Was the British empire a force for good? (part 1/2) | History - Empire

This clip tells the story of how Hong Kong came under British control, reflecting the Empire’s often ruthless pursuit of profit - opening up China for trade, at a cost of thousands of ruined lives. Subscribe for more History clips from BBC Teach on Thursdays when we have them in: http://bit.ly/BBCSubscribeTeach If you found this video helpful, give it a like. Share it with someone. Add the video to your own teaching playlists. Create an account, subscribe to the channel and create playlists for different age groups, sets and syllabuses. Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bbc_teach ===================== This clip shows the story of how Hong Kong came under British control, reflecting the Empire’s often ruthless pursuit of profit. The events were bought on by the English passion for a cup of tea. In the early 19th century, China was virtually the only place where tea was grown. But for 300 years, the country had been closed off from international trade. Tea brought significant revenue for the British government through taxation, but China was only prepared to trade in exchange for silver, creating a huge trade deficit for the UK. To get the tea they craved, the British had only one thing the Chinese craved even more – opium. The drug was illegal but there were an estimated 12 million peasants addicted in China. Selling South Asian opium for Chinese tea was one of the most lucrative deals empire traders had. So when China seized control of more than 1000 tonnes of British opium in 1839, the two great states were set on a collision course. The Chinese army were no match for Britain's gunboats, and the country was forced to open up to British trade. There are references to opium addiction in this clip. This clip is from the BBC series Empire. Jeremy Paxman travels the world exploring different aspects of the British Empire. He sets off in search of the extraordinary characters, burning ambitions and surprising principles which created an empire four times the size of ancient Rome. For our Empire playlist: http://bit.ly/BBCTeachEmpire For our Secondary History playlist: http://bit.ly/SecondaryHistory For Class Clips users, the original reference for the clip was p0168x1j. ===================== Teaching History? This clip should be viewed within a wider study of the impact of the British Empire. Students should be asked to use the clip as a means to assess if the British Empire was a force for good. The clip could be paused at intervals for pupils to give interim assessments and also to ask questions. Students might be surprised by the interpretation and could be encouraged to research this further but also investigate other interpretations of the role of the Empire. This clip will be relevant for teaching History. This topic appears in KS3/KS4/GCSE in England and Wales and GCSE in Northern Ireland. ===================== For more clips from other subjects at the BBC Teach YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/bbcteach More resources for teachers from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/teach More from BBC Learning Zone: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone More resources from BBC Bitesize: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education ===================== Subscribe to create your own customised playlists, and get notified about our latest clips. As we have them, new videos will be uploaded on the following days: Mondays: Biology, Computer Science, Music, Religious Studies Tuesdays: Drama and Performance, English Language, Maths, Physical Education Wednesdays: Languages, Media Studies, Modern Studies and PSHE, Physics Thursdays: Art and Design, Chemistry, Geography, History Fridays: Business Studies, Design and Technology, English Literature, Early Years