美国来华传教士与晚清鸦片贸易

American Missionaries in China and the Opium Trade in Late Qing

本文通过对晚清时期的历史资料,对美国传教士对西方对华鸦片贸易的看法进行了探讨。文章认为,19世纪30年代,日益猖獗的英美对华鸦片贸易引起的灾难性后果,不仅迫使清政府对鸦片采取严禁政策,来华美国传教士对这种贸易的批评与谴责也日益严厉。美国传教士的反鸦片贸易观对美国国内舆论及《望厦条约》的签订产生了不可忽视的影响,同时影响了美国对华鸦片贸易政策。然而,《天津条约》签订前后,美国传教士鸦片贸易观的转变扭转了美国对华鸦片贸易政策,在一定程度上加速了鸦片贸易的最终合法化。

Through the study and carding of historical materials in the late Qing period, the article discusses the views of American missionaries on Western opium trade in China. The article holds that the disastrous consequences of the growing opium trade of Britain and the United States in China in the 1830s not only forced the Qing government to take severe measures to ban opium, but also aroused strong condemnation of the trade by American missionaries in China. The opposition of American missionaries to opium trade had an important effect on American domestic public opinion as well as the conclusion of the Treaty of Wanghia. It also exerted an influence on America’s opium trade policy in China. However, around the time of the signing of the Tientsin Treaty, the view of American missionaries towards the opium trade changed, which led to the change of American opium trade policy in China and, to a certain extent, to the acceleration of the final legitimatization of the opium trade.