Now to add insult to injury, the British were not satisfied. And in 1856, you have the Second Opium War, where they try to extract even more concessions from China. After which, opium is legalized. The whole time, opium flooding into the country, and really undermining the social fabric of society. To make matters worse for China, you have a major civil war in this time period. The Taiping Rebellion, which was started by this sect of Christianity that viewed it as their destiny to overthrow the Qing dynasty. And this is one of the most bloody civil wars that any nation has seen in history, with over 20 million people being killed.