Opium Wars

British  

plural noun

1. two wars (1839–42; 1856–60) between China and Britain resulting from the Chinese refusal to allow the importation of opium from India. China ceded Hong Kong after the British victory in 1842. The British and French victory in the second war established free trade in Chinese ports and the legalization of the opium trade

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Example Sentences

Kuang is beloved for her historical fantasy novels: the “Poppy War” trilogy, inspired by China’s Opium Wars, and “Babel,” a critique of colonialism set in an alternate-universe Oxford.

From Seattle Times • May 17, 2023

Hong Kong became a British colony after two Opium Wars in the 19th century and colonial rule lasted for 156 years.

From BBC • Sep. 14, 2022

Hong Kong was wrested from China by Britain in three phases, starting with the mid-19th century Opium Wars.

From Reuters • Jun. 27, 2022

Its aim: restore the lost glory of the Chinese empire, which dominated East and Central Asia for nearly two thousand years until its humiliating defeat in the Opium Wars of the mid-19th century.

From Salon • Feb. 13, 2021

It deviates from the original source material and the well-known Disney adaptation by setting the story during the first part of the mid-19th century Opium Wars between the Chinese and British.

From The Verge • Mar. 1, 2020