The Opium Wars of the mid-19th century were fought between the Western powers and the Qing dynasty, which ruled China from 1644 to 1912. Two wars took place, both fought essentially over the illegal ...

HONG KONG — In 1840, Britain went to war with China over questions of trade, diplomacy, national dignity and, most importantly, drug trafficking. While British officials tried to play down the illicit ...

The First Opium War wasn’t just about drugs it was about trade, empire, and clashing worldviews. This video explores why Britain went to war with China in 1839, using opium as leverage to force open ...

Key point: London instigated a war of aggression against China in order to force an unequal treaty on China. London started a trend after other major imperial powers saw their success they soon ...

It takes some daring to choose opium as your historical protagonist. The milky sap of the poppy flower has taken so many forms across so many centuries that its allure feels like a trap, a chasing of ...

In China around 1839, large quantities of opium were circulating, with an estimated 40,000 boxes of opium being brought in annually via the port of Guangzhou. A huge market had formed, with some ...

Chinese President Xi Jinping leads a nation where there are no private companies and every act of international trade is intended to help further the nation's global dominance. Increasingly, this ...

New York; March 8, 2024 — Last week, award-winning author Amitav Ghosh sat down with Princeton professor and former BBC journalist Razia Iqbal for a conversation about his latest book, Smoke and Ashes ...

Despite a democratic opening and hopes for peace with the ethnic insurgencies in the northern hinterlands, horrific accounts of rights abuses continue to emerge from the multi-sided war over Burma’s ...

A soldier secures the area after destroying poppy fields above the village of Ho Hwayt, in the mountains of Shan State January 26, 2012. Myanmar has dramatically escalated its poppy eradication ...