The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes

In his book, The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes, Arthur Waley sought to provide personal, first-hand narratives of individual Chinese people who were the willing and unwilling participants of the Opium War. Rather than adopt a broad overview of the Opium War by depicting the military and diplomatic exploits of the key historical figures in this event, Waley focused his attention on the inner perceptions and feelings of various Chinese people ranging from Commissioner Lin to the poet, Chu Shih-yun. Through the use of "intimate documents, such as diaries, autobiographies and confessions" (Waley 5), Waley intended to reveal intimate Chinese perspectives of the Opium War, which are often ignored by historians. In an effort to retain the authenticity of the thoughts of the individuals, Waley emphasized that his speculations would be separated from the thoughts of his subjects.

Throughout the book, Waley adhered to the purpose of his book by providing passages that were written by various Chinese people. These passages revealed the perceptions and the experiences of the common people. For example, in his diary entry, a Shanghai resident, Ts'ao Sheng, described his feelings of sadness when he realized that brigands were taking advantage of the impending battle in Shanghai to ransack local homes. The feelings of doom, as well as the fear of the unknown, were captu

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s of military exploits. At the same time, it is important to note that Waley inserted his speculations in between the quoted passages at various parts of the book in order to ensure that they were properly understood. For instance, Waley often interjected Commissioner Lin's passages extracted from his diaries and his correspondences with officials and the Emperor to explain the full context of the statements. For instance, in one of the passages, Waley quoted Lin's communication to the foreigners, which essentially demanded that they relinquish their supplies of opium: "I now call upon you to hand over for destruction all the opium you have on your shipsà" (qtd. in Waley 34). After this passage, Waley commented that the above quoted statement made by Lin to the foreigners was not "a sudden outburst of tyrannical frenzy" (34). Rather, Lin was an official who was genuinely committed to stamping out the sales and usage of opium by both the English and the Chinese. To support his point of view, Waley highlighted the fact that Lin was also demanding that the Chinese people surrender their opium at the time of the communication. In other sections, Waley inserted his commentary to place the passages within the specific histori
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Approximate Word count = 1246
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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