Impact Of Sino-British Relations By Opium Trade

Before the becoming of Modern China, there has been no such modern ideal of "diplomacy" in this nation. China had been equal with Britain in the fields of economics, politics and security. Nevertheless, after the opium trade between Britain and China, the Sino-UK relations have been altered. China, a former independent and culturally dominant country, has then been linked to the chain of British colonial system in Asia. The trade has made China weakly dependent on Britain in economics, politics, and security field.This thesis will borrow the Dependency Theory from International Political Economics, analyzing how the process has happened, in which way Britain put China into its colonial system in Asia, and how the independent relations became dependent. Analyzing opium trade’s remolding of the Sino-UK relations is a wonderful experience of understanding history, the development path of capitalism and Chinese traditional culture.