How Hong Kong Became a British Colony

Why were British merchants unhappy with the Hong system?

• They were only allowed to trade in one city
• They had to give all their money to the Hong
• The Hong demanded to be paid in tea
• The Emperor and the Hong were always arguing

Why was it so important for Britain to reach a trade agreement with Qing China?

• China would only accept silver as payment, but Britain had run out of silver

• Britain wanted China to stop selling tea, but China refused

• Britain had run out of tea and desperately needed more

• China owned British banks and Britain couldn't repay its loans

What was the only product the British found that they could sell in China?

• Tea

• Opium

• Cotton clothes

• Silk

How did merchants get around the law banning opium from entering China?

• The opium was shipped to China in boxes marked "Tea".
• Pirates would wait for British ships to wreck on the coast, then they would steal the opium and go sell it.
• Britain set up a market in Hong Kong so anyone could come buy it
• Chinese merchants would secretly meet with British ones to get the opium

If British opium was illegal in China, why was it so popular?

• British opium was weaker and more expensive than the Chinese-grown opium

• British opium was stronger and cheaper than Chinese-grown opium.

• British opium was considered a special gift

• British opium contained Indian spices, making it more pleasant

How did Lin Zexu force the British merchants to give up their opium supply?

• He snuck in at night and took it all himself

• He surrounded the British factory for more than a month and wouldn't let food in

• He paid the French to attack the British factory

• He promised to buy all their opium if they agreed to stop selling it

How did Charles Elliot accidentally make the British merchants and government more angry?

• He promised that Britain would surrender to all Chinese demands and obey the Emperor

• He promised that Britain would go to war against China immediately

• He promised the British merchants that the British government would repay them for their lost opium

• He promised China that British merchants would leave and never return

What was Lin Zexu's solution to the opium problem in China?

• Punish everyone he caught using opium, Chinese or foreign
• Punish Chinese merchants selling opium but leave foreign ones alone
• Punish British merchants selling opium but leave Chinese ones alone
• Make opium legal and set up a market, but put very high taxes on it

What was the "turning point" that started the Opium War?

• Neither China nor Britain would pay the merchants for the opium taken and destroyed by Lin Zexu,

• Britain didn't have silver to pay for Chinese goods but if they won a war they might get it back

• British and Chinese merchants were illegally smuggling opium,, so both countries declared war on each other

• Britain couldn't sell its cotton in hot Canton, so they declared war to open cold Tianjin to trade

What is NOT a reason Lord Palmerston refused to accept the Elliot-Qishan trade deal?

• He was angry that Britain didn't get more money for the destroyed opium

• He was angry that opium was still illegal

• He was angry that China got to keep Hong Kong

• He was angry that Britain didn't get to keep all the captured territory