Evaluating China's Two Opium Wars in Modern Times with Historical Materialism

The first Opium War took place from 1840 to 1842, because Britain tried to open the China market and turn China into its raw material producing area and market. The direct cause was the anti-smoking movement in China, and the fuse was the destruction of opium by Lin Zexu and Humen. China's defeat and the signing of treaty of nanking marked China's entry into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.

1856 to 1860, the second opium war was to further open the China market, which led to the defeat of China and further deepened the semi-colonial and semi-feudal degree of China. Among them, the Yuanmingyuan incident shocked the world.