The Second Opium War was essentially a continuation of the Sino-British Opium War. Through the analysis and comparison of these two lessons, we can see that they are all part of the crime of capitalist powers invading and plundering the Chinese nation.

Both wars started with opium and ended in the humiliation of the Qing government. They are not isolated, but historical events with internal relations and characteristics. Therefore, in teaching these two classes, the method of vertical and horizontal comparison can make students have a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the whole process of these two historical events and phenomena, which is conducive to helping students see the essence through phenomena and cultivating students to observe with dialectical materialism and historical materialism.

First of all, there are similarities between the two Opium Wars. We can compare and analyze them and find out their similarities and differences.

Both wars were rooted in the invasion and expansion of the so-called western civilized countries. For the first time, Britain urgently needs to seize the commodity sales market and the origin of raw materials in order to get the privilege of buying cheap and selling expensive. The second time, Britain, France, the United States and other countries wanted to further open the China market, expand the rights and interests of aggression and legalize it. The so-called fuse of war is just an excuse to wage war. On this basis, we can sort out the essential problems reflected by this particular historical phenomenon. The excuse of the first Opium War was the anti-smoking movement in China, and the excuse of the second Opium War was the yarrow incident and the Ma Fu incident. Imagine that. No, they will still find another excuse to start a war, because they have chosen China as the target of aggression and have been planning for a long time, and the war will break out sooner or later. As the saying goes: if you want to add a crime, you can always find it.

In teaching, it is one of the principles that history teaching should follow to inspire students to understand the nature and cunning means of invaders, distinguish the characteristics of different historical periods, stages and development processes, and improve students' ability to distinguish things.

In these two anti-aggression wars, we try to compare the attitudes of the Qing government, patriotic officers and soldiers and the people of China. It is not difficult to see that the Qing government humiliated the country and the people were brave and unyielding. For example, during the First Opium War, in the Qing government, Daoguang was frightened and sent Qishan to Guangzhou to negotiate with the British army. Qishan compromised, Yishan surrendered, and Niu Jian chickened out. Later, the humiliating Sino-British treaty of nanking, the Sino-American Wang Xia Treaty and the Sino-French Huangpu District Treaty were signed one after another. Patriotic officers and soldiers and the broad masses of the people: Sanyuanli people fought against Britain, and Guan Tianpei, Ge and Chen Huacheng died heroically. During the Second Opium War, the Qing government did not seriously prepare for the war, and completely hoped for "mediation" between Russia and the United States. The British and French allied forces captured Tianjin, and Emperor Xianfeng fled to chengde mountain resort and finally signed it. The soldiers defending Dagubao opened fire on the invaders, and Dagu people braved the bullets to send cakes and noodles to the soldiers.

Let's analyze the nature, outcome and main reasons for the defeat of the war. What needs to be pointed out here is that the two Opium Wars were just wars for the people of China to resist foreign aggression. Britain, France and the United States were aggressors and unjust, and China was defeated. The main reason is the decadent feudal system, especially the long-term "closed door" of the Qing government.

So, what effect did the Opium War have on China? Before the war, China was an independent feudal country. After the war, the great powers seized huge rights and interests through a series of unequal treaties: China lost its territory, and China's territorial sovereignty, tariff sovereignty and judicial sovereignty were destroyed; Industrial products from capitalist countries are constantly being dumped into the China market, China's economy has been strangled, China has been reduced from a feudal society to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, China's social nature and main contradictions have changed, and the contradiction between feudalism and the masses of the people has become more acute, which has also aggravated the contradiction between foreign capitalism and the Chinese nation. The people of China were forced to shoulder the dual revolutionary tasks of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism, and the Opium War became a turning point in the history of China.

Through the comparative analysis of Tianjin Treaty, Beijing Treaty and treaty of nanking, we can further understand the robber face of the great powers and the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government in making concessions step by step.