History secondary source

Question

I need help finding a credible secondary source showing the reasons why the Chinese signed the Treaty of Nanking, and a source indicating that China was not strong enough to fight Britain in the opium war.

Answer 1

Dear Edwin W. - There are a great many secondary sources for the history of China. Reference works that you will find useful include THE CAMBRIDGE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHINA edited by Brian Hook (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991) and ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHINA: THE ESSENTIAL REFERENCE TO CHINA, ITS HISTORY AND CULTURE edited by Dorothy Perkins (New York: Roundtable Press, 2000). Though it's an older work, CHINA: A NEW HISTORY by John King Fairbank (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1992) remains a solid, easy to read introduction to China's history and, as such, will be of great use to you. Alternately there is the CAMBRIDGE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY CHINA by Patricia Buckley Ebrey (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996). The subject of the Opium Wars (1839-42 and 1856-60) has been covered in quite a few books. Although written in 1975, THE CHINESE OPIUM WARS by Jack Beeching (London: Hutchinson of London) retains its value as an enjoyable narrative account.