The Dream of the Celestial Empire Broken—the Great Collision Between China and the West Before and After the Opium War

This book is a historical book that tells the story of the fierce collisions in the exchanges and wars between China and Britain before and after the Opium War during the late Qing Dynasty, under the great changes unseen in three thousand years. The author is historian Qin Shiyong. The book uses a lot of documentary materials, starting from the incident of Magartney's visit to China, detailing the diplomatic communication, wars and negotiations between China and Britain before and after the Opium War, and objectively analyzing the whole process from the trade exchanges and cultural collisions in the Qianlong period to the anti-smoking disputes and war confrontations in the Daoguang period, which will help ordinary readers better understand it. The historical background of the Opium War has important reference value for readers to understand the real process of the Opium War, the real situation of trade exchanges between the Qing government and the British government, the international and domestic environment at that time, and the all-round impact on China's economy, society, culture, and sovereignty at that time.