June 28, 1840, May 29 (Boxer), the outbreak of the Opium War.

Opium War 1840-1842 British launched a war of aggression against China, its outbreak marked the beginning of modern Chinese history, China has now entered the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The early 19th century, Britain, France, the United States and other major Western capitalist countries has completed the bourgeois revolution, have been completed or are ongoing Industrial Revolution. The rapid economic development of capitalism, capitalists overseas colonies as the urgent need to plunder the commodity markets and raw material suppliers, so big country with a large population, China has become an important goal of their aggression to the Oriental.
was dominant in China, is a self-sufficient economy, its invasion of Western capitalist industrial products, there is a tenacious resilience, the moment it is difficult to obtain a wide range of sales of British goods in China. Thus, the British bourgeoisie took opium as an important means to open the door to China. Opium common name Smoky, contains large amounts of morphine and nicotine, a suction on the drug addiction is not easy to abstain. From the late 18th century, British massive importation of opium. The stream input opium, not only in the physical, spiritual poison the Chinese people and make silver a massive outflow, resulting in poor country spacious China. The face of serious harm opium flooding, the people of insight in the Chinese ruling class and the broad masses of the people, to carry out the struggle of the opium ban. In June 1839, the decree of the government of then Xufeng Qing Lin to Guangdong opium ban, only more than 20 days, more than 230 million kilograms of opium confiscated and publicly destroyed in Humen Beach. The non-smoking struggle of the Chinese people achieved a great victory. In order to protect the evil opium trade, the British bourgeoisie openly launched the invasion of China in the Opium War.
1840, the British government on the pretext of "protection treaty ports" and send troops to the invasion of China, in June, the British fleet arrived at Guangzhou sea, because the the Guangzhou military and civilian Lin Zexu, under the leadership of tight defense, the British no exploits; offensive Xiamen, also repulsed. Multiply Zhejiang defense emptiness and later British troops captured Dinghai and coastal go northward captured Tianjin Haikou Taku. The Qing government Yangqiangyangbao ladder gall bladder, the Lin Zexu dismissal and sent the main fall camp the Zhili Governor Qishan instead the Lin Zexu any imperial envoys Go Guangdong. February 1841, the British multiply Qi Shan removal of combat readiness, the fall of the Guangzhou Humen occupation of the mud city in May, the Quartet Fort shelling Guangzhou. In August, the United Kingdom to expand the war of aggression, the fall of Xiamen. The second year, the British along the Yangtze River downstream offensive, captured in June the Wusong, July captured Zhenjiang, invaded Nanjing. The corrupt Qing invaders knees surrender in August 1842, signed the humiliating Treaty of Nanking. Since then, the imperialists have stepped up to China's military, political, economic and cultural aggression, control and plunder, the continuation of thousands of years of feudal society, the gradual disintegration of a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.