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
China War Medal (1842) were authorised for this medal. The medals were named in bold block capital letters with stars used to fill in the spaces as on the Waterloo Medal. However, since new punches were used for this medal the naming appears somewhat sharper than on Waterloo Medal examples. Recipients of this medal who also qualified for the Second China War Medal in 1861 received a clasp inscribed "China 1842" to add to their existing medal, in addition to any clasps relating to the second war to which they were entitled. Although these clasps were intended to be fixed to the earlier medal,