Opium Wars: Quick Facts

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The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Date	1856 - 1860 • 1839 - 1842
Location	Guangzhou • China • Jiangsu • Guangdong • Beijing
Participants	China • Qing dynasty • France • United Kingdom

Under the Canton Trade System, which regulated foreign access to China before the Opium Wars, foreign merchants were restricted to one port of access and were subjected to Chinese regulations while in the country.
China was not only a major power in the East under the Qing but also a wealthy country and a major exporter of luxury goods prior to the Opium Wars.
The Opium Wars were actually quite small; the British side of the First Opium War fought with only twenty naval vessels and fewer than five thousand troops.