David Cameron and four Cabinet ministers wore poppies in defiance of Chinese demands to remove them yesterday.
The Prime Minister was told that allowing his delegation to sport the symbol would cause grave offence because it would remind Chinese ministers and officials of the Opium Wars.
Also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, they were the climax of trade disputes between China and the British Empire over Chinese attempts to restrict British opium trafficking.
China was defeated in both the First Opium War, from 1839 to 1842 and the Second Opium War from 1856 to 1860.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the second war, which ended when British and French armies arrived in Peking and razed the Emperor's Palace to the ground.
The British victories in both conflicts apparently still weigh heavy on Chinese minds, since the prospect of British ministers and officials wearing poppies while attending this week's talks in Beijing prompted horror.
The poppy is the source of opium and Chinese officials were apparently unfamiliar with its importance in Britain in commemorating our war dead.
Mr Cameron, who is attending a ceremony in South Korea tomorrow to mark November 11, refused to remove his poppy, as did Chancellor George Osborne, Business Secretary Vince Cable, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne and Education Secretary Michael Gove, who are all accompanying the Prime Minister in China.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
LOL!! I should have had a "No Brits" qualification..
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Someone could point out to chinese officialdom that the species of poppy worn to commemorate WWI dead is rather different from the ones which produce opium.
Stupid, just like complaining about California poppies.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Would anyone mind if I point out that the British were wrong in the this particular war? The Chinese national government had the right to keep out any product they wished. And it is understandable why the Chinese would want to keep opium out of the country; it was destroying their nation.
But the poppy thing is dumb. A people should be able to accept history as history.
Soon, I’ll post my farewell message. The end is starting to get close. There are many misconceptions about me, and before I go, to live with my ancestors on the steppes, I want to set the record straight.
