In 1839, the first Opium War between China and Britain began when British frigates blew up several Chinese junks off Canton after coming under attack.

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As Mr. Platt notes, the Second Opium War (1858-60), which culminated in British and French forces winning important diplomatic concessions from the dynasty, took place alongside the Taiping Uprising.

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People know the horrific history of the Opium Wars (a war that was fought to allow the British to continue drug trafficking), the subsequent colonization of Hong Kong, and the atrocities of the Rape of Nanking.

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British forces raised the Union Jack over Possession Point in 1841 during the First Opium War, fought to protect the Queen's trade of the narcotic.

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Just ask Jardine Matheson, the oldest of Hong Kong's British-owned trading houses and still held reponsible for the 1839-42 opium war which won Hong Kong for Britain.

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