Foreign Mud: Being an Account of the Opium Imbroglio at Canton in the 1830s and the Anglo-Chinese War that Followed

by Maurice Collis

Another enduring work by the brilliant historian Maurice Collis. First published in 1946 and long out of print, Foreign Mud is a marvelous historical reconstruction of the events surrounding the illegal trade of opium in Canton during the 1830s and the Opium Wars between Britain and China that followed. Based largely on voluminous documents written by British doctors, missionaries, merchants, and government officials, Collis's tale, far from being a dry assemblage of dates and facts, is a fascinating example of twentieth-century Orientalist "...you must picture the broad river puckered with little waves, the green sweep of the rice, on the horizon blue hills; you must conjure the many sorts of passing craft, the Mandarin house-boats, dainty and lacquered, the streamers and lanterns of passenger boats, the high tilted junks with demon-painted sterns; and you must plunge these images into a light more intense than we know in these countries, into a warmer wind and an air, purer and more scented than we can sniff except in dreams." Collis describes, in all its complexities, a moment in time when China is forced, after more than two thousand years of self-contained sufficiency, to open its doors to the culture, commerce, and evangelization of the Westthe casus belli , foreign the opium the British grew and shipped from India. Interspersed with various maps, plans, and illustrations, Foreign Mud is a historical narrative the reader will find more entertaining than any Spielberg film.

Genres: China, History, British Literature, Military Fiction, Nonfiction

318 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1946

About the author

Maurice Stewart Collis

Reviews

[Regine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather difficult book to get through, I am not a fan of the way Collis wrote. Having said that, the subject of this book is absolutely fascinating. If you're patient enough, this book gives you a great insight into the dynamics between the Imperial Manchu court and British merchants who came to trade in China. It is amazing how both sides (especially the british) utterly misunderstood how each other worked due to arrogance and cultural ignorance. The process of bureaucracy is a major part of this book too (Imperial Manchu or British, bureaucracy is once again pronounced, idiot.) A bonus for me was that this book practically writes a significant part of the history of Jardine and Matheson, a company which before reading this book, was only an entity that I always saw on financial news tickers.

A fascinating time in history.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly readable and fascinating account summarizing events leading up to the "Opium War" - but not very much on the war itself. Starting with an overview of the trade concessions granted by the Chinese Emperor for Westerners to buy and sell at Canton only (while less scrupulous merchants illegally traded in opium at additional ports up the Chinese coast), the book encompasses the assignments of Lord Napier and Captain Elliott as successive chief plenipotentiaries to Canton and their attempts to force trade wide open.

The book is mostly sourced from firsthand accounts and contemporary correspondence dating back to the 1830s; Collis himself wrote it in 1946, and the prejudices of both eras are on display, though fortunately less frequently than one might fear. The foolishness and clever stupidity of the British elite is well-represented, if not couched in such terms, as Lord Palmerston's refusal to issue any more than broad strategic guidance to Napier and Elliott hinder the development of a concerted and effective local policy.

This story isn't so much one about war; it is about the outbreak of war and about two cultures utterly alien to one another, with diverging strategic interests and foundational worldviews leading to fundamental disagreement, and internal factors turning that disagreement into armed conflict. For that reason alone, it's well worth reading.

[Tom]

Whenever I want to read some really off the wall and long forgotten gem, I turn to New Directions. This sounds like a classic example of what they do best.

[Andrea Shaw]

Dry. Only worth reading if you are a scholar of Hong Kong/China/UK history.