China and the world before the Opium War.

From the beginning of the Qing Dynasty to the eve of the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty was still an independent feudal country, and the previous national situation began to decline from the end of Qianlong. The feudal system seriously hindered the development of the new modern economy.

In the middle of Ming Dynasty, the development of capitalism was very slow. Before the Opium War, the self-sufficient natural economy, which combined small-scale peasant economy with cottage industry, always occupied the dominant position in China's social economy. Land annexation is becoming more and more serious, which has become a common phenomenon in China. Bureaucratic corruption and feudal autocracy developed to the extreme.

The Qing government used the "Four Books" and "Five Classics" to imprison people's thoughts and brutally suppress those who were dissatisfied with or commented on current politics. National defense is empty and armaments are slack. In terms of foreign relations, the long-term closed-door policy of Qing Dynasty seriously hindered China's foreign trade, social politics and economic development.

Extended data:

In the Opium War, the most intuitive presentation was the gap between weapons and equipment, and the disadvantages of the Qing army in this respect were obvious. During the Opium War, the Qing army was mainly equipped with imitation soil guns, supplemented by knives, spears and bows, while the British army was equipped with the most advanced muskets in the world at that time.

The guns used by the Qing army are basically the same as those used by the British army in style, but due to the huge difference in quality, their range, firing rate, firing accuracy and power are far less than those of the British artillery. Just like this, during the whole war, the Qing army did not sink a British warship, but its position was full of holes.

The Qing dynasty, which was inferior in weapons to people, was superior in strength. At that time, there were about 200,000 Eight Banners soldiers, 600,000 green campers and 800,000 troops. The British forces are much smaller, and the total number of local and overseas forces is only 200,000. Compared with the Qing army, it is about 1: 4.

What is related to quantity is quality. Once the Qing army was recruited, it became a lifelong career, from the young to the old, and the soldiers were uneven in age, which greatly affected their combat effectiveness. Being a soldier is also a hungry profession. In order to make a living, Qing soldiers also help others, rent land and so on.

Judging from the current situation of the Qing army, it is not a pure national defense force at all, but has three functions of police, internal security and national defense force at the same time. Such an army can barely cope with thieves and people, but it has no strength to fight back in the face of a modern world-class army.

Check the source: Baidu Encyclopedia-The First Opium War