation however cultural barriers and the trade of an illegal substance opium would degrade relations to the point of war these events would define a reign of emperor guang [Music] inside the Forbidden City in late 1782 a young noble child made me Anning was born he was the second son of Prince jung-hyun himself the fifteenth son and secret heir of the famous emperor qianlong nian news mother was Jung Eun's primary consult though her personal name was not remembered it is reported that Shen Nong grew fond of his grandson during a hunting trip in 1791 the boy was said to have shot and killed a deer with his bow which impressed the Emperor this probably convinced his father Union to later choose him as a successor life as a noble prince would change when Yin Ming was 16 years old general who had led the dynasty for over 63 years died in 1799 neonics father young yin now the new emperor jiajing assumed full power and secretly chose meaning as his successor comfortably brought up in the Imperial City the Prince did not realize the true state of the nation corruption had developed among the important officials civil unrest developed in some regions and many subjects in the South were slowly falling to addiction to opium sold by British merchants in camp Tung shielded from all this nian nian would carry on with his princely duties and Ledger's for the next year's events would have a catch up with him later in 1813 an incredible event shook beijing wall meaning was studying inside a palace of the imperial city commotion from outside broke his focus rapidly he realized the premises were on their surprise attack by rebels of a secret society who were planning to overthrow the dynasty meaning remain calm joined up with officers of the Imperial Guard and organized the defense furthermore he grabbed his muskets and contributed in the actual fighting shoot a couple of rebels the rebellion failed and order was restored for his impressive actions and Prasad seemed congratulated his son new soldier Levon : g1 drew it she had changed on a snowboard gb1 Victorian Jen your way my CFO honk ha dia he later officially rewarded his son elevating him to the title of Prince a first track for the following years meaning would keep on studying in the Forbidden City an unexpected incident were to however change everything to the surprise of the whole Court and pretty at scene suddenly died in 1820 the 38 year old meaning was revealed to be his successor and ascended the throne becoming Emperor dalbong immediately after his enthronement dong Kong was launched into the Ching dynasty problems the Treasury was worryingly low mainly due to massive corruption that had by now spread throughout officials across the nation since the at Singh was unable to prevent it dalkong first sought to reduce the expenses of the state like his father had tried Imperial hunts at the mall on hunting grounds that had began on the emperor kangxi were banned by Imperial decree and would never resume in the future as severe droughts occurred the Emperor authorised migration of Han peasants into Manchuria where available land would be farmed dalbong was only beginning to understand basic mechanics of leadership when a new issue would disrupt the course of events as I explained in my Chen long video after Cindy yang was integrated into Ching territory many Muslim Uighur people refused King Authority although the rebellion had been put to an end it would inspire a continuous Muslim jihad against the Ching that would last for over a century the time to act had finally come for the Wiegel in the Terran basin a band of rebels got together with the intention of establishing a Muslim state the leader of the insurgents Jahangir Horta had rallied three hundred men and after a failed attack on kashgar in 1820 they entered guerrilla warfare the conflict gradually grew as successful raids against Shing patrols insulted more wiegel's to join the ranks of the rebels by 1825 team control on several cities began to fall apart Han Chinese civilians in the area were often slaughtered by the Muslim insurgents the following year kashgar was captured furthermore the rebels found allies in the car native Hawk hunt which joined the fight against the Ching dynasty as the local Ching Garrison's were overwhelmed it was time to assemble the armies Don Wong organized for 70,000 soldiers to be sent to seemed young to pacify the region in addition coy merchants supported the Ching war efforts economically some Uighur factions sided against the rebels in groups of Chinese Muslims who saw the community members enslaved by the insurgents joined the green standard army as a civilian militia soon that Singh managed to reclaim land by 1827 Jahangir the rebel leader was captured he was taken to baiting in a public procession and executed in the aftermath of these events Don Guang ordered the border cities of seen young to be fortified and decreased local Garrison's everywhere understanding that pursuing the war further west against the carnate of whole camp would be too costly he simply imposed trade embargoes on it nonetheless the situation was not yet resolved Jahangir's brother Yusuf would resume the fight with the support of the carnage initially retaking cities they will rapidly defeated once and for all strategically dalkong then decided to part in the car late and normalize relations furthermore bribing it to maintain peace in the region these operations cost the Qing Treasury even more money in efforts to keep the nation afloat dan Guang urged officials in charge of the canals and rivers to economize as much as possible as the maintenance of these structures was one of the main expenses of the nation furthermore it was known that corrupt officials administering them embezzled funds but dole gong feared that removing them from office would risk the maintenance system collapsing ultimately he ended up doing nothing reforms were nonetheless essential as silver was flowing out of the critically low treasury the Emperor would find a good opportunity in salt this product was indeed linked were important smuggling operations and corruption the salt administration established during the Ming Dynasty was administered by semi private officials who held hereditary positions in the jung-hwa region biggest division of the salt administration evidence indicated that they clearly embezzled important funds as they delivered nowhere near as much salt as they had been contracted for the officials further increased the price of the product leading to the black market weighing even more than the official sales Emperor Darwin tossed the Viceroy of the region a benevolent official named tall tool to find a solution together with two other scholars his former classmates the Viceroy disbanded the salt administration entirely opening up the salt markets under the dynasty's control this strongly relieved the Treasury although the result was not as significant as hoped besides dis reform dalbong would not change economic policies out of lack of insight or indecision it seemed as if imperial rule had lost its influence of the hide Seng era a eunuch was even discovered deserting Imperial Authority has he pretended to act on orders from the court corruption was still widespread these issues would however turn out to be the least important problems of the reign of the emperor since the last years an escalation of tensions with the United Kingdom linked to trade an opium had taken place the at Singh had clearly declared illegal the trade of opium but the British East India Company kept on operating with the help of Chinese smugglers furthermore emperor thug Wong and most government officials did not realize the true power of the British Empire considering them as foreign barbarians in 1821 as the British heard rumors of great quality horses from singh's young province they tried to arrange a trade agreement with the Qing Dynasty to obtain the precious maps dal Gong however denied the agreement the following year the court ordered authorities in Guangdong province to tighten their control on Western ships trying to evade paying tariffs with the new control measures imposed by Judge Singh in Macau forcing the inspection of ships before they docked at Canton per trade large quantities of opium was seized and confiscated a year after in 1823 a New Eden against opium was issued it forbade the cultivation of puppies from which opium was made and increased surveillance of shops susceptible of selling opium these measures would prove to be far from enough now xenophobia towards the West was developing in many in China Christianity had been outlawed by emperor zhongzong in 1724 this ban was reaffirmed in 1814 by emperor jiajing Darwin's father now in 1826 the emperor enforced new anti-christian laws Chinese Christians both Catholic and Protestant a new faith slowly illegally introduced by visionary Robert Morrison who refused to repent their religion was sold as slaves to Muslim Lords in cynjohn province foreign merchants had won more assets in escaping the restrictions of the Canton system illegal exchange of currency this offered them more freedom while doing business in China away from the eye of the authorities by 1829 belg Wong ordered the guangdong authorities to end this illegal exchange forcing the foreign merchants to follow the rules the Canton trade despite all the measures taken opium kept being sold and consumed in China as a result silver kept flowing out of the nation and the effects of the drug on the population became a stronger issue an additional edict named rules regarding the inspection and prohibition of opium in the inland was further issued in 1830 it soon became apparent that that seeing authorities had no clue on how to effectively fight a war on drugs the measures were still not enough in 1831 a new law reiterated the prohibition of growing poppies and selling opium throughout the empire in parallel searching for a way to bypass the Canton system British ships attempted to establish trade in other ports further north along the Chinese coast in 1832 they were however promptly denied increasing the frustration on both sites China's problems were about to get a whole lot bigger in 1833 the British Parliament decided to end the British East India Company's monopoly on the opium trade allowing anyone to engage in this activity sales of opium in China would skyrocket not losing hope on opening up China for trade Britain appointed a Royal Navy officer veteran of the Battle of Trafalgar as Chief Superintendent of trade in China this officer was William Napier his main task would be to expand the trade inland offering access to many new Chinese goods Napier however was neither a trader nor a diplomat his request to enter direct negotiations with the Viceroy of Yang Guang lor Kuhn was denied Napier therefore resorted to what he knew best military action the trade and void dispatched two frigates and entered a skirmish in the Pearl River Delta after several days of stalemate the officer contracted typhus and withdrew dying in Macau shortly after before his death he however recommended to the British authorities to seize a small island in the Reed Hong Kong with this demonstration of power the Viceroy of young Gwang Joo Koon realized these foreign barbarians were nothing like what was said about them he had seemed the British Royal Navy in action in 1835 he and the local Navy Commander Guan TMP received imperial permission from talk want to reinforce kam Tong in a preventive measure however besides these officials that had seen the firepower of the British Navy everyone else was convinced the British and other Western powers were no threat to the celestial Empire time would prove them tremendously wrong the British position of Chief Superintendent of trade in China was now vacant a new figure would subsequently appear on scene Captain Charles Elliot he was appointed and arrived in Canton in 1836 although he was replacing William Napier who had engaged in hostilities with China two years earlier Elliot was not a military nor a profiteer as he discovered the realities of the opium trade he was shocked for him this was anything but an honest commercial activity no man entertains a deeper data station the disgrace and sin of this forced traffic on the coast of China I have steadily discountenanced it by all the lawful means in my power and that the total sacrifice of my private comfort in the society in which I have lived for some past years in parallel and per dog Wong would soon discover the substances actual effects to a high-ranking official Kwanza submitted a petition to the emperor named yin solo trip a commercial meaning stopping the leak to grow the country in this petition he explained the severity in ill effects of the consumption of opium that was furthermore ruining China financially Huang droids are proposed giving one year for opium addicts to rehabilitate after which they would be condemned to death if relapsing his petition was promptly supported by how true they had resolved the issue of salt earlier as well as another important official in sir Xu who would play an essential role in the years to come mm protal Wong shocked to discover the realities of the events in southern China was convinced by the petition in his opinion it was time to end the whole issue once and for all if flaws no longer sufficed actions would be taken immediately many members of the nobility and high-ranking officials who had become opium addicts were dismissed and expelled in zou she was then personally appointed as an imperial envoy by tog Wong to inspect the ports in Guangdong province with the goal of fighting opium the official would be rigorous in his task his diligence would however begin a chain of events that eventually would bring China down to its knees in 1839 a year after his appointment Linzer Xu sees huge amounts of opium from Western warehouses and presided the destruction of the substance with lie in the Pearl River outraging the foreign traders who had just lost huge investments [Applause] [Music] [Music] incidentally two drunken British sailors were charged with the murder of a Chinese civilian wishing to maintain peaceful relations with Britain and China the trade superintended Charles Elliot's promised the opium traders they would be reimbursed and compensated the family of the murdered victim he however denied the Chinese request to hand over the two drunken British sailors to the regional authorities subsequently tensions between the United Kingdom and that seeing Empire spite a point of no return had been reached the British demanded compensation for the destroyed opium and the Chinese were fed up with foreigners enforcing their operations and Terms on Chinese soil this anger had reached all levels of society commoners officials and Imperial courts dal Guang ordered all trade with the British to stop immediately realising how tense and stable the situation had become Charles Eliot's decided to withdraw all British ships from the region and based himself on the island of Hong Kong in late 1839 Linzer Xu who was about to become Viceroy of Yang Guang ordered war junks to be deployed along the Pearl River Delta in a preventive move against a possible return of the Royal Navy with the intent of forcing them to leave China he then issued an edict prohibiting anyone from selling food to the British as they soon ran low on supplies they sent an ultimatum to the local authorities if food was not sold to them they would open fire anchored on their position the Chinese refused as the deadline was reached the British ships delivered their promise the First Opium War if you're interested I will explain in detail the course of the war in a separate video let me know in the comment section although hostilities had began the war was not yet official nor desired by many in both parties back in Britain the issue is being discussed in Parliament a significant number of British members of parliament disapproved that the opium trade and voted against military action they were nonetheless and voted by nine votes in April 18 40 consecutive the British Empire prepared for a full-scale war against its seeing Empire it would also be an occasion to test colonial forces and Marines as well as the first iron steamship of the world Britain's war objectives were clear compensation for the lost opium abolishment of the count on trade system opening of additional trading ports protection of British subjects in China and acquisition of one or several islands of the coast through the might of Industrial weapons and modernized forces against the negligence and mistakes of the Ching dynasty they would obtain every one of these by June 1840 the Royal Navy fleets had arrived and captured territory on the coast most importantly the strategic town of Troy ran after these events a section of the British fleet was sent north to make their requests on the court soon landing in tension Emperor dal Wang was subsequently informed that the British demands the imperial court soon accused means issue of having launched China into the conflict he was made a scapegoat and removed from office then exiled to the other end of the empire in sin junk province to fill in his position dal Guang replaced him by Mongol official name to shun who he sent to negotiate with Charles Elliot attending intimidated by the Royal Navy's firepower he listened to the demands and in exchange for their withdrawal of the British fleet from the area shi shun would ask the Emperor to grant compensation to the British both sides agreed to hold any future talks in the Pearl River Delta Area the war was however still ongoing early in 1841 British reinforcements and finally arrived in the Pearl River and rapidly the technologically inferior Chinese forces lost territory and suffered casualties getting desperate local authorities had to hold talks XI Shan and Charles Eliot therefore met again as they both personally wanted to avoid further war they agreed upon the convention of Trent peak stating that Hong Kong would be ceded to Britain and China would pay 6 million silver dollars in compensation for the destroyed opium Oh pavani me Oh your table ping mean for you must let me report to His Majesty neither governments would have her approve of this agreement when Doc Wong received news of this treaty he was infuriated how could land of the celestial Empire be ceded to who he perceived were barbarians he promptly ordered shi Shan to be executed doc Wong then appointed a distant cousin of his leash on to the post after personally reviewing troops he ordered to dispatch large reinforcements south the Emperor had declared war to the British in London the British government was equally dissatisfied with the terms of the Trent II convention requesting a much larger sum than six million dollars for the destroyed opium Charles Eliot was therefore removed from office and the war resumed the situation was critical for China if the vast majority of the imperial court still had no doubt that they would easily crush the British in parallel to this conflict that Shingen se would be attacked on a completely different front another neighbor of China the Indian Sikh Empire had grown strong in the last years seeing how the Ching dynasty was already preoccupied by a war it decided to invade Tibet after over a year of costly fighting for both sides both empires would have to agree to peace and turn their attention to the British threat back in southern China Navy commander Guan TMP was killed in action in February 1841 as the British launched their campaign in the Pearl River to capture Canton chinese resistance on waters was virtually neutralized all hope was now left in the land forces led by general yang phone the British mureeds would however prove to be just as able to fight on land and decisively defeated young fans soon after as the Qing forces failed to defend Canton the town was secured by the British this was a critical moment for the local population as they had lost faith in the Ching authorities a trend that would grow all over southern China in the next decade overwhelmed that Ching authorities organized the truth of the British the campaign was a success general yang Fong responsible for the army wanted to keep Imperial favour lying in his report to the Emperor he claimed that the barbarians were begging the Emperor for mercy dog Wong far from realizing the true state of the situation even scolded young Fung having agreed to a truce he wanted Hong Kong to be reclaimed immediately and pushed for the war to continue new British management organised a change in strategy with the Pearl River area silenced war would be taken further north to put pressure on the Imperial courts directly during the rest of 1841 the British confidently secured the coast of China as false reports to dal Guang wrongly informed him that the situation was not as terrible as it truly was eventually he realized he was being lied to he removed yishun from overall command and ordered the coastal cities to be imperatively reinforced this measure was of course far too late with many ports blockaded China's economy was in ruins the British now planned to push into the lucrative Yangtze River one of the last pillars holding the nation economically afloat after capturing Shanghai they began defeating the Chinese Garrison's along the coasts the strategic city of Chongqing was captured by mid 1842 leaving the vital Nanjing exposed despite Darwin's instructions local ching authorities on the front had lost all hope and agreed to hold negotiations with the british for several weeks both parties talked until the terms discussed reached the emperor hong kong would be ceded over to the british indefinitely the count on trade system would be abolished the ports of Canton Sherman for all new and Shanghai would be open for trade finally 21 million dollars would be paid by China to Britain in general compensation and reparations Doug Wong was outraged this was an insult to the celestial Empire however as reality had now sunken in court officials begged him to agree to the terms rather than continue an impossible war on the 29th of August 1842 the Treaty of Nanking first of many unequal treaties would be signed the First Opium War was over this whole affair was a disaster for the Ching dynasty the economy was close to collapse the territorial integrity of China had been breached the respect of Chinese subjects for the dynasty was lost and opium kept flowing into the Empire more than ever before soon later France the United States Belgium Norway and Sweden also jumped into the picture as the mighty Chinese Empire had been brought down to its knees these powerful Western nations wanted to profit from the situation they subsequently all obtained unequal treaties of the ting authorities what would later be branded as a century of humiliation had began by now a few officials understood that China needed urgent modernization to even compete with the Western powers nonetheless most including the Emperor clang on to the way of tradition and did not encourage it Western influence developed in the five treaty ports that had been opened Christianity and proselytizing were further authorized this would lead many Chinese subjects to study abroad in American Protestant mission programs allowing them to discover and embrace Western principles it is possible that the disastrous first opium war took a toll on the Emperor's health and morale he however still had to deal with the urgent issues of the ching dynasty in 1848 in a desperate attempt to relieve what remained of the economy dal Guang reduced the salaries of officials this would only lead to further corruption as the population had increasingly suffered from the declining economy civil unrest developed across the nation rebellions would most likely be inevitable in early 1850 the dal Guang Emperor fell seriously ill and finally died in the old Summer Palace at 67 years old the secret designation of the Crown Prince revealed he drew Darwin's eldest surviving son as heir to the throne the 19 year old Prince subsequently took leadership of the Ching dynasty under the name of Emperor Xian Fung dalbong's reign showed that China had reached a breaking point entrenched in his traditional system it had been caught up by modernity and suffered the consequences dal Guang truly did not understand that the British and other Westerners were nothing like the neighboring nations China usually interacted with he therefore failed to adjust diplomacy and war accordingly treating the conflict as he would have a rebellion or neighbouring barbarian invasion he further failed in the fight against opium having dismissed Linzer Shu the only official who had began to curb the issue finally he was unable to remove the rampant corruption and had developed across the nation much like his father Jackson he could have been a good ruler in times of peace and serenity but the challenges of a new world order were too strong for his mettle well his reign had been terrible for China that of his 19 year old son and Procyon Fong would prove catastrophic stay tuned for Empress Jung Hyung coming up soon thank you for watching my video I hope you enjoyed it if so please leave a like and subscribe to the channel if you have any questions or requests feel free to leave them in the comment section below [Music]

Channel: History of China

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Keywords: daoguang emperor, emperor daoguang, daoguang documentary, history of china, qing emperor series, history of china documentary, lin zexu, mianning, first opium war, first opium war documentary, fall of qing dynasty, jiaqing, xianfeng, afaqi khoja, opium trade, canton system documentary, opium trade documentary, Tao-kuang, Tao Kuang, great britain, opium war, qing dynasty, daoguang, qing emperors series

Id: 1YsusfeaXec

Length: 29min 11sec (1751 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 10 2020