Merchants of war and peace: British knowledge of China in the making of the Opium War

摘要

In Merchants of war and peace, Song-Chuan Chen has provided a thoroughly researched, thoughtful and thought-provoking work highlighting the important role of knowledge creation in the prelude to the First Opium War (1839-1842). The knowledge in question was created in the 1830s by a group of British merchants in Canton - referred to throughout the book as the 'Warlike Party' - who were central figures in the lucrative opium trade between British India and China. The Warlike Party's knowledge of China had a "discursive nature" (p. 151), evidenced by the way it was used in the making of the Opium Wars. Commanding a growing volume of trade even before the lifting of the East India Company monopoly in 1834, British private merchants were emboldened and ambitious, but were frustrated by the restrictions imposed on them by the Qing authorities. The Warlike Party began to lobby for war against China to defend and expand the opium trade, as well as what they understood to be 'free trade' principles more broadly, while using the pretext of defending Britain's "national honour".