ALMOST TWO CENTURIES AFTER OPIUM WAR

Make a War to "Protect an infamous contraband traffic"...

ALMOST 200 YEARS: Since 1729 it was considered illegal to smoke and sell opium in China.

In 1839 the Emperor rejecting proposals to legalise and tax opium, but in 1842, after the Gunboat Diplomacy, the Qing Dynasty "ceded" Hong Kong Island to the British Empire.

William Gladstone denounced the war in Parliament as ''unjust and iniquitous'' and accused Lord Palmerston, the British Prime Minister, of hoisting the British flag ''to protect an infamous contraband traffic.'' 

''Century of Humiliation''

THE FIRST OPIUM WAR 1839/1842