the first opium war started in(1839-1842) with china trying to ban opium trading. not long after the first opium war the taiping rebellion(civil war) broke out in(1850-1864) in china. ought between qing dynasty and hong xiuquan, when china tried to seek persecution towards a christian sect known as god whispering society, in the middle of the taiping rebellion the second opium war broke out (1856-1860) due to the british wanting to extend trading rights in china.
the first of two opium wars began in 1839 and ended in 1842 the opium war started due to china trying to dissolve the trade of opium (Meyer-Fong, T. (2003). this drug started to destroy the chinese economy also social disruption. chinese government confiscated and destroyed twenty thousand chests equal to fourteen …show more content…
it was one of the most devastating civil wars to date, costing an estimated twenty million to thirty million people their lives (Meyer-Fong, T. (2003). many say it cut the population in china to more than fifty percent. starting in 1851 after the taiping rebellion had defeated the chinese government in guangxi,the taiping army started traveling north on the yangzi river taking over many important cities (Meyer-Fong, T. (2003).moving forward to 1853 taiping forces arrived at what was there new capital(the heavenly capital) which they had recently taken over. this was a noticeable turning point in the taiping rebellion. hong xiuquan started to promote their religion, currency, and calendar. setting up a democracy. but was short lived and unsuccessful.a short while later as the taiping rebellion continues the start of the second opium war comes