… The Opium War of 1839–42 was short and
one-sided, due to the superiority of European
weapons, which came as a complete surprise
to the Chinese. In the first skirmish alone, in July
1839, two British warships defeated twenty-nine
Chinese ships. On land, the Chinese and their
medieval weapons were no match for British
troops armed with state-of-the-art muskets. By
the middle of 1842 British troops had seized
Hong Kong, taken control of the key river deltas,
and occupied Shanghai and several other cities.
The Chinese were forced to sign a peace treaty
that granted Hong Kong to the British, opened
five ports for the free trade of all goods, and
required the payment of reparations to the British
in silver, including compensation for the opium
that had been destroyed by Commissioner Lin.…
— Tom Standage
Which term best characterizes the events
described in this passage?
(1) industrialization (3) containment
(2) imperialism (4) cultural diffusion
