Paperback
Victorian hypocrisy ignited a war, shaping China’s national identity.

The Opium War

Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China

$40.54

  • Paperback

    512 pages

  • Release Date

    12 March 2026

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Summary

‘A gripping read as well as an important one’ – Rana Mitter, The Guardian

In The Opium War, professor of Modern Chinese History and Literature Julia Lovell offers a compelling account of the causes and fallout of the Opium Wars.

In October 1839, Britain entered the first Opium War with China. Its brutality notwithstanding, the conflict was also threaded with tragicomedy: with Victorian hypocrisy, bureaucratic fumblings, military missteps, political op…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781035091324
ISBN-10:1035091321
Author:Julia Lovell
Publisher:Pan Macmillan
Imprint:Picador
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:512
Release Date:12 March 2026
Weight:340g
Dimensions:31mm x 129mm x 198mm
Series:Picador Collection
Audience Age:18
A-Format
B-Format
The Opium War by Julia Lovell - ISBN: 9781035091324
129 × 198 mm
C-Format
A4
mm / in
What They're Saying

Critics Review

A gripping read as well as an important one – Rana Mitter * Guardian *
Lively, erudite and meticulously researched * Literary Review *
An important reminder of how the memory of the Opium War continues to cast a dark shadow * Sunday Times *

About The Author

Julia Lovell

Julia Lovell teaches modern Chinese history at Birkbeck College, University of London. She is the author of The Opium War, The Great Wall: China Against the World and The Politics of Cultural Capital: China’s Quest for a Nobel Prize in Literature and writes on China for The Guardian, Independent and The Times Literary Supplement. Her many translations of modern Chinese fiction include Lu Xun’s The Real Story of Ah-Q, and Other Tales of China.

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