In 'Poppies,' an unusual quartet makes the voyage out Nov 16, 2008
The British began exporting opium from India to China in the 1780s, eventually igniting the Opium Wars, which forced China to open ports to trade, missionaries, and other Western influences, and resulted in the transfer of Hong Kong to the British. This audacious imperialism is the background to a stirring story about wretchedly treated extradition prisoners, intrepid Muslim sailors, and annoyingly irrepressible British nabobs. (Boston Globe)
Book review: 'Sea of Poppies' Nov 12, 2008
And although none of these people know it, their ship appears to be headed toward the fight that will be central to Ghosh's extended story: the Opium Wars, waged between Britain and China over the British East India Company's monopolistic drug trade. "Sea of Poppies" is pointed toward that conflict, in a series perhaps headed for the thick of the fray. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Soulmatesin latte land Oct 16, 2008
Like the Chinese patriots fighting first the British, and then the British and French, during the 19th century's Opium Wars, the point here seems to have been a protest against the corporate institution peddling the addictive substance sapping their ambition, their purpose in life, and for the very souls of those who spent their entire waking lives in one of these caffeinated dens of iniquity. The WTO, indeed all the institutions of global management of the capitalist system such as the World... (Asia Times Online)
Fiction books for fall Oct 16, 2008
A saga set in India during the 19th century Opium Wars, with a cast of characters thrown together by colonial upheaval. A finalist for the Man Booker Prize by the author of The Glass Palace. (Albany Democrat-Herald, OR)
Aravind Adiga's `White Tiger' Snags $87,000 Man Booker Prize for Fiction Oct 15, 2008
Other finalists included Amitav Ghosh's ``Sea of Poppies'' (John Murray), a seafaring story set just before the Opium Wars; Linda Grant's ``The Clothes on Their Backs'' (Virago), a quest for identity and the right outfit in 1970s London; Philip Hensher's ``The Northern Clemency'' (Fourth Estate), in which the lives of two middle-class families illustrate the changing face of Britain under ; and Steve Toltz's ``A Fraction of the Whole'' (Hamish Hamilton), a comic father-son caper that opens in an... (Bloomberg -- UK)
Biggest Booker winner misses list this time Sep 10, 2008
A second Indian writer is on the shortlist of six, Kolkata-born Amitav Ghosh with Sea of Poppies, a story set on an old slave ship before the Opium Wars. The authors on the short list to win the Man Booker prize this year are, clockwise from upper left, Steve Toltz for A Fraction of the Whote; Amitav Ghosh for Sea of Poppies; Sebastian Barry for The Secret Scripture; Philip Hensher for The Northern Clemency; Linda Grant for The Clothes on Their Backs, and Aravind Adiga for The White Tiger. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
Booker prize shortlist is announced Sep 10, 2008
"Sea of Poppies," by Amitav Ghosh, to be published in the U.S. next month by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, , is set at the brink of the Opium Wars and tells of a ship full of sailors, both Indians and Westerners, who form a deep bond and begin a long-lasting dynasty. Ghosh, 52, grew up in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India, and wrote the best-seller "The Glass Palace.". (International Herald Tribune)
Sacha Baron Cohen, Paris Hilton, Morgan Freeman Sep 10, 2008
The nominees are: Adiga, 33, a native of India, for "The White Tiger," the story of class struggle told by an Indian man who murders his employer; Toltz, 36, a native of Australia, for "A Fraction of the Whole," the story of a son's attempt to understand his dead father; the Irish writer Sebastian Barry, 53, for "The Secret Scripture," the parallel accounts of an elderly woman and her psychiatrist of their meetings and their tragic pasts in modern-day Ireland; Amitav Ghosh, 52, who grew up in... (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Rushdie snubbed on Booker shortlist Sep 10, 2008
"Sea of Poppies" by Amitav Ghosh, to be published in the United States next month by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, is set at the brink of the Opium Wars and tells of a ship full of sailors, Indians and Westerners, who form a bond and begin a long-lasting dynasty. Ghosh, 52, grew up in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India, and wrote "The Glass Palace.". (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
China is tough territory for foreigners' firms Sep 8, 2008
Sensing that China's consumers and government were generally irked by the enormously profitable inroads that foreigners were making into the Chinese economy, Zong lashed out at Danone's tactics, which he likened to France's efforts to have its way with China during the opium wars in the 19th century. However, Zong's use of nationalism in an apparent bid for state support, failed to win any advantage. (Business Report, South Africa)
War Is Unwinnable Without Intelligence/Espionage Aug 21, 2008
As a result, the British opium merchants sustained financial losses, and there occurred two opium wars (in 1840 and 1858), both of which were won by Great Britain, and the Chinese emperor had to permit the English opium merchants to drug the Chinese with opium. However, in the 20th century there appeared countries like Stalins Russia, Hitlers Germany, and Maoist China, which combined pre-medieval slavery and modern weapons. (Newsmax)
Games pride is a job for the bomb squad Aug 20, 2008
BY ANYONE'S reckoning these Olympics have been a disaster for Australia, a national humiliation to rank alongside China's experience of the Opium Wars and Japan's surrender at the end of World War II.. We may have accumulated, once again, one of the highest ratios of medals per head of population, but in the process, we've also had to endure the highest ratio of boring accounts of how good our per capita medal count is per head of population. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
Chinese abroad exult in glory of Olympics Aug 12, 2008
Like many others, he noted the history that has made these Olympics resonate so deeply: 150 years of invasions and turmoil, from the Opium Wars to the Japanese invasion, followed by civil war and the disastrous policies of Mao Zedong, which Lam said left China far behind the West. "Our joy is not for Communists," Lam said. (International Herald Tribune -- Travel)
China's quick fall, slow return to glory Aug 11, 2008
What has become of Dongguan, fateful site of the start of the opium wars. Dongguan today is a raw, expansive city of 7 million people. (Boston Globe)
The Road To Beijing Aug 10, 2008
We are constantly told that the Chinese continue to feel tremendous hurt over the Opium Wars, which took place 150 years ago. It weighs heavily on their conscience, this humiliation by the West. (CBS News)
Chinese in Lincoln see opportunities in Olympics Aug 8, 2008
The Olympics are important to the Chinese because of some of the country s defeats over the past 200 years or so, which include the Opium Wars in the 19th Century and and the Japanese occupation of parts of China during World War II, said Yiqi Yang, professor of textiles, clothing and design and biological systems engineering at UNL.. But China s history goes back much further than that. (Columbus Telegram, NE)
The best Beijing escapes Aug 6, 2008
It was in Shanghai and Hong Kong where Western influence was felt most bitterly after the loss of Hong Kong to Britain following the Opium Wars. Near Shanghai, the countrys longest river, the Yangtze, provided food but was always a natural boundary and cultural divide between north and south. (MSNBC -- Politics)
Chinese liberals run real hurdles in Beijing Aug 6, 2008
And to demonstrate that it is no longer the weak power that lost out to Britain's efforts to force it - through the Opium Wars - into a trading relationship back in the 19th century, or to Japan's attempts to extend its empire into China's territory in the last century ... In a dramatic and considerably less malignant version of Britain's use of the Opium Wars to force China to open its borders to trade, French President Nicholas Sarkozy was quickly pressured into withdrawing his threat to... (Business Report, South Africa)
Olympics and Opium Wars Aug 1, 2008
In the 19th century, when Britain forced opium on China, the Chinese government rightly resisted and this precipitated two so-called "Opium Wars" ... Quoting Travis Hanes and Frank Sanello's excellent book, Opium Wars. (Asia Times Online)
China's Low Self-Esteem Jul 30, 2008
Newsweek, Aug. 4In the cover package on the Beijing Olympics, an considers China's national "inferiority complex," arguing that "the most critical element in the formation of China's modern identity has been the legacy of the country's 'humiliation' at the hands of foreigners, beginning with its defeat in the Opium Wars in the mid-19th century and the shameful treatment of Chinese immigrants in America." One Chinese filmmaker says, "There is something almost in our DNA that triggers autonomic,... (Slate)
Newsweek: China's inferiority complex Jul 29, 2008
As I argue in the current New York Review of Books, the most critical element in the formation of China's modern identity has been the legacy of the country's "humiliation" at the hands of foreigners, beginning with its defeat in the Opium Wars in the mid-19th century and the shameful treatment of Chinese immigrants in America. The process was exacerbated by Japan's successful industrialization. (MSNBC -- International)
NEWSWEEK COVER: What Drives China Jul 28, 2008
The most critical element in the formation of China's modern identity has been the legacy of the country's "humiliation" at the hands of foreigners, beginning with its defeat in the Opium Wars in the mid-19th century and the shameful treatment of Chinese immigrants in America. According to Schell, "the process was exacerbated by Japan's successful industrialization. Tokyo's invasion and occupation of the mainland during World War II was in many ways psychologically more devastating than Western... (PR Newswire)
China's Darfur policy in tune with law, morality Jul 26, 2008
Third, reflection on the humiliating history the Chinese nation suffered because of invasions of imperialists since the two opium wars (1839-42 and 1856-60 respectively). Fourth, summing-up of diplomatic practices since the foundation of the People's Republic of China, especially what has been experienced since the reform and opening- up started. (Xinhuanet, China)
The Web site coldhardfootballfacts.com provides an edge to NFL reporting that is much needed, writes The Plain Dealer's Bill Livingston Jul 19, 2008
Sample sentence, "For empty stat-producers like Dan Fouts and Warren Moon to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame while Ken Anderson is not is the biggest injustice to hit Canton since the English sedated half of China in the Opium Wars.". The most overrated quarterbacks list starts at No. 5 with Browns killer deluxe John Elway. (Cleveland.com -- Sports)
A new world under one Heaven Jul 4, 2008
This changed dramatically after the Opium Wars (1839 to 1842 and 1856 to 1860), when Britain tried to sell the only goods China would consume and import - drugs, specifically opium - to make up for a massive trade deficit that was draining Europe of all its American silver and gold. When China restricted the trade of opium on the grounds that presently seem more than reasonable - it was a drugs trade, after all - Britain forced the trade to continue by fighting and winning a short but momentous... (Asia Times Online)
Change in the face of foreign devils Jul 3, 2008
The country that faced the "foreign devils from the ocean", yang guizi, during the Opium Wars in the mid 19th century dramatically changed in the following century and a half - to the point that contemporary China can be regarded as only superficially similar to the country it was during the Opium Wars. In fact, the whole social and personal context, which defines and influences ideas, ambitions and world-views, has been totally transformed in these 150 years. (Asia Times Online)
Amitav Ghosh, Author of The Sea of Poppies Jul 1, 2008
The Sea of Poppies is the first novel in Amitav Ghosh's Ibis trilogy, which is meant to trace the history of migration from India at the time of the Opium Wars. In an interview with ET he explains how American hegemony in the guise of moral rhetoric was one of the triggers for the novel. (India Times)
Review: Sea of Poppies, a good tale told well Jun 22, 2008
FIRST OF THE SERIES: 'Sea of Poppies' is set in the 19th century, right before the Opium Wars ... It's set in the 19th century, right before the Opium Wars, a time when the British Empire got Indian farmers to cultivate massive amounts of opium, instead of their traditional crops. (CNN-IBN)
'Opium empire' Jun 20, 2008
That decade culminated in the opium wars against China. Also all the indentured workers at that time came from all the opium growing regions in the Benares and Ghazipur areas. (BBC News -- South Asia)
Interview: Amitav Ghosh Jun 9, 2008
"And the 1830s was when it began, which was also the period of the opium wars. It's impossible to know for sure but I feel there has to be some causal connection between the fact that the main areas from which the early migration occurred basically the area where opium was grown. The introduction of really large scale opium cultivation created enormous social disruption throughout those areas.". At the centre of the story is Deeti, an impoverished young mother cast out from her remote... (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
When corn senators attack! May 23, 2008
" In September 2006! When the housing bust had hardly taken its first shaky baby steps! Today, in a shocking display of insensitivity towards his former employers, Lereah tells us that If anyone should know better than to spread such negativity it should be him. The "media" have many faults. But the implosion of Countrywide, real estate values, and Hillary Clinton's campaign have a lot more to do with the product, than how the press handled their public relations. -- Andrew Leonard [07:30 EDT,... (Salon)
Shanghai's momentThe Olympic torch heads for China's financial capital May 22, 2008
Shanghai was a thriving centre of international commerce in the 1930s, when parts of the city were under foreign control - the result of unequal treaties negotiated in the wake of the Opium Wars. CHINA RELAY CITIES IN FOCUS. (BBC News -- Business)
How is the housing bust like Hillary Clinton's campaign? May 20, 2008
China was thus forced to attempt to modernize while facing a major drug problem *and* draining its treasury to pay the indemnities it owed from the Opium Wars and other imperialist ventures. Ironically, Europeans found the New World (which remember gave them the jump, development-wise on Asia in the first place) because they were looking for direct trade routes to Asia. (Salon)
FOUL PLAY: China has improved its human rights record. Don’t let it politicize the Olympic games May 13, 2008
As a matter of fact, the Chinese history of the 19th and 20th centuries, especially the Opium Wars and the Sino-Japanese Wars, still remains as a strong reminder of the past. It is also understandable that nobody wants their domestic affairs dictated by any outside power. (Missoulian, MT)
Ipswich student is Scotland bound May 2, 2008
The scholarships will allow her to conduct a comparative study of the social life of Scottish and American businessmen based in Canton, China during the height of the opium wars in the 19th century. The St. Andrews Society awards two scholarships each year to U.S. graduates whose academic interests will promote appreciation of Scottish culture and history. (Ipswich Chronicle, MA)
* Tibet action sees China adopt ironic global role Apr 14, 2008
It was not until the Opium Wars that China started to learn how to become a sovereign state, but the concept of sovereignty was not invented by China. Instead, it is a value that had been observed by Western countries before China entered into the international system. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
China spins protests to buttress support at home Apr 13, 2008
Tibet and the Olympics are relatively simple for Beijing to frame as an "us-against-them" narrative, in almost tribal terms, drawing upon China's painful memories of foreign attacks from the Opium Wars to the Japanese invasions. Continued on. (Globe and Mail)
JOAN CHEN: Let the Olympic Games go on in Beijing Apr 10, 2008
The stigma of Western imperialism and the Opium Wars also remains a strong reminder of the past, and Chinese people do not want their domestic policies to be dictated by outside powers. They also do not want the United States to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Games. (Fresno Bee -- Opinion)
Where every stone tells a tale Apr 3, 2008
The Hong Kong Cemetery, founded in 1845, is one of its oldest Christian cemeteries, offering a full picture of the two opium wars. One coffin-shaped gravestone has a rudder-and-anchor sculpture on it indicating clearly to whom it belongs. (Xinhuanet, China)
China and Tibet: The Spin Campaign Mar 27, 2008
It's still not uncommon for foreign visitors to be subjected to lengthy lectures on the evils of colonialism and the humiliation China suffered during the Opium Wars of the mid-1800s and the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion by British, French and German forces in 1900. Beijing has proved adept at , be it over the accidental U.S. bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999 or the crash of a Chinese fighter jet after a mid-air collision with a U.S. surveillance aircraft two years later. (Time.com)
* Unrest highlights China's Achilles heel Mar 20, 2008
Ever since the Opium Wars, the country has experienced what it describes as a "century of humiliation." Extraordinarily, the handover of Hong Kong in 1997 was its first major foreign policy success since the early 19th century. Western countries are thoroughly accustomed to being the center of global attention, which they have come to regard as their natural birthright. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Newsweek: Losing the war on Afghan opium Mar 5, 2008
to join the NEWSWEEK community, post comments and subscribe to our e-mail newsletters. Top Story Latest News DRUGS. (MSNBC -- International)
Investing in China: Fool's gold? Jan 16, 2008
A second critical factor is the legacy of China's humiliating defeats in the unjust 19th century opium wars with Great Britain. At the time, Britain had a large trade deficit with China, owing to British demand for tea, and it demanded the right to sell Indian opium in exchange. (Asia Times Online)
* What's really bothering Beijing? Jan 8, 2008
This may have been a factor in the 19th century, after the Opium Wars, when Western states established enclaves along the Chinese coast, but the trials and tribulations of the 20th century were of China's own making: The Chinese Civil War, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution were internal Chinese affairs with which the West had little to do. The third reason for China's hardheaded attitude toward Taiwan is that it thinks Taiwan's close association with the US and the West stands... (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Elizabeth II Outlives Victoria Today Dec 21, 2007
It was one of the flags of the East India Trading Company, a private company that colonized India and started the Opium Wars. Posted by einstein. (New York Times)
An over-traveled road Dec 1, 2007
There is a lot of background on the Opium Wars, for instance, which is old territory for Asian pundits; Gifford peppers his writing with pinyin Mandarin and phonetic explanations of how to pronounce Chinese names; and some of his encounters are nothing new to anyone who regularly reads Sunday supplement features on the country. There is also, perhaps also, a little too much Gifford in there. (Asia Times Online)
Voters, Candidates Ignore China's Real Issues Nov 30, 2007
Until the 20th century, the West had a technological and hence military superiority over countries like China (recall the two Opium Wars. . (Newsmax)
The drug-running is gone, but the tourists still flock Sep 12, 2007
"People are disappointed because they come with the information that the place had opium wars, opium fields, opium trails," said Narongdech Sudjai, 47, an artist who sells paintings to tourists from a small shop sandwiched between a pub and a souvenir store. "Actually they want to see the place where they grow opium," Narongdech said. (International Herald Tribune)
Trinkets and treasure: China tames the US Aug 31, 2007
These are called the Anglo-Chinese Wars in China; in the West, they are more frequently called the Opium Wars. In a historical circumstance that those contemporaneous historians such as Niall Ferguson who wax about the boundless beneficence of the British Empire don't talk much about, the Opium Wars were fought over the Western powers' demand that China allow free license for British and French companies, particularly the British East India Company, to import and sell opium in China ... For at... (Asia Times Online)
The animal welfare cost of a 2 Asda chicken Aug 4, 2007
Where once there were opium wars, now countries fight chicken wars to protect their own producers, few of whom can compete in the global market, or they use chicken to punish other countries. Avian flu, salmonella, contaminated chicken feed, illegal veterinary drugs and any of the many poultry diseases that have struck in recent years have all been cited by countries banning chicken imports from others. (Guardian Unlimited -- UK)
Russia reaps rich harvest with potash Aug 1, 2007
MOSCOW - For the 150 years between the Opium Wars and the end of World War II, the "China Discount" was notorious in the Shanghai Bund, on the bank of the Huangpu River. It represented the gap between what the little Western traders agreed to pay for Chinese-made goods, and the best their Chinese sellers hoped to fetch. (Asia Times Online)
"One country, two systems" works in HK Jun 29, 2007
Britain had already been the chauvinistic ruler of Hong Kong Island for five decades when it forced the teetering Qing dynasty in 1898 after the Opium Wars to lease areas south of Shenzhen River and north of the Boundary Street and more than 200 nearby isles for 99 years. Not even a bit of revenge or atonement was sought by China's leaders during the handover negotiations. (Xinhuanet, China)
Last governorChris Patten recalls his days as Britain's last governor in Hong Kong Jun 29, 2007
In his farewell speech, he not only alluded to the previous century and events that led to British rule of Hong Kong - the Opium Wars that "none of us would wish or seek to condone" - but also to China's poor human rights record. "We might note that most of those who live in Hong Kong now do so because of events in our own century which would today have few defenders," he said. (BBC News -- Asia-Pacific)
After a decade, China trumpets HKs successful return Jun 24, 2007
It has also eased the pain of more than 100 years of humiliation by imperialist powers who tried to carve up and colonise China following the Opium Wars of the 19th century, a Chinese official and academics said. "During the past 10 years, 'one country, two systems' and 'a high degree of autonomy' has achieved great success in Hong Kong," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told journalists last week. (India Times)
Macau: More than just smoke-filled casinos Jun 10, 2007
The Opium Wars, fought between the UK and the Qing Empire in China from 1839 and 1842 with the aim of forcing China to import British opium, ended Macau's prosperity. Throughout the old city, the bus took us past antique historical buildings, forts, churches and places of Portuguese legacy standing tall alongside older Buddhist temples, statues and shops. (Jakarta Post, Indonesia -- Features)
Fire damages famed clipper Cutty Sark May 22, 2007
The tea trade increased dramatically in the 19th century after Britain forced China to open its ports to Western ships through the Opium Wars in 1842 and 1858. The demand for tea was voracious, and the ship arriving with the first tea of the year made the highest profits fueling demand for ever-faster ships, rather than ones with enormous carrying capacity. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Comment: Tristram Hunt May 22, 2007
It was the mid-19th-century opium wars in China that opened up the tea market for Britain. It was the calculated decimation of the Indian cotton industry that paved the way for Lancashire's export market. (Guardian Unlimited)
Hong Kong and China in a wary embrace May 21, 2007
" It's hard to argue against a benevolent business plutocracy that appears to work. Hong Kong's economy grew at 6.8 percent last year. Unemployment is at 4.4 percent. It has a maximum tax rate of 16 percent. Its government registered a $7 billion budget surplus and is giving money back to its citizens. Its homicide rate is 0.63 per 100,000 people, compared with 5.9 for the United States. Hong Kong's citizens have freedom of the press, association, travel and religion. The government provides... (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Grave stone howlers leave British officials red-faced May 3, 2007
Some of the affected stones date back to the Opium Wars between Britain and China in the mid-19th century ... The two Opium Wars erupted from China's attempts to stop the opium trade. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Price Of Heroism: The rise and fall of first VC hero Apr 20, 2007
He saw action in the second outbreak of the Opium Wars with China and later served on a commission examining the defence of Canada. After another commission, off west Africa, he was invalided out, serving in Washington before returning to sea as captain of the HMS Phoebe. (Independent)
Last empress' doomed efforts to save China Apr 2, 2007
Greatly weakened by the Opium Wars that began in the 1830s and the humiliation of a growing British colonial presence, China is already a failing nation when Orchid inherits the throne. During her almost half-century rule -- one of the most tumultuous periods in Chinese history -- she suffers the loss of three emperors, her husband, their teenage son and finally her nephew, whom she had adopted as her son and heir. (San Francisco Chronicle)
