The Opium Wars

I was reading about the Opium Wars today, in mid-nineteenth century China. They were nastier than I remember.

What did I remember them from? Well, I'd read references to them before. Also, I'd seen documentaries about them, with period footage.

It was all black and white, of course. You see, in those days, the Chinese didn't have colour. The British placed a ban on native colour processing, meaning that to get colour, the Chinese had to buy refined colour from the great colour mills in Leeds. This was very expensive, so they didn't do it often, and certainly not in times of war.

It was very hard to see the cherry blossoms without colour. Low contrast. A national tragedy.

Of course, they were fighting over that very issue. The Chinese wanted free colour, but the British decided to talk them out of it. With gunboat diplomacy. Things went poorly for the Chinese, and they only regained control over colour after World War Two.

The Japanese invaded China for their raw colour reserves. They needed more colour to continue their expansionist policies, you see.

One of the reasons that Mao was so popular was his nationalization of all colour in China. He was a dictator, though, so he abused it. Turned everything red.

It was pretty tricky to tell if someone was carrying a little red book when every book was just a shade of red.

Especially if you're high on opium.