Lesson One

The First Opium War – Lesson 01

Views of Opium Production, Part One

Introduction
The First Opium War by Peter Purdue contains collections of images produced by two eyewitnesses to opium production in India, one a British officer recording the process in sketches, the other an Indian artist who created a series of paintings. Students will compare and contrast these two visual accounts of opium production.

Lesson 01 is designed to accompany a classroom unit on the Opium Wars. Prior to conducting the lesson, students should have knowledge of the opium trade's economic and human effects on China, Chinese government efforts to halt the trade including negotiations with Britain, and the increasing hostility leading to the First Opium War in 1841.

Grade level
High school world history, Asian studies, U.S. history

Objectives
At the conclusion of this activity, students will be better able to:

Discuss the causes and results of the Opium War.

Analyze individual and national perspectives on British opium production in its Indian colony in the 19th century and compare and contrast these narratives.

Develop visual literacy and historical document analysis skills.

Time required
Homework and 1-2 class periods.

Materials and preparation
Online access to Lesson One Mini-database One (or printed copies) for ½ of class.

Online access to Lesson One Mini-database Two (or printed copies) for ½ of class.

Handouts 01-A and 01-B for all students.

Procedure
1. For homework, assign students to read chapter one of the Essay, “Opium Trade” and chapter two, “Production & Consumption.”

2. In class, review the origins of the opium trade and the international friction surrounding its explosive growth in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Remind students that producing and trading opium was hugely profitable for the East India Company by the mid 1830s, reversing the drain of silver that had plagued the British government—a result of that country’s unbalanced trade with China. The East India Company supervised opium production on a massive scale in the British colony of India, establishing its main production center at the town of Patna, 600 miles from Calcutta. Under the East India Company, Indian laborers worked the poppy fields and prepared the opium for export. Laborers were worked hard, with production quotas.

3. Divide the class into two groups; within each group have students divide into working pairs. Students can work on computers with online access to MIT Visualizing Cultures, or teachers can print the images in Lesson One Mini-database One and Lesson One Mini-database Two in advance for student use. Students working in Group One will examine the set of six images of opium production by the British artist (Mini-database One) and students working in Group Two will work with the collection of paintings by the Indian artist (Mini-database Two). Students should not be told in advance which artist’s work they have.

Instruct students to examine each image in their collection carefully, and to also look at the set of images as a whole; and to pull out information from each image using Handout 01-A, “Image Analysis Questions,” as a guide.

4. When students have completed the exercise, share information on which group had the British artist (Group One) and which had the Indian artist (Group Two). Ask volunteers to tell the class how they determined the nationality of their artist. What clues gave the artist away?

5. Explain to students that each set of images tells a different story—or, perhaps, one slice of the full story—of opium production. If historians looked at only one set of images, they would have a very different knowledge of opium production than if they had access to both sets of images.

Each set of visuals conveys the piece of opium production known to the particular artist. In addition, each set of images is subjective—what the artist chose to convey and how he chose to convey it. In the case of these two visual representations, there may be point-of-view of the artist as an individual and there may also be national perspectives represented in the work. Finally, the different media—painting vs. black-and-white engraving—may add a dimension to the story. Clarify all these variables and insure that students understand each one and its potential impact on the story the artist told. Students are to consider all these aspects as they take the next step of comparing the two sets of graphics.

6. Divide the class into small groups that include students from Group One and Group Two. Distribute Handout 01-B and assign students the task of comparing the image collections they viewed and to look for similarities and differences across the two depictions of opium production. Allow time to complete the comparison and worksheet.

7. As a class, discuss the two image sets in terms of the impression of opium production they create.

Share adjectives and adverbs attached to each set.

Ask students to comment on the different impressions made on the viewer by the black-and-white etchings vs. the color paintings. How does the color affect the viewer’s impression? How do the detail and the focus affect the viewer’s impression? What is the impression one gets of opium production looking at the British engravings? The Indian paintings?

Does either collection convey a point-of-view about opium production? If so, what?

Does either collection raise a response about the ethics or morality of opium production? If so, how?

Does either give a sense of the end user and the impact on that person? Any sense of larger context of opium production?

8. To conclude the lesson, have students take the role of either the British artist or the Indian artist. In the voice of the artist of his or her choice, each student should write a persuasive essay explaining why his or her collection should be used in a museum exhibit on the history of the opium wars. Essays should point out the strengths of the artist’s own work as a historical document as well as shortcomings and omissions in the other artist’s work. Allow time for students to share their work in class.

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