Blog assignment #5

Winners of the war are also the winners of the history. However, things are not always what the winners think it look like. Even though losers are beaten in the war, they have their reasons. For example, in the First Opium War, China was beaten by Great Britain, and had to sign the aggressive treaty, that is, Treaty of Nanjing. China, as a loser, really had her own reasons for this failure. In the end of Qing Dynasty, the government of the nation was very weak and corrupt. Lots of officials were addicted to the opium imported from Europe. Some lower class officials would bribe the upper class officials to make them say something to the Emperor. The Emperor then was puzzled by the flattery and was not clear about the truth. In the meantime, the English merchants took advantage of the weaknesses of the officials’ addiction to the opium, and forced the officials to flatter the upper class officials or even the Emperor by using the opium as a temptation.

Although the losers are not willing to be beaten, they have rights and the reasons to explain their failure. The history from the losers’ angle may not be that much beautiful, however, it may be encouraging.