Comments by "F Liu" (@F_Liu) on "British empire killed 165 million Indians in 40 years: How colonialism inspired fascism" video.

I have always suspected the British people have not been taught their true colonial history at school, until I came across some secondary school educational materials (from my own family) about the Opium War. On first read, the narrative seemed to be fairly objective and factual in describing the event, but it clearly tried to paint the British as nothing but well intentioned business people, the sole purpose why they were in China (how can this be bad, right?). Then just as I was about to find out why it went to war, here came my shocking discovery: ''It had war(s) with China because China ran out of silver to pay for its opium...''. Luckily as a Chinese I was not prepared to allow my own family to be brainwashed with these lies. Anyway, I guess I now know why most British people think the Empire left nothing but great legacy in India and furthermore take it as a source of pride.
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@LisaTao Yep, I was furious as you are, to the extend I spent an hour after that educating my family the proper history of it. It is a constant battle, children are easily brainwashed (from both school and media/social media).
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@lie01234 There you have it!
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@kubhlaikhan2015 ''In the first place the British do NOT take great pride in the days of empire'' Public opinion surveys carried out both in recent years and the past paint a contradicting picture of the sentiment, but I guess you are allowed to deny them instead pretend to speak on behalf of the majority of your population. ''we are probably the most self deprecating and least jingoistic people on the planet.'' I am not sure about that, btw where are your protests against the Ukraine war? Since your government has been known to be very active on sabotaging the peace prospect of this conflict, you surely would object such uncharacteristic representation of your ''least'' jingoistic population, lol. Again, where are all the protests? ''Ordinary people reaped no rewards from empire, only hardship.'' They might have been overcharged by their merchants but nevertheless contributed to the huge demands of foreign imports, hence the booming businesses with China (and India), that eventually drove a trade deficit with these countries so high, they have to resort to selling opium basically, as a payment for Chinese goods. I am pretty sure the people then were aware of the existence of such immoral trade, or were they lied to as they have been today? ''As regards the "Opium War" in particular - opium did not have the negative connotations it does today. The ravages of today's heroin trade allow it to be portrayed as something far worse than it actually was.'' Again, this is not true, it was officially against the Chinese law to trade and consume opium and possibly illegal too in Britain, the British were fully aware of this Chinese law, oh yes they also knew very well the drug's harmful effects on people, In fact the Chinese emperor wrote to the Queen repeatedly to beg her basically to stop killing the Chinese people, but all were ignored, the British clearly chose profit over morality. ''The medicinal and recreational uses of opium do NOT lead automatically into depravity but in any case the Emperor's motives were not about the effects of opium but on the state of China's balance of trade.'' Lol, first I like here when you speak on behalf of the voiceless Chinese people, who themselves, their families and society all suffered at the hands of the British illegal drug trade. This is like essentially a drug dealer telling the drug addicts to not to worry about the ill effects just so that they can continue to profit from immorality. As I already mentioned in my last paragraph, the Chinese emperor wrote to the British state several times to ask Britain to stop trading this very harmful drug to poison its people, because he and his local officials witnessed the devastation of the drug trade caused, but here you repeat the same narrative as this secondary school materials, insist the British were all about trade... clearly they had no morals, and you are here defending it, what does that make you? ''The imbalance was preventing them minting more gold and silver coins which they needed in order to suppress revolts.'' This is total nonsense. The Chinese had been having a trade surplus with Britain, it was the British who was running out of gold and silver to pay for Chinese goods, hence Britain resorted to forcefully trade opium to balance its trade deficit, btw, what revolts are you speaking of in this case? To be vague or just make up some non existent ''revolts'' won't do I am afraid. The fact of the matter was very simple, the British opium trade was illegal and immoral with devastating effect on the Chinese and their normal trade, Chinese government had to take action to stop it - destroying opium at all cost - to save its people and country. Your narrative is the same as the secondary school material I mentioned in my OP, a pathetic attempt to whitewash British Empire's crimes. But you can only fool yourself you can't fool the people who ever suffered from British colonialism, especially when you try to do so by twisting truth or even outright lie as you did here. Best action you can take is to learn properly from your past and make sure it won't be repeated. You are a living proof of how your educational system have failed you on this.
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@reggiep75 You should have a museum about British colonialism, not the ones that glorifies it obviously, and make it a compulsory school visit for every British child. And you know I don't remember how many times Chinese people commenting their hearts ache and even burst into tears when they visit the British museum Chinese section.
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@kubhlaikhan2015 Still waiting for you to pick through my last reply and correct me on all the wrong info I put out! But I guess YOU. DON'T. HAVE. ANY. FACT to speak of, as usual, on China. (Oh, just in case you haven't seen them, that's right, YouTube has hidden them, sort comment by NEW and find my comment in the bottom, you will see all my replies to you)
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@Overwatch17 The ones who have been committing the most evil and standing on the wrong side of history will be first.
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@xueueux He wouldn't know, he only knows to repeat the CIA talking points. There is no such thing as Chinese imperialism in reality. Or he just loves to project.
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@Shiro Overwatch17 has no idea what he is talking about obviously. ''Expansion away from their native homeland, colonisation of areas that speak native (non Western) languages.'' is the perfect definition of Western colonization, the Chinese however have NOT done any of that. There is only one country where the Chinese language is spoken widely in its society, and that is China. Whereas in the US, the many native American's languages have died out and are replaced with the colonialist mother tongue. The same happened in other Western colonies in Asia and Africa. As I said he is projecting, this is a way perhaps to relieve his guilt of the evil deeds his people have subjugated others over the past two centuries.
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@nigelralphmurphy2852 You, I guess claim to be a real historian, your statements, although contain SOME known facts and some seemingly objective interpretations, I am afraid is still a biased narrative, very much favouring the British perspective. Yes, it is important to learn the actual facts related to the events but even more importantly is to know the different perspectives/interpretations that were risen from those facts. Seems to me you have little understanding of the Chinese perspective, I gather much of your ''facts'' come from English language materials written by ''historians'' from the English speaking world. And this makes quite a lot of difference on how facts were interpreted and how you see things. I am not a historian full stop but I think I am well educated on all facts I need to know on the matter, I also know well of the Chinese perspective (based on facts) on these historical events, their significance on China's recent history and effects on the Chinese' psychic. The most important point I want to make is the fact that China and Chinese people had suffered badly from British colonialism and imperialism, no amount of minimisation will brush that away, ever. Now lets look at what you said... or rather lets expose all the holes in your story. ''The decision to go to war in 1839 was passed by only nine votes.'' ''Opium sales were done in Guangzhou and were a partnership between Cantonese businessmen and companies like Jardines, and both parties profited handsomely. There was no trade with "China." The trade was with the Cantonese businessmen in Guangzhou.'' While ''votes'' to go to war with China (the state) were passed by the British parliament, yet you said the British state was NOT actually trading with ''China'' (the state), so who did Britain go to war with and on whose behalf - with some Cantonese businessmen and on behalf of some private British merchants?? The fact was the merchants WERE dealing on behalf of the interests of the British state, hence when its interests suffered damage (after large quantities of opium got destroyed by the Chinese government), it went to war with China. In other words, the British state officially sanctioned the ILLEGAL opium trade as well as benefitted massively from the profit of this trade. And I will just quickly mention that, even this British secondary school material admitted this, I quote, ''In the early 1800s Britain had increased the amount of Opium it sold to China and many merchants were beginning to use threats to force Chinese merchants into buying more Opium (from the British) than they needed (could sell).'' Btw, this school material is just a generic bullet points presentation about ''The Chinese Revolution'', so I don't know the name, author, and date of this material. ''The wars were about free trade, which the English had been requesting for almost 100 years, only to be rebuffed with increasingly humiliating dismissals by the Qing Court. Opium was a very distant objective of the wars. If your idea of ''free trade'' includes the force selling of a very harmful drug even when it was fully recognised (by the British) being illegal against the Chinese law, then I guess you can call it ''free trade'', lol. And the British HAD been able to trade freely at designated ports and merchant houses for more than 100 years without any problem from the Chinese authority until when the Opium trade, as I already mentioned in my other posts, started to cause devastating effects to both the welfare of the Chinese people and the country's normal trade activity, as in, an increasing imbalance of China's outgoing reserve (to pay for the opium consumption) but however the action of destroying opium is overwhelmingly due to the consideration of the state the Chinese people and their society's health are in rather than anything else. And yes, the wars were 1000% to do with Opium, or rather the destruction of the opium, and again I will quote from this secondary school material, '' These actions were a threat to British trade/profits so in 1840 the British government ordered naval warships to attack Chinese coastal areas.'' ''Also, you might have noticed it was only a minority of people in England who stated they felt pride in the British Empire. These must be the same people who voted for Brexit.'' There were two surveys you can refer to to find facts on this, both from YouGov.co.uk, I won't link to them, but you can search on Google, the older one from 2014 where 59% of the people surveyed feel proud of the British Empire, that is a clear majority. There are also 49% of the British people think that, overall, former British colonies are now better off for having been part of the empire. The more recent one from 2020, where 32 and 37 (respectively) percent of people surveyed say they view the British empire as more something to be proud of and neither to be proud nor ashamed of. This result change is I believe partly due to the BLM movements in recent years, otherwise, they should be largely consistent with the older survey. ''In fact, in the Treaty of Nanjing opium wasn't even mentioned (except as compensation for the opium Lin Zexu destroyed in the standoff just prior to the start of the 1839 war)'' ''The British Colonial Office sent very clear instructions to its people in China to not colonise a single square inch of China, as colonies are just a sinkhole of money and far more trouble than they're worth. '' You once again badly contradicted yourself and hiding important facts or just being ignorant. The Treaty of Nanjing is very much ABOUT the compensation for the destroyed opium and war expenses arose from opium destruction (the cause of the war), and about forcing China to open up more ports for British ''free'' trade including the continued illegal trade of Opium without any Chinese legal jurisdiction applying to it, and allowing the British to live in places in China without the local law and control being applied to them, the very definition of colonialism. ''The only reason the Brits demanded HK was so they could have their own trading post away from the tyrannical supervision of the Qing officials.'' This is a lie. Again, the Chinese had already assigned the British ports and places to conduct normal trade activities, without any complaint whatsoever until the time of the drug trade, and the forceful ceding of Hong Kong is just to enable the British to gain a permanent foothold to further and better colonise China, and ceding territories of another country by force is again the very definition of colonialism, however you try to spin it.
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@kubhlaikhan2015 Oh I saw you debunked the FACTS I spoke in my last reply! Very good keep it coming! LOL!
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@jokerwick Sadder still is the fact that in the eyes of the people of the West, they would be treated (discriminated against) the same way as a Chinese person born in China (disregard their political position), so they don't realize that hating themselves/their own people won't earn them any more respect. However, China being strong and independent DOES.
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@Thelma7361 ''The average Brit to know absolute bare minimum about the Empire, and it to be a pro British version, if they know anything at all'' is accurately reflected in the numerous surveys conducted on British people's attitude towards the British Empire. One from 2014 by YouGov revealed that 59% think the British Empire is something to be proud of rather than ashamed of and 49% think former British colonies are now better off for having been part of the empire. Even after the death of George Floyd/BLM protests in 2020, there were still 34% felt proud of the British Empire and 40% felt neither proud nor ashamed of. So yes, the result of being taught biased and whitewashed empire history in schools.
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@kubhlaikhan2015 Anyone attempts to minimise the detrimental effects of Western/British colonialism/imperialism/aggression/subjugation towards another nation is essentially in support of Western/British colonialism/imperialism/aggression/subjugation. The sentiments that countries should stop playing victim and find causes from within for the Western Empires' exploitation and injustice are typically shared by racists like yourself, so calling me a racist is clearly a projection of yours, like most of your nonsensical statements from your earlier comment, they appear to be nothing but projection. You pathetic attempt to link the Chinese internal injustice or even some so called secessionist movements with the British trade is absolutely absurd and you certainly have made this up in your wild imagination. Your bias against China is obvious, but you are entitled to your opinion and it remains that, because you have once again spoken of NO fact, to support your ridiculous accusation of China. I care little of your political ideology nor your membership or sympathy with an illegal cult, I care about the fact that Britain has committed severe crimes against humanity both in its colonial era and in recent history. The fact that your school system and media continue to hide and twist truth from your people is unforgivable and unjustifiable.
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@kubhlaikhan2015 You indeed know NOTHING about MY country, its history, its attitude, its school system or anything else as you said you never set foot there for a day. I however have lived in both China and UK for more than 20 years each. You can speak for yourself and take my facts as racial abuse all you like, but you can't change the fact your country is one of the most racist and ignorant country in the world, one that committed many crimes against the people of other countries yet completely failed to reflect and learn from your past wrong doings (still killing the Ukrainians as we speak). NO MATTER HOW ROSY OF A PORTRAY YOU WOULD LIKE TO PAINT OF YOURSELVES. The fact that majority of your people don't feel ashamed about the British Empire speaks volumes about your country.
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@kubhlaikhan2015 Your ignorance is ravelling at an incredible speed. I will just try one more time to correct all the misinformation and lies you put out for the people who happen to read our conversation. China has one of the strictest laws if not THE strictest laws on drugs among all countries on this planet. Any drug related crimes big or small receive indiscriminately severe punishment, it is NOT possible to have illegal drug trade performed on any Chinese online commerce platforms, so there your lies busted already. There are however still illegal drug related activities taking place inside China because of huge demands coming from mainly the West, yes Western companies (healthcare, pharmaceutical and more) trade/prescribe these illegal drugs to its population for the sole purpose of seeking profit (like what the West did with China with the opium trade). That is why all Western governments have made agreements to work with the Chinese governments (as well as other countries) to combat illegal drug trade, so NO, China does NOT export illegal drugs, another fat lie busted. China has 56 ethnic groups, the largest minority group being Muslims with a population of 26 million, served by 28,000 mosques in each and every town and city across China. There are also 44 million Christians in China served by 7000 churches located in every major Chinese city. There are 846,000 foreign nationals living in China, last time I checked it was the UK that has an increase of some 300% on racially motivated attacks on Chinese/Asian, not in China. There is NO such city called Peking. It is a name only how Western imperialists call the capital of China, it is called Beijing today, again only people have a view of China from the last century still use this term. Same for Sinkiang, the fact that you still use these terms shows your frame of mind still stays in the last century, so are your understanding of China, needless to say. Tibet has been a part of China since 1264, when Mongol led Yuan Dynasty of China incorporated it as an autonomous region. Inner Mongolia also became a part of China at around the same time when the Mongols conquered the whole of China. Xijiang (Sinkiang) has been a part of China all the way back to Han Dynasty (200 century BC) and the region was used as a trade route (silk road) ever since that time. Taiwan has been an official province of China since 1600s during the Qing Dynasty, with earlier migration coming from the Mainland as early as 1300s. Over 90% of Taiwan's population are of Han Chinese and they speak mandarin. I frankly don't care about your opinions of China, even though I can say based on what you've spoken so far that you are just as ignorant as an average Brit I have met (no surprise really thanks to your media and school system). I also am not going to debate with you if you personally feel the UK is a racist country or not, despite your own government brushed off its own commissioned report describing Britain's problem with institutionalised racism. Btw, it is completely alright for a White person to claim there is NO racist problem in his/her country, how laughable. You are dogging the topic under discussion by personally attacking me in order to deflect, distract from facts. I repeat again: Until Britain reflects and learns properly from its past wrong doings towards people of other nations, it will continue to be viewed by the people of the Global South as an existing force of colonialism/imperialism (as a matter of fact you still are), and you as a Brit is fully responsible for how your country is perceived. To me, Britain has been a force of evil, in the past and still today.
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@kubhlaikhan2015 ''You're a perfect example of why not doing drugs doesn't work.'' Are you someway hinting drugs did wonders to you? It can't have made you more ignorant, or can it?
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@Overwatch17 Lol, are they gonna be freed by the Anglo American freedom bombs, after being starved from medicine and food with your democratic sanctions, and put on IMF debt for the rest of their lives? After all, the Anglo Americans/Western Europeans do imperialism the best after 200 years of solid experience. Karma awaits for you all.
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@oceanwave4502 Indeed, sadly they have the most powerful propaganda machines (Hollywood, Western MSM) continue to brainwash the masses in the West and in other parts of the world. The West is the true revisionist twisting history in their favour.
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@wingaard LOL, only in your lying ''history" books, school text books and lying media. No amount of denying and whitewashing will get you out of all your 500 years of continued crimes against humanity. And worse, you never reflect.
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@wingaard Speak to them about what? About all the made up lies by you the real genocidal murderers, you lie you cheat you steal, Karma can't come to you soon enough.
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@lynnecromack4933 Apart from the virus came from an American biolab, lol, and of course not to mention millions of brown people the West murdered around the world with its illegal wars and invasions. Truth is hard to swallow for you I understand.
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@upadhyayrathiraj1518 The didn't because it was illegal to do so in Britain, they knew all along how harmful Opium is, but killing their colonial subjects (who they considered subhuman) was the least of their concerns.
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@krisstarring Great comment and thank you. Churchill was a racist and he didn't even bother to hide it. The fact that he is still regarded highly by most British if not by most in the Anglo English speaking world reflects how deceiving the British colonial narrative has been. I quote from article ''Deconstructing the cult of Winston Churchill: racism, deification and nostalgia for empire - Benjamin T. Jones'' ''According to author Tariq Ali (from book: Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes). He (Churchill) informed the 1937 Peel Report on the British mandate in Palestine that First Nations in North America and Australia had been colonised by “a stronger race, a higher-grade race”.'' ''According to former British PM Harold Macmillan, Churchill floated “Keep England White” as a campaign slogan for the 1955 election. Perhaps most damning is the recollection of Churchill’s friend, the politician Violet Bonham Carter: when asked his opinion on China in 1954, he reportedly replied, “I hate people with slit eyes and pigtails”.'' ''Churchill’s view that “Indians breed like rabbits” was surely relevant to his decision not to deliver food supplies to Bengal during this famine as a matter of urgency.'' He viewed Arabs as an inferior race compared to Europeans of any stripe, in the case of Palestine he accused the Arabs of behaving like ''a dog in the manger'', ''I do not agree that the dog in the manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have laid there for a very long time.'' Regards to the native populations, ''I do not admit for instance that a great wrong has been done to the red Indians of America or the black people of Australia, I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race a higher grade race or at any rate a more worldly wise race to put it that way has come in and taken their place. '' if a nation (Britain) regards a racist as their ''hero'', then you know something is seriously wrong with your educational system, and you know why today many ethnic minorities in Britain still consider (through their personal experience) British society is as racist as 30 years ago (according to a recent YouGov survey)
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