A Few Posts on Macao IV – The 1841 Monument

A final post from a recent trip to Macao and some photos of the monument to the British army and navy members that composed the 1841 China Expedition. That expedition was part of the First Opium War and mostly was formed to fight what became known as the Battle of Canton in May 1841.

In January the Royal Navy had shelled around Canton creating beachheads and by May they were able to force the city to surrender. The British then bombarded and looted the city. Both the Chinese and British then retreated with fierce skirmishing. By June British forces had left the area.

The interesting thing about this fight in the overall First Opium War is that it saw civilians take matters into their own hands. The British had ended up fighting an 8,000 strong Chinese civilian army which proved far more effective than the Qing army had been. It was the civilian army (bolstered by 12,000 additional civilian soldiers from the north) that eventually forced the British to terms and not the Qing forces. This experience was to severely dent the reputation the Qing.

A Few Posts on Macao I – Chinnery Mosaics

A Few Posts on Macao II – Chinnery’s Grave

A Few Posts on Macao III – The Old Protestant Cemetery