TERMS AND GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR FILM

THE TWO COASTS OF CHINA

 

Note: For some additional information on the first Opium War and its principal players, you may see Leon Poon's site (at http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/modern.html#opium) out of the University of Maryland.  He includes the Chinese characters for many terms.

 

 

 

Kamikaze: the "Divine Wind" of August 1, 1281, which legend has it, drove the Mongols from the shores of Japan.

 

Genghis Khan (1167-1227) and Khubilai Khan (1215-94): leading rulers of the Mongol Yuan dynasty.

 

Marco Polo (1254? -1324?): Venetian trader and adventurer, who traveled between Europe and Asia from 1271 to1295.  Accounts of his travels have recently met with scholarly skepticism.

 

Lord Macartney (1737-1806): British envoy to the Chinese Qianlong emperor in June 1793.

 

The Qianlong Emperor (1735-96): Fourth ruler of the Qing dynasty, whose reign was one of the longest in Chinese history.

 

 

Cohong (Hong Merchants): intermediaries between foreign traders and Qing officials at Canton.

 

Warren Delano II: Senior partner in China for the U.S. trading firm of Russell & Co. and the grandfather of future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

 

Patna (India):. the capital of the State of Bihar.

 

Lintin Island: an island near Canton, at which foreign merchants unloaded opium for local consumption.

 

Lin Zexu (1785-1850): Qing Imperial Commissioner in Canton, who tried  to combat opium addict among local residents

 

William Gladstone (1809-98): British statesman and leading figure in the English  Liberal Party from 1868 to 1894.

 

Yuan Ming Yuan: "Garden of Perfect Brightness" the Qing summer palace burned by British and French military forces in 1860.

 

 

#1. Describe some cultural differences between Mongol and Han Chinese communities during the Imperial period. What was the legacy of the Yuan dynasty in political and economic terms?

 

#2. How did the Manchus choose to rule China? 

 

#3. Describe Macartney's reception at the Qing court.  What misunderstandings arose?

 

#4. Describe the activities of the typical European expatriate merchant in 18th-century Macao.

 

#5. How did Lin Zexu respond to the opium trade?  How did the western traders react to Lin's actions?

 

#6. What was the outcome of the first Opium War?