{"product_id":"the-opium-war-drugs-dreams-and-the-making-of-china","title":"The Opium War: Drugs  Dreams and the Making of China","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis title tells a story of drugs  distrust  greed and rebellion. On the outside  the foreigners seem intractable  but inside they are cowardly...Although there have been a few ups-and-downs  the situation as a whole is under control. In October 1839  a few months after the Chinese Imperial Commissioner  Lin Zexu  dispatched these confident words to his emperor  a Cabinet meeting in Windsor voted to fight Britains first Opium War (1839-42) with China. The conflict turned out to be rich in tragicomedy: in 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 myth of modern Chinese nationalism: the start of Chinas heroic struggle against a Western conspiracy to destroy the country with opium and gunboat diplomacy. \"The Opium War\" is both the story of modern China - starting from this first conflict with the West - and an analysis of the countrys contemporary self-image. It explores how Chinas national myths mould its interactions with the outside world  how public memory is spun to serve the present; and how delusion and prejudice have bedevilled its relationship with the modern West.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44947532775477,"sku":"ByrdShop_0330457470","price":225.06,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780330457477.jpg?v=1770016882","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-opium-war-drugs-dreams-and-the-making-of-china","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}