Wednesday 13^th December 2023.

Robert Bickers gave a fascinating lecture on how the European powers led by Britain took control of much of China starting with the notorious Opium wars in the 1840s.

He began the lecture by getting us to imagine what it would be like if China had taken control of Spike Island in Bristol. Chinese police patrolled the harbour area and Chinese warships took control of the Severn estuary.

At the end of the eighteenth century Imperial China was dismissive of the British Macartney embassy. What could Europe offer China? Within a few decades China was bullied into granting concessions that left her dealing with not one colonial master but several. Almost all China’s ports came under European control.

The British took control of several treaty ports including Hong Kong as a result of the Opium Wars of 1839-42 and 1856-60. In the second war the French also gained access to Chinese ports. The ‘century of humiliation’ saw a whole host of European powers such as Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy and even Belgium take control of territories and railways across China. By the twentieth century the Japanese had joined the scramble for concessions. The Qing/Manchu dynasty not only faced external threats but for two decades in the 1850s and 1860s the Taiping Rebellion nearly destroyed the Imperial regime.

Robert Bickers used a wide range of photographs to show how the Europeans became a privileged elite in China’s ports. Many had little contact with Chinese people preferring to live in their colonial bubbles. They had their own houses, schools, churches and sports clubs. They used their own colonial police and their navies patrolled the rivers and coastlines.

We were shown a range of monuments erected in Chinese cities to European soldiers, diplomats, civil servants and missionaries. The most notorious was the diplomat Harry Parkes who believed it was his mission to bring trade and civilisation to East Asia. Many Europeans (Taipans) exploited China and established commercial enterprises that are still powerful today. Jardine Matheson were infamous in this respect.

Some Europeans showed more respect for China. Sir Robert Hart was the most influential European in China. He ran the Imperial customs service from 1863 until 1911.

It all came to an end with the Japanese invasions of 1937 and 1942 followed by the 1949 Communist revolution.

Robert Bickers finished the lecture with some local connections. Tyntesfield House was built with the profits from the guano trade but did we know that the guano was ‘mined’ by indentured Chinese labour?. Imperial Tobacco had factories in China. The bell in Bristol City Museum was looted from China. George Muller sent missionaries to China.

The audience of 40 were extremely appreciative of Robert’s excellent lecture.