1864

China is dead. There are no other words to express it.

After the dreadful treaty of Nanking, the other despicable Western country's jumped onto China. We were forced to sign their treaties all detailing the same things; the right to trade in the 5 ports opened to Britain in the treaty of Nanjing, and they were all given the right to have their people tried under their own country's laws if they are unlawful in China. It was horribly humiliating, we were forced to give Britain the promise of awarding them any benefits given to any other country in a treaty. All major Western countries forced treaties upon us, however Britain remains the worst of all, they controlled us like a master to his dog, forcing new trade laws on us and taking our money. They didn't need to occupy our whole country, they already had all our riches and all our trade, the cession of Hong Kong only added to the bitter truth; that Britain was slowly taking over China.

The people of China started becoming fed up, we all felt that the Qing dynasty had lost the mandate, the signs were all right; opium still plagued our country, officials were still corrupt in the trade, the Westerners had successfully conquered us, the gods had been sending floods and plagues down on us, the majority of our people were poor and our population was rapidly growing, and worst of all, the Qing dynasty were foreigners, like all the others whom we had grown to hate. Soon enough a rebel group formed in around 1847, like it was bound to. They called themselves the Taipings and were lead by a peasant farmer, Hong Xuiquan, who claimed to be the second song of the god of the Westerners faith, 'Christianity'. Hong gained support from other farmers like him (Hakka), though failed to gain much support from anywhere else as they strongly persecuted Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism, claiming them all to be false. Hong however, grew in support until he had a rebel army at his disposal, and they began causing strife all around the country. China deteriorated into internal disputes, we had to focus upon suppressing the rebellion at home, while the Westerners quietly enjoyed their new trade rights, enjoying low prices and the right to trade in the 5 new ports open to them.

The Taipings eventually controlled Nanjing, Hong was unable to push forward and the Qings were unable to push them back, the country was cracking, I passed many peasants in the street being beaten to death by soldiers for following Hong, I didn't have the spine to intervene. In 1856 One day I heard tell that a French Priest called Chapdeleine had stupidly ventured into rebel territory to preach, and been killed, I thought nothing of it other than marvelling at some people's stupidity, but my sources tell me the French were outraged. Then, a few months later, I witnessed Qing officials arresting British pirates in Guangzhou; they stupidly refused to hand the men over to be tried by British law, which of course outraged Britain (after all, it was set out in the treaty of Nanking that all British criminals in China would be tried by British law), and it was too late when the men were handed over, as no apology was given.
Although I had little dealings with the Imperial court, having only gone a few times myself, my friends from there tell me that the Emperor had been receiving trouble from France and Britain for a long time, as they wished to revise each of their treaties, obviously to add extra shame on us and sap our countries even more of our dignity and wealth. Therefore, these two incidents which seemed to anger the two countries so much, created a foreboding feeling in my mind; they wanted something out of China and now they had grounds to get it.

In December 1857 I woke to the sounds of canonfire in my house in Guangzhou. I rushed into the street to see the British and French Navy in the harbour, firing into the town. Screaming was everywhere, everything was in flames and people were dying. I hastily pakced a bag and got out of Guangzhou, I went to stay with friends in the Imperial court in Beijing. After that day I heard that the emperor had not surrendered, but within 7 months officials were sent to bargain yet another humiliating treaty with the British and the French; the treaty of Tianjin (Appendix 4).
This apparently was not enough, for War was declared a year later when the British and French tried to force their way through the Dagu forts (when specifically told to take a different route) on their way to Beijing. This time the Emperor fled to his Summer palace, and the British took the palace in Beijing, looting all of it's riches and destroying it's beauty. I watched with the other still at the palace as the soldiers went mad with delight.

Soon enough, yet more unfair treaties were signed in Beijing, at this point I gave up trying to keep track, all I know is that they were called the treaties of Beijing (Appendix 5) and they once again took much of our wealth, their desire for our nations riches and wealth overpowering any sense of morality that these disgusting Westerners have. I saw on of the general's diary entries which described the ceremony (I was not permitted to attend), he describes it as if we Chinese are little more than dogs, in awe of the splendor of the Westerners.

"We entered the gates... marched through gardens, up the paved way, and on approaching the grand entrance were met by Prince Gong and about 500 mandarins... The Prince came up and closed his hands in front of his face, according to the Chinese salute; but Lord Elgin returned him a proud contemptuous look, and merely bowed slightly, which must have made the blood run cold in poor Gong's veins. He was a delicate, gentleman-like looking man, evidently overpowered with fear. We were placed in chairs of state, in the most honourable position, the left-hand side, and the convention was laid before the Imperial Commissioner, who on this occasion was invested with full power. After talking over several points, he signed it and ratified the former treaty." (Sir Hope, from Pellisier, 1967)

I no longer have faith in China, perhaps it was never the strong and beautiful country that I believe it was, it has been so long since I remember it towering tall above the money grubbing foreigners. I no longer have my job as a Hong Merchant, I no longer have my house in Guangzhou; I live in the court in Beijing with the servants and every day I am forced to be reminded of the shame.

The worst part is, before I had not met a single Chineseman that did not now hate Westerners and our Qing overlords, but now I see more and more people claiming this to be an opportuinty to modernize our country; to throw away our traditions and to try and become like the foreign devils. The gods have foresaken us, our country is destitute and dying, we are not rich, we are not grand. Britain has taken us over, they control us and have taken Hong Kong (and Kowloon now), they have made us ashamed of ourself and have humiliated us in the face of the rest of the world. There is now no hope for us, or for me, I give up.

China is dead.

Current Mood: cold

1842

A plague upon the English!
This has gone too far, I have never been more ashamed or dishonoured in my life. The past few years have truly shown me Britain's true intentions, they wish to rule over us!
In 1836, the Opium problem had reached to such a crisis level that a debate was held about what to do, huge amounts of silver and gold were being sapped from our nations wealth in order to pay for opium (Appendix 3 shows a table of the Silver and gold exported from China to Britain). In the debate, the idea was even put forward to legalize opium! But in 1836, the Duoguang Emperor elected a new official for Guangzhou, Lin Zexu, to try and deal with the Opium problem once and for all.
Zexu did his job well, he punished drug dealers and destroyed network, he gave addicts medical help to encourage them giving up opium, he also demanded that all opium be sequestered and then destroyed, which was a huge success (around 1900 chests were destroyed). He also demanded that all foreign traders sign a contract agreeing not to sell opium any longer, and they would agree to follow Chinese laws and jurisdiction. The English of course were outraged at this but they could do nothing, as Zexu had enough sense to surround the trade centre with soldiers whilst making his reforms.
In 1839 however, the conflict really broke out when a pack of drunkard British soldiers destroyed a temple and murdered a man in the process; the British refused to hand over the men responsible to be subjected to Chinese law, and instead tried the men themselves (and let them go, as their word had no jurisdiction in China). The Emperor was furious, and he sent a fleet of Chinese ships to retrieve the men from the two English ships in the bay, however he was humiliated when his ships were forced to retreat when the British opened fire upon them, a shameful defeat for our country, we were made a mockery of!

The British then sailed into Southern Chinese waters, warning that they would attack us furthermore until their trade interests had been formally renegotiated. This of course meant War, we could not have the British doing as they pleased, the dogs obviously did not know their place and if they needed to be shown by force, so be it. The worst part of the story, however, comes now; the British then launched a relentless attack, first capturing our offshore military post of Dinghai, then the island of Hong Kong. Once having done that they moved to inland China, taking the Bogue forts at the mouth of the Yangtze River, which they continued sailing up, taking all territories in their way.
By 1842, the British had been at War with us for 2 years and they had not seen a single defeat; in fact the only Chinese counter offensive had resulted in our soldiers being massacred by British canon and musket fire, our Bows and knives were never a match for them. The British had taken the cities of Ningbo, Shangai, Zhenjian, Zhubu and Zhenghai.
They were fast approaching Nanking when our Emperor admitted shameful defeat. He sent three officials to negotiate a treaty with the British, expecting to simply have to allow Britain better trade laws, but instead ended up with the awful treaty of Nanking (Appendix 3). This treaty meant the complete sacking of our country, including at least 21 million ounces of Silver given to the British, loosing the island of Hong Kong, and a number of other unfair agreements which have made our country appear as a subservient dog to those British. Most importantly, the British have the power to trade with whoever they please! My merchant companions and I have completely lost our monopoly on foreign trade! We will loose all of our money, prices will drop, my career is practically over! Never have I felt such burning anger and shame. Not only have I come to hate the British for truly raping our magnificent nation, but I feel angry and ashamed by our apparently worthless emperor. He did nothing to save our people while our towns and cities were being sacked, our soldiers killed; he did nothing to stand up for China's rights in the face of Britain. The indestructible Manchurians? I truly believe that the Qing dynasty is beginning to loose the mandate of heaven, China has no bright future to look forward to now.

I could never never imagine a more horrible and embarrassing turn of events.

Current Mood: enraged
Current Music: The mocking laughter of British solders in the streets

1800

These British are disgusting!
Over the past years they have begun importing opium into our country illegally, and it has had a devastating effect on our people. They do it through their East India trade company, selling huge amounts of opium at auctions in calcutta and then letting it be smuggled into China, to any merchant dispicable enough to sell the drug to our people. Day by day our situation gets worse, more and more people are becoming addicts. You can see them lying in the street, wasting away, spending any money that they can find to serve their addiction, or hiding in the hundreds of illegal opium dens around the country. The British have done this to us on purpose! they are jealous of China and wish to see our people suffer. They are also hungry for profits, they have reached profits of up to 400% in their auction sales, and my estimates tell me that up to 75 tons would have been illegally shipped into China this year alone (it is my job to know these things, after all I am supposed to be controlling trade with the foreigners).

This is not only affecting our people's health but also corrupting them as people, already 6 of my Hong merchants, and good men they were, have been corrupted by the money that there is to be made by smuggling opium. It sickens me that Britain continues to do this to our country, and yet it also angers me that our government has done so little to stop it! They live in the palace all the way over in Beijing, and all they do is make laws and promise punishments, they have no power over the corrupt officials and merchants, nor have they made any impact on the steadily growing number of addicts. One of our goveners has perfectly stated our problem, and shows the opinion of many who realise that we are in a crisis, and yet the government takes no heed of his wisdom:

"Opium is a poison, undermining our good customs and morality. It;s use is prohibited by law... However, recently the purchasers and eaters of opium have become numerous. Deceitful merchants buy and sell it to gain profits. If we continue our search for opium through the sea ports our search will not be thorough. We should order the general commandant of the police and police censors at the five gates to prohibit opium and to search for it at all gates... They should in no ways consider this order a daed letter and allow opium to be smuggled." (Lo-Shu Fu, 1996)

These British cannot accept their place, may the gods punish them for their insolence, the emperor is furious.

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: The royal geese swimming on the lake.

(1793)
Today an envoy arrived from England, announcing himself as a Mr George McCartney. He was quaintly dressed in the restricting and unbecoming robes of the English, and bore with him the mark of the English King, George III. The man claimed that he had a wondrous gift, especially for the celestial court and I knew instantly along with my other Hong companions, that he was yet another ambassador sent from the foreign barbarians to try and improve their trade situations with China, bringing strange and useless gifts to us, expecting to impress us and the Qianlong Emperor.
We accepted his gifts in order to humour him, not wanting to turn him away in case he had something of worth to us, but even we were surprised at the poor effort that England had obviously gone to to try and impress us. McCartney presented a small assortment of time-telling devices, 'quality' British porcelain and a simple, rudimentary model of the heavens above earth. When presented with these gifts my fellow merchants and I laughed heartily, and the envoy seemed taken aback, obviously hurt at us laughing at the efforts that he and his country had gone to to try and prove their greatness to us.
We then took him to the 40 or 50 royal pavilions, (where we stored all the gifts of foreign envoys with the same intention) and he was suddenly aware of why we laughed at him and the pathetic attempts of his country.
What he saw I feel was best described in his own words, which we discovered when our palace spies searched through his journal;

"Furnished in the richest manner, with pictures of the Emperor's huntings and progresses, with stupendous vases of jasper and agate, with the finest porcelains and japan (hard lacquered wood work) and with every kind of European toys and sing-songs, with spheres, planetariums, clocks and musical automatons of such exquisite workmanship, and in such profusion that our presents must shrink from the comparison and hide their diminished heads." (McCartney's journal, from J.L Cranmer-Byng, 1962).

The envoy then asked for an audience with the emperor, to try and plead with him like all of the other desperate countries to improve their trade situations, so that they could increase their revenue and reform the Fan Kwae edict. We granted him an audience with the emperor, knowing that nothing would come of it, but the man managed to create chaos in the harmonious court. Once given an audience with the emperor, he outraged us all by refusing to Kowtow to the emperor, he claimed that it would be disrespectful to both himself and King George III.
What cheek! How can that foreigner dare to call him and his King equal to our perfect ruler? He claimed that accepting to Kowtow would only reinforce the low opinion of Britain and other Western nations.. but they obviously are lower than the Chinese, they are desperate for trade with us; drooling dogs for our tea and our porcelain and willing to give up anything for it and China could easily deny them their pleasures. That is the sign of true power over a country, and it is time that these foreigners learnt their place with us.
The Emperor of course was not impressed with this McCartney, and refused to hear what the proud fool had to say; and has had a letter sent to King George III to accost him for the misbehavior of his ambassador. (appendix 2).

When will these barbarians learn?

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: The palace Eunuchs bickering