A Study Of Sino-British Trade Conflict Of Shanghai In The Late Qing Dynasty (1860-1890)

Business was an extremely important factor in Sino-British relations in the late Qing Dynasty.Due to the aggressive nature of British trade with China,and the fundamental differences between the Chinese and British economic forms and foreign policies,various complicated and sharp contradictions had arisen between China and Britain over the development of commercial activities and other issues.Among them,the trade conflict was a very prominent aspect.The content of the trade conflict was complex,and the number of frequent occurrences was also wide.The extensive extent of the distribution had aroused widespread concern in the academic community.These conflicts not only directly affected the economic and diplomatic relations between China and foreign countries in modern times,but also impacted the traditional Chinese rule of law concept and business model,and promoted the reform of the Chinese rule of law system.In the late Qing Dynasty,the trade conflict between the two countries in Shanghai was most significant.The trade conflict between China and Britain in Shanghai was mainly reflected in three aspects: tea trade conflict,silk trade conflict,and opium trade conflict.The Sino-British trade conflict in Shanghai had a complex historical and social background.After the opening of the five ports of trade,Shanghai soon replaced Guangzhou as the country's largest trading center at that time.The frequent trade activities in Shanghai had also become the main stronghold of some smugglers engaged in smuggling trade.Coupled with the rigorous liJin tax in trade,eventually Chinese and British businessmen gradually produced contradictions and conflicts.In order to facilitate the organization and management of foreign trade activities,a number of business organizations and business halls had been established in the Shanghai area,such as Shanghai Silk Hall,Shanghai Tea Hall,Hankou Tea Hall,and Opium Hall.The emergence of these clubs played an irreplaceable role in resisting the British commercial invasion at that time,and also played an important role in solving the Sino-British trade conflict.In order to facilitate the smooth conduct of commercial and trade activities between China and Britain,the Qing government and the British side had adopted relative measures to resolve these trade conflicts.In terms of tea conflicts,the main manifestations were tea adulteration,substandard quality of tea,and irregular tea weighing systems.There were many phenomena in the tea trade in which tea leaves were refilled,the tea was dyed,and the weight of tea was artificially increased,which had led to the outbreak of tea trade conflicts between China and Britain.The reasons lay in the difference between the concept of free trade in Britain and the concept of trade restriction in the late Qing government.In terms of silk trade conflicts,the quality of cocoons and the Fuyang incident were typical examples.As the earliest country inventing silk technology and producing silk in the world at that time,coupled with the excellent texture of Chinese silk,China's silk was exported to the European market and was loved by Westerners.After the opening of the five ports of commerce,the location of Sino-British trade gradually moved to the Shanghai area.With the further development of trade between the two countries,the UK's demand for China's silk was increasing.At this time,due to the lack of cocoon-killing technology and the shortage of skilled labor to wind silk in the Jiangnan region and Shanghai,the silk quality in China was severely reduced.Therefore,a series of contradictions and conflicts broke out between China and Britain because of the quality of silk.The most typical one was the outbreak of the Fuyang incident.With regard to the opium conflict,China and Britain mainly focused on the first and second diplomatic negotiations on opium tax disputes and opium smuggling..The opium trade in modern times was a vicious colonial trade launched by the British capitalist Western capitalist powers to mutilate,erode the Chinese people and plunder the Chinese people.The sinful opium trade had caused tremendous harm to the Chinese people's body and mind,and the Chinese government had begun to adopt a smoking ban.But in the face of Britain,a powerful capitalist power,China's anti-smoking measures seemed so insignificant,and contradictions between China and Britain because of the opium problem gradually emerged.Western capitalist powers led by Britain launched the first Opium War and the Second Opium War against China under the pretext of the Chinese government's smoking ban.After the Second Opium War,Britain achieved its goal of legalizing opium.However,the contradictions and conflicts between China and Britain on the opium issue had not been eliminated.Since then,China and the United Kingdom had negotiated and negotiated over and over again because of the opium smuggling conflict and the opium tax conflict.In the end,due to the compromise between the two sides,China established a new opium tax system.With the emergence of many contradictions and conflicts in the trade between China and the UK,the two sides had begun to take corresponding measures to deal with the Sino-British trade conflicts,mainly the measures adopted by the late Qing government.For example,the late Qing government formulated strict laws to combat fake tea,instructed tea merchants to improve tea production to improve the quality of tea,and improved the quality of raw silk by improving cocoon cooking technology.In view of food adulteration and food safety issues,the UK had also actively improved the tea trade regulatory system in the UK,and had promulgated a series of food safety regulations.These measures had played a pivotal role in resolving the Sino-British trade conflict.Through an in-depth analysis of the three commercial conflicts between the Chinese government of the late Qing Dynasty,businessmen's organizations,and British commercial companies in the Shanghai area in the 1860 s and 1990 s,we reproduced the problems that occurred between China and the United Kingdom during the trade between the two countries.Strengthening the discussion and analysis of the Sino-British trade conflict was not only of great historical significance,but also of great practical significance.On the one hand,it was helpful to deepen the understanding and understanding of Sino-British trade conflict in the late Qing Dynasty,to see through the complexity and twists and turns of the Sino-British trade conflict in the late Qing Dynasty,and to reveal the laws and characteristics of the development and evolution of Sino-British trade in modern times.It can provide historical reference and reference for the country's economic and diplomatic decision-making.