“Soldiers with stiff bodies” : rumors, stereotypes and the Chinese image of the British army during the First Opium War (1839-1842)

Searle, DA; Zhang, Yi

Abstract

One of the more curious aspects of the First Opium War was the circulation of two claims about British soldiers among Chinese officials, instigated by Commissioner Lin Zexu: their uniforms were so tight, if they were to stumble they would not be able to get up again; and, the men were “like fish,” so could function well at sea, but could not fight on land because they had become so used to the pitching and rolling of their ships. This article examines the extent to which these notions took on the quality of wartime rumors, which spread beyond generals and officials, extending into the general population. It considers the way in which the rumors functioned in different ways at different levels of society.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 26, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Aug 18, 2020
• Publication Date: Aug 18, 2020
• Deposit Date: Mar 3, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 18, 2022
• Journal: Journal of Modern Chinese History
• Print ISSN: 1753-5654
• Electronic ISSN: 1753-5662
• Publisher: Routledge
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 86-110
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17535654.2020.1759307
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/17535654.2020.1759307
• Related Public URLs: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rmoh20/current
• Additional Information: Access Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Modern Chinese History on 18th August 2020, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/17535654.2020.1759307.