Geography of China Japanese junior high textbook minimized the atrocities of Nanjing stating that the massacre was an "incident". The textbooks transgression sent thousands of Chinese citizens out to protest and three weeks of state sanctioned protest led to rising tensions between Japan and China. Due to the opium wars between the British from 1839 to 1842, the British were able to make demands to the Chinese government before removing blockades and stopping bombardment on key ports. The Chinese agreed to cede the island of Hong Kong which in the control of the British, witnessed phenomenal growth. The population grew from 1,500 to
Russia in the Opium Wars city), and the official right to trade opium. The Qing government rejected these demands, however this did not lead to an open conflict yet, since the main British military forces were focused on the battlefronts in Russia and Persia. After a victorious campaign in the Crimean War of 1856, Britain transferred its focus on Qing China to further expand its political influence on the empire. On October 8, 1856 they found one: Chinese authorities arrested "Arrow", a British commercial ship that was smuggling goods and selling opium. Britain demanded to free the sailors, as they believed the accusation was falsified,