Our current best example is the trade imbalance with China and countries' refusal to address the problem in a meaningful way. By the 16 th century China was one of the leading nations of the world.

Today, the First Opium War is taught in Chinese schools as being the beginning of the “Century of Humiliation” — the end of that “century” coming in 1949 with the reunification of China ...

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 ...

Today, the First Opium War is taught in Chinese schools as being the beginning of the “Century of Humiliation” — the end of that “century” coming in 1949 with the reunification of China ...

The opium wars are broadly divided into two phases: 1839-42(first) and 1856-60 (second). Many Chinese scholars consider 1840 as the most significant of the entire period, because that year British ...

Further hostilities broke out in the Second Opium War of 1856-58 when combined British and French forces again inflicted military defeats on China and demanded further concessions on trade.. Opium and ...

In 1842 the Qing dynasty surrendered Hong Kong to the British Empire following the First Opium War. Then, in 1898, the British pledged to cede it back to China after 100 years had passed.

China’s surrender to Western powers after the first Opium War helps explain Beijing’s interest for a global trading order that works more on its terms, historians say.

Britain and France waged a second Opium War against China from 1856 to 1860. China’s current leader, Xi Jinping, alludes to the era in his call for a “China Dream” of national rejuvenation.