The Dual Symbolism of the Poppy

A British delegation comprising key members of the newly formed coalition government caused huge offence to the Chinese when they sported Remembrance Poppies during a visit to the capital city Beijing back in 2010. Amongst the group looking to further British interests in the rapidly expanding economy of China, the Prime Minister David Cameron took the lead in refusing to remove the iconic symbol of remembrance.

In a fragmented moment of intercultural communication the British members of parliament were unaware of the inflammatory nature of the poppy to the Chinese whose memory of the two Opium Wars of the Nineteenth Century is all to clear.

The wars fought by the British between 1839 - 1842 and 1856 - 1860 were an overt bid to champion imperialism in the Far East. Emerging global expansion had brought Britain to the forefront of international trade and military might. The Union Jack flew over much of the world yet the multinational companies such as the East India Company, Jardine Matheson and Peninsular & Oriental (P&O) had yet to succeed in breaking into the closed markets of the Chinese Empire. Beyond the port of Canton, the Chinese viewed the outside world with suspicion. The 'Red Barbarians', as they referred to the British sailors who arrived to collect cargos of tea and porcelain, were kept beyond the Chinese quarters of the city walls to prevent their contaminating the customs and traditions of the Quing Dynasty.

Silver flowed in one direction only and with little else to export to the self sufficient Chinese, the British merchants looked to opium as a product to trade from India. Well known for its addictive qualities the merchants understood that once the product was established through a network of corrupt port officials and smugglers, demand for it would grow.

The trade dominated the networks between India and China throughout the early part of the Nineteenth Century with tons of opium exported from the Patna and Malwa region of the Indian continent. Despite the decrees of the Chinese Emperor, making opium use a capital offence, it flourished and predictably dependency ensued.

The Emperor, compelled by the drain on Chinese silver and the growing addiction of the population, sent Lin Zexu, his trusted advisor, to the province around Canton to investigate the source of the trade. Having identified foreign merchants at the root of the problem Lin Zexu quickly encircled the trade quarters demanding that ex patriot representatives hand over the stock.

A stand off ended when the British capitulated and allowed the remaining chests of opium to be withdrawn and destroyed. It was not long before pressure groups lobbied parliament back in London to consent to a naval force being sent in defence of the assets taken by the Chinese. The first of two Opium Wars commenced with resultant naval attacks along the coastline of China, until a treaty was drawn up conceding Hong Kong to the British Crown in recompense.

In a parliamentary debate William Gladstone, wondered if there had ever been:

"a war more unjust in its origin, a war more calculated to cover this country with permanent disgrace, I do not know."

Tensions between the British merchant fleets and the Canton authorities remained over the following decade until October 1856 when the Chinese authorities seized a vessel called the 'Arrow', which had been engaged in piracy. The British consul in Canton demanded the immediate release of the crew and an apology for the insult to the British flag. When hostilities remained and the Chinese withdrew the terms of the earlier treaty of Nanking the British government sent a

further naval force into Chinese waters, bringing about the Second Opium War.

This time the French entered into the fray on the British side and a land assault was launched from Hong Kong, engaging in a number of military confrontations before ground troops marched upon Peking. The Emperor finally capitulated and agreed to a treaty allowing extensive trade rights across China, but not before the Anglo-French armies had laid waste to the Old Summer Palace (Yuan Ming Yuan) looting a vast array of priceless items, some of which now adorn the displays in Buckingham Palace.

It is hard to imagine the impact such defeat would have had on British culture had the military action been reversed, alongside the resulting loss of British life and the wanton looting and destruction of our heritage. Whilst the red poppies that adorn the lapels of our proud population, seeking to remember the war dead, have their origins in the fields of Flanders, Remembrance Sunday offers an opportunity to reflect not just on our own soldiers who gave their lives for our nation, but also those caught up in armed conflict around the world both past and present.

Ultimately the supply of opium to China was replaced by other exports. Parliament had come under increasing pressure to challenge the companies involved in the trade of opium in the Far East and the likes of P&O and Jardine Matheson turned their attention to increasingly lucrative markets in assets and supply chains.

Ironically, as Western attitudes towards drugs changed with the advent of the Pharmacy Act and later the Defence of the Realm Act in the early part of the Twentieth Century, the Chinese were demonised as the 'insidious' purveyors of opium and cocaine throughout clandestine networks which spread across cities such as London and New York. In an almost Stalinist rewriting of history, the Opium Wars were quickly forgotten in the British psyche, along with the cynical capitalist trade in opium from which they were born. A race that fell foul of the addictive properties of the opium poppy at the hands of British networks became synonymous with its supply as Chinese migration spread to Western capitals in the aftermath of the First World War.

The prohibitionist movements on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean seized on the emerging moral panics defined by drug use, inter race relations and the emancipation of women, in their bid to bring about tighter legislation outlawing drug use. At the heart of these moral panics were lurid stories about Chinese nationals 'ensnaring vulnerable white women' in an intoxicating mix of premeditated seduction and drug use during a heady jazz age.

Small wonder that Cameron and his party of trade delegates were met with skepticism when they embarked on their tour of Chinese industry in 2010.