Opium Wars Opium Wars The Opium Wars were two wars in the mid-19th century involving China and the British Empire over the British trade of opium and China's sovereignty. The clashes included the First Opium War (1839–1842) and the Second Opium War (1856–1860). The wars and events between them weakened the Qing dynasty and forced China to trade with the other parts of the world. In 1820, China's economy was the largest in the world, according to British economist Angus Maddison. Within a decade after the end of the Second Opium War, China's share of global GDP had fallen by half. In
From China to Canada the growing literature on the Chinese in North America." Chan's criticisms were that it included more information than necessary and also was redundant in places. In a book review for the "China Quarterly", Lucie Cheng wrote that the book was both strengthened and weakened by its "comprehensiveness" since "By trying to give us too much, it ends up giving us too little." Kashima wrote "Historians will find this an interesting and sound account which helps to fill the information gap on the Chinese in Canada." Stanford M. Lyman of the New School for Social Research wrote that this book and