Foreign Mud

Surprisingly readable and fascinating account summarizing events leading up to the "Opium War" - but not very much on the war itself. Starting with an overview of the trade concessions granted by the Chinese Emperor for Westerners to buy and sell at Canton only (while less scrupulous merchants illegally traded in opium at additional ports up the Chinese coast), the book encompasses the assignments of Lord Napier and Captain Elliott as successive chief plenipotentiaries to Canton and their attempts to force trade wide open.

The book is mostly sourced from firsthand accounts and contemporary correspondence dating back to the 1830s; Collis himself wrote it in 1946, and the prejudices of both eras are on display, though fortunately less show more frequently than one might fear. The foolishness and clever stupidity of the British elite is well-represented, if not couched in such terms, as Lord Palmerston's refusal to issue any more than broad strategic guidance to Napier and Elliott hinder the development of a concerted and effective local policy.

This story isn't so much one about war; it is about the outbreak of war and about two cultures utterly alien to one another, with diverging strategic interests and foundational worldviews leading to fundamental disagreement, and internal factors turning that disagreement into armed conflict. For that reason alone, it's well worth reading. show less

Literate, wonderfully written history. A classic.

香港大學歷史系