The main contradiction in Chinese feudal society before the Opium War

Before the Opium War, China was an independent feudal state with a dominant feudal small peasant economy, so the main contradiction in Chinese society at that time was still the class contradiction between the feudal landlord class and the peasant class.After the Opium War of 1840, China began to degenerate into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society from a feudal society. The main contradictions in Chinese society were the contradiction between foreign capitalism and the Chinese nation, and the contradiction between feudalism and the masses of the people.

In 1840 (the 20th year of the Daoguang era), the British government decided to send an expeditionary force to invade China under the pretext of Lin Zexu's Humen Smoke Removal, etc. In June 1840, 47 British ships and 4,000 soldiers led by Rear-Admiral George Yilu and Commercial Superintendent Yilu arrived at the mouth of the Pearl River in Guangdong Province one after another to blockade the mouth of the sea, and the Opium War began. The Opium Wars ended with China's defeat and the payment of compensation and cession of land. China and Britain signed the Treaty of Nanjing, the first unequal treaty in Chinese history that humiliated and dishonored the country. China began to cede land, pay reparations, and agree on tariffs to foreign countries, seriously jeopardizing China's sovereignty, and began to degenerate into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, losing its independence and autonomy, as well as contributing to the disintegration of the small peasant economy. At the same time, the Opium War also opened a new chapter in the history of the modern Chinese people against foreign aggression.