All for opium

Imagineu00a0going back to school in order to write a book. That's exactly what author Julia Lovell did when she picked the First Anglo-Chinese war, popularly known as 'opium war' as the subject of her latest book The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China.


Julia Lovell has travelled extensively to China for research for her
book Pic/Shazid Chauhan

"I sat in history classes in schools and universities to see how teachers spoke about the war and how the students responded," she says. In a world where wars are being fought over petrol and water is predicted to be the cause of the next world war, Lovell, who teaches Chinese history at Birkbeck College in University of London,u00a0 decided to travel back in time for her book.

The Asian giant has always been close to the author's heart. Apart from writing on the marching hare for leading international dailies, Lovell has also penned two books on the country. The Opium War is both the story of China -- starting from the first conflict with the West -- and an analysis of the country's contemporary self-image. "It is the story of impact of the war on China's view of the West and vice versa," points out Lovell.

It was during one of her visits to China in 1997 that decided that the subject of her next book. "There was a big film in that year on the humiliation of the war and how that was expunged by handing over Hong Kong. I was struck by how the subject still resonated," she says.

Then began an extensive research during which Lovell made another trip to China, spoke to academicians, tourists, journalists, sat in libraries, went to museums. "I wanted to talk to as many Chinese people as possible and track attitudes about the war," recounts Lovell.

The responses she got are varied -- from self-criticism to downright anger. Photographs in museums had captions that directly expressed anger. "The official public view sees it as a war of illegal aggression and opium smuggling and that's what it was. It was the founding of modern Chinese nationalism and the start of their struggle against the West and imperialism," explains the author.

West is west
Contrary to popular belief, the Chinese are not averse to the West as we would like to believe. "The West has mixed meanings in China today. The Chinese have often had a certain admiration and yearning for the foreign things. There is great curiosity," says the author.

However, general attitudes were a little more complex. The war was seen as something inflicted on China by the West. The Chinese, feels the author, are quite pragmatic in their attitude to the war. "They discuss it in self-critical terms. The students' responses were not dominated by anger but criticism about how China allowed itself to be weak during the 19th century," says Lovell. 'If you are backward you will take the beating', was what Lovell was told.

Being British, how did it feel to come across such responses? "I was uncomfortable and felt strongly ashamed to be British. Those were shameful things that we did in China," she says. In fact, this self-criticism was also why Lovell managed to get past the accounts she found in her homeland. Most English language books on the subject concentrate on British perspectives written by British. So her search, was to 'understand reality'. Lovell was also struck by different attitudes in China and Britain about the war. "We are taught about India and Africa. China is seen as a side show," says Lovell.

But opium is anything but 'side show'. "Britain exploited opium to finance its empire. It was what provided the silver to buy tea, silk, china and fund the navy. It paid 1/5th cost of the Raj,60% of the cost in Malay and Hong Kong," states the author. Lovell also fails to understand why there is 'extraordinary silence on opium cultivation and production in India in 19th century'.

India is the subject of Lovell's next book which she hopes to start by September. And Maoism is going to be her subject. Lovell has various case studies and is also relying on the huge body of journalistic material. And will she be visiting Maoist zones like Arundhati Roy did? "Don't think the husband will like that," says the author with a twinkle in her eye.

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