THE OPIUM WAR | JULIA LOVELL IN SOUTH AFRICA

Subtitle: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China Author: Julia Lovell Publisher: Picador (2012) ISBN-10: 0330457489 ISBN-13: 9780330457484 Condition: Very Good Binding: Softcover Pages: 456 Dimensions: 19.5 x 12.8 x 3.3 cm +++ by Julia Lovell +++ In October 1839, Britain entered the first Opium War with China. Its brutality notwithstanding, the conflict was also threaded with tragicomedy: with Victorian hypocrisy, bureaucratic fumblings, military missteps, political opportunism and collaboration. Yet over the past hundred and seventy years, this strange tale of misunderstanding, incompetence and compromise has become the founding episode of modern Chinese nationalism.