PROTESTS FROM CHINESE LEAD THE BRITISH LIBRARY TO SHOW DAMAGE CAUSED BY
TRADE IN OPIUM

The British Library has agreed to revamp an exhibition charting the history
of the East India Company in response to protests from the Chinese
community that it has suppressed the firm's role in introducing opium to
the country.

Campaigners from 17 Chinese community groups based in Britain had
threatened to picket the venue because "Trading Places a " the East India
Company and Asia" did not reflect the darker side of the company's activities.

The exhibition traces the rise and fall of the historic merchant group that
kickstarted European trade with Asia between the 17th and 19th centuries.

Formed by several merchants in 1600 after a charter was issued by Elizabeth
I, the company went on to become one of the most successful trading
companies in the world, dealing with India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Japan and Persia.

It was responsible for introducing everyday items such as tea, porcelain,
chintz and curry powder to Europe and was granted monopoly privileges on
its Asian trading.

However, the company used opium to buy tea from China, leading to a massive
influx of the drug into the country.

In 1834, the East India Company lost its monopoly, but opium retained its
grip in China and when, six years later, the Chinese authorities began
seizing the drug from British merchants, the two nations went to war.

British gunboats meant the war was a one-sided affair, as was the second
conflict from 1856 to 1860. The battles left millions of Chinese dead.

Steven Lau, editor of the website British Born Chinese, said: "The opium
wars mean similar emotions to the Chinese as the Holocaust does to the
Jewish people and this exhibition was not telling the whole truth of that
period of history." Organisers from the British Library invited Mr Lau and
other Chinese representatives to see the exhibition last week before
discussing their concerns about the exhibition.

Extra information on the impact of opium was added and the exhibition,
which runs until September, will show the Chinese film The Opium War in the
summer