The Ransom of Canton.
The lame-duck Superintendent watches helplessly as a triumvirate of Qing officials arrives to reverse every compromise his predecessor had wrought... & promptly launches the most ambitious Chinese military operation of the entire war. In the midst of that rain-soaked battlefield, a brief skirmish between British soldiers and peasant militiamen plants the seed of a legend that will haunt Chinese politics for the next century.
Time Period Covered:
Feb. 1841–Oct. 1841
Major Historical Figures:
The Qing Empire:
The Daoguang Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Minning) [r. 1820–1850]
Yishan, Imperial Commissioner and Pacifier-General of the Rebellious (靖逆) [1790–1878]
Longwen, Manchu nobleman and ministerial attaché [d. 1841]
Yang Fang, Governor-General and military commander [c. 1770–1846]
She Baoshun, Prefect of Canton [fl. 1840s]
Yuqian, Imperial Commissioner for Military Operations in Zhejiang [fl. 1841]
The British Empire:
Queen Victoria [r. 1837–1901]
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Foreign Secretary [1784–1865]
Charles Elliot, Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China [1801–1875]
Sir Henry Pottinger, incoming Plenipotentiary to China [1789–1856]
Sir Hugh Gough, Commander of British Land Forces [1779–1869]
Captain William Hutcheon Hall, commanding HMS Nemesis [c. 1797–1878]
Major Sources Cited:
Wakeman, Frederic Jr. "Canton Trade and the Opium War." The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 10.
Wakeman, Frederic Jr. Strangers at the Gate: Social Disorder in South China, 1839–1861.
Fay, Peter Ward. The Opium War, 1840–1842.
Lovell, Julia. The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China.
