Editing First Opium War (section)

=== Foreign merchants in Guangzhou ===
As the opium-fuelled China Trade increased in scope and value, the foreign presence in Guangzhou and Macau grew in size and influence. The Thirteen Factories district of Guangzhou continued to expand, and was labelled the "foreign quarter".<ref name="Fay-2000d" />{{page range too broad|date=September 2021}} A small population of merchants began to stay in Guangzhou year round (most merchants lived in Macau for the summer months, then moved to Guangzhou in the winter),<ref>Fay (2000) pp. 72–75.</ref> and a local chamber of commerce was formed. In the first two decades of the 19th century, the increasingly sophisticated (and profitable) trade between Europe and China allowed for a clique of European merchants to rise to positions of great importance in China.<ref>Fay (2000) pp. 72–81.</ref>{{page range too broad|date=September 2021}} The most notable of these figures were [[William Jardine (merchant)|William Jardine]] and [[James Matheson]] (who went on to found [[Jardine Matheson]]), British merchants who operated a consignment and shipping business in Guangzhou and Macau, with associates such as [[Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy]], who became their principal supplier in India.<ref name="Pichon2006">{{Cite book |last=Pichon | first=Alain Le |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ql7CqEV6d4C&q=Jejeebhoy |title=China Trade and Empire: Jardine, Matheson & Co. and the Origins of British Rule in Hong Kong, 1827–1843 |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006 |isbn=978-0-19-726337-2 |page=28}}</ref><ref name="Derks2012">{{Cite book |last=Hans Derks |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tlqD5SqS8dwC&q=Jejeebhoy |title=History of the Opium Problem: The Assault on the East, ca. 1600–1950 |publisher=Brill |year=2012 |isbn=978-90-04-22158-1 |page=94}}</ref> While all three dealt in legal goods, they also profited greatly from selling opium. Jardine in particular was effective in navigating the political environment of Guangzhou to allow for more narcotics to be smuggled into China.<ref name="Fay-2000e" /> He was also contemptuous of the Chinese legal system, and often used his economic influence to subvert Chinese authorities.<ref name="Fay-2000e" /> This included his (with Matheson's support) petitioning for the British government to attempt to gain trading rights and political recognition from Imperial China, by force if necessary. In addition to trade, some western missionaries arrived and began to proselytise Christianity to the Chinese. While some officials tolerated this (Macau-based Jesuits had been active in China since the early 17th century), some officials clashed with Chinese Christians, raising tensions between western merchants and Qing officials.<ref name="Rowe-2009" />{{page needed|date=September 2021}}<ref name="Fay-2000i">Fay (2000) pp. 110–113.</ref>

While the foreign community in Guangzhou grew in influence, the local government began to suffer from civil discord inside China. The White Lotus Rebellion (1796–1804) drained the Qing dynasty's treasury of silver, forcing the government to levy increasingly heavy taxes on merchants. These taxes did not abate after the rebellion was crushed, as the Chinese government began a massive project to repair state-owned properties on the [[Yellow River]], referred to as the "Yellow River Conservancy".<ref>Fay (2000) pp. 57–58, 60.</ref> The merchants of Guangzhou were further expected to make contributions to fight banditry. These taxes weighed heavily on the profits made by the Cohong merchants; by the 1830s, the once-prosperous Cohong had seen their wealth greatly reduced. In addition, the declining value of China's domestic currency resulted in many people in Guangzhou using foreign silver coins (Spanish coins were the most valued, followed by American coins)<ref>Fay (2000) p. 68.</ref> as they contained higher amounts of silver. Using western coins allowed Cantonese coiners to make many Chinese coins from melted-down western coins, greatly increasing the city's wealth, and tax revenue while tying much of the economy of the city to the foreign merchants.<ref name="Rowe-2009" />{{page needed|date=September 2021}}<ref>Fay (2000) pp. 62–71.</ref>

A significant development came in 1834 when reformers (some of whom were financially backed by Jardine)<ref name="Fay-2000i" /> in Britain, advocating for free trade, succeeded in ending the monopoly of the British East India Company under the [[Saint Helena Act 1833|Charter Act]] of the previous year. This shift in trade policy ended the need for merchants to comply with the royal charter for trade in the far east; with this centuries-old restriction lifted, the British China trade was opened to private entrepreneurs, many of whom joined the highly profitable opium trade.<ref name="China: The First Opium War" /><ref>Fay (2000) pp. 84–95.</ref>{{page range too broad|date=September 2021}}

On the eve of the Qing government's crackdown on opium, a Chinese official described the changes in society caused by the drug;

<blockquote> At the beginning, opium smoking was confined to the fops of wealthy families who took up the habit as a form of conspicuous consumption, even they knew that they should not indulge in it to the greatest extreme. Later, people of all social strata—from government officials and members of the gentry to craftsmen, merchants, entertainers, and servants, and even women, Buddhist monks and nuns, and Taoist priests—took up the habit and openly bought and equipped themselves with smoking instruments. Even in the center of our dynasty—the nation's capital and its surrounding areas—some of the inhabitants have also been contaminated by this dreadful poison.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cleary |first=Vern |title=The First Opium War (1838–1842) |url=http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/modernworldhistorytextbook/imperialism/section_5/firstopiumwar.html# |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624223400/http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/modernworldhistorytextbook/imperialism/section_5/firstopiumwar.html |archive-date=24 June 2019 |access-date=2017-08-10 |website=webs.bcp.org |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>

==== Napier Affair ====
In late 1834, to accommodate the revocation of the East India Company's monopoly, the British sent [[William John Napier]] to Macau along with [[John Francis Davis]] and [[Sir George Robinson, 2nd Baronet]], as British superintendents of trade in China. Napier was instructed to obey Chinese regulations, communicate directly with Chinese authorities, superintend trade pertaining to the contraband trade of opium, and to survey China's coastline. Upon his arrival in China, Napier tried to circumvent the restrictive system that forbade direct contact with Chinese officials by sending a letter directly to the [[Viceroy of Liangguang]], [[Lu Kun]], requesting a meeting. The Viceroy refused to accept it, and on 2 September of that year an edict was issued that temporarily closed British trade. In response, Napier ordered two Royal Navy vessels to bombard Chinese forts on the Pearl River straight, the ''[[Humen|Bocca Tigris]]'', in a show of force. This command was followed through, but war was avoided due to Napier falling ill with typhus and ordering a retreat. The brief gunnery duel drew condemnation by the Chinese government, as well as criticism from the British government and foreign merchants.<ref>Lydia He. LIU; Lydia He Liu (2009). [https://books.google.com/books?id=LkTO2_-XDa8C&pg=PA47 ''The Clash of Empires: the invention of China in modern world making'']. Harvard University Press. pp. 47–. {{ISBN|978-0-674-04029-8}}.</ref> Other nationalities, such as the Americans, prospered through their continued peaceful trade with China, but the British were told to leave Guangzhou for either [[Whampoa anchorage|Whampoa]] or Macau.<ref name="Michie-2012">{{Cite book |last=Michie |first=Alexander |title=The Englishman in China During the Victorian Era: As Illustrated in the Career of Sir Rutherford Alcock, Volume 1 |date=2012 |publisher=HardPress  |isbn=978-1-290-63687-2}}</ref>{{page needed|date=September 2021}} Lord Napier was forced to return to Macau in September, where he died of [[typhus]] a month later, on 11 October.<ref name="MCR-1834">{{Cite web |title=The Napier Affair (1834) |url=http://jds.cass.cn/Item/5699.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204215424/http://jds.cass.cn/Item/5699.aspx |archive-date=4 December 2014 |access-date=10 December 2014 |website=Modern China Research |publisher=Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

After Lord Napier's death, Captain Charles Elliot received the King's Commission as Superintendent of Trade in 1836 to continue Napier's work of conciliating the Chinese.<ref name="MCR-1834" />