Class 9 NCERT - Solved Question Answers Documents

 Page 1


In 1839, the Chinese Emperor sent Lin Ze-xu to Canton as a Special Commissioner 
with instructions to stop the opium trade. After he arrived in Canton in the 
spring of 1839, Lin arrested 1,600 men involved in the trade, and confiscated 
11,000 pounds of opium. Then he forced the foreign factories to hand over their 
stocks of opium, burnt 20,000 crates of opium and blew the ashes to the wind. 
When he announced that Canton was closed to foreign trade, Britain declared 
war. Defeated in the Opium War (1837-42) , the Chinese were forced to accept 
the humiliating terms of the subsequent treaties, legalizing opium trade and 
opening up China to foreign merchants.
Before the war, Lin wrote a strong letter Queen Victoria criticizing the trade in 
opium. Here is an extract from Lin’s ‘Letter of Advice to Queen Victoria’.
“All those people in China who sell opium or smoke opium should receive the death 
penalty. We trace the crime of those barbarians who through the years have been 
selling opium, then the deep harm they have wrought and the great profit they 
have usurped should fundamentally justify their execution according to law. …
We find your country is sixty or seventy thousand li [three li make one mile, 
ordinarily] from China. Yet there are barbarian ships that strive to come here 
for trade for the purpose of making a great profit. The wealth of China is used 
to profit the barbarians. That is to say, the great profit made by barbarians 
is all taken from the rightful share of China. By what right do they then in 
return us the poisonous drug to injure the Chinese people?...Let us ask, where 
is your conscience? I have heard that the smoking of opium is very strictly 
forbidden by your country; that is because the harm caused by opium is 
clearly understood. Since it is not permitted to do harm to your own country, 
then even less should you let it be passed on to the harm of other countries 
— how much less to China!”
Source: 
From Ssuyu Teng and John Fairbank, China’s  
Response to the West (1954)
 (i) When did the Chinese Emperor send a Special Commissioner to stop the opium 
trade?
 (ii) Why did the Emperor want to stop the opium trade? Did he get success in his effort?
 (iii) What did the Special Commissioner estimate?
 (ii) The land was enclosed to increase 
grain production for the rising English 
population which multiplied over 
four times between 1750 and 1900 
mounting to 7 million in 1750 to 21 
million in 1850 and 30 million in 
1900. This increased the demand for 
foodgrains to feed the population.
 (iii) Due to industrialisation in Britain, 
urban population grew. Men from 
rural areas migrated to towns in 
search of jobs. To survive, they had 
to buy foodgrains in the market 
which expanded and eventually, the 
foodgrain prices rose high.
 (iv) By the end of the eighteenth century, 
France was at war with England. 
This disrupted trade and import of 
foodgrains from Europe. Prices of 
food grains increased encouraging 
landowners to enclose lands. 
Enclosures were also important for 
long-term investments on land and 
to plan crop rotations for maintaining 
soil fertility. Thus, the Parliament 
passed the Enclosure Acts.
 V. Source-based Question
 Q. Read the following extract (Source E) 
taken from NCERT textbook, page 133 
and answer the questions that follow:
Page 2


In 1839, the Chinese Emperor sent Lin Ze-xu to Canton as a Special Commissioner 
with instructions to stop the opium trade. After he arrived in Canton in the 
spring of 1839, Lin arrested 1,600 men involved in the trade, and confiscated 
11,000 pounds of opium. Then he forced the foreign factories to hand over their 
stocks of opium, burnt 20,000 crates of opium and blew the ashes to the wind. 
When he announced that Canton was closed to foreign trade, Britain declared 
war. Defeated in the Opium War (1837-42) , the Chinese were forced to accept 
the humiliating terms of the subsequent treaties, legalizing opium trade and 
opening up China to foreign merchants.
Before the war, Lin wrote a strong letter Queen Victoria criticizing the trade in 
opium. Here is an extract from Lin’s ‘Letter of Advice to Queen Victoria’.
“All those people in China who sell opium or smoke opium should receive the death 
penalty. We trace the crime of those barbarians who through the years have been 
selling opium, then the deep harm they have wrought and the great profit they 
have usurped should fundamentally justify their execution according to law. …
We find your country is sixty or seventy thousand li [three li make one mile, 
ordinarily] from China. Yet there are barbarian ships that strive to come here 
for trade for the purpose of making a great profit. The wealth of China is used 
to profit the barbarians. That is to say, the great profit made by barbarians 
is all taken from the rightful share of China. By what right do they then in 
return us the poisonous drug to injure the Chinese people?...Let us ask, where 
is your conscience? I have heard that the smoking of opium is very strictly 
forbidden by your country; that is because the harm caused by opium is 
clearly understood. Since it is not permitted to do harm to your own country, 
then even less should you let it be passed on to the harm of other countries 
— how much less to China!”
Source: 
From Ssuyu Teng and John Fairbank, China’s  
Response to the West (1954)
 (i) When did the Chinese Emperor send a Special Commissioner to stop the opium 
trade?
 (ii) Why did the Emperor want to stop the opium trade? Did he get success in his effort?
 (iii) What did the Special Commissioner estimate?
 (ii) The land was enclosed to increase 
grain production for the rising English 
population which multiplied over 
four times between 1750 and 1900 
mounting to 7 million in 1750 to 21 
million in 1850 and 30 million in 
1900. This increased the demand for 
foodgrains to feed the population.
 (iii) Due to industrialisation in Britain, 
urban population grew. Men from 
rural areas migrated to towns in 
search of jobs. To survive, they had 
to buy foodgrains in the market 
which expanded and eventually, the 
foodgrain prices rose high.
 (iv) By the end of the eighteenth century, 
France was at war with England. 
This disrupted trade and import of 
foodgrains from Europe. Prices of 
food grains increased encouraging 
landowners to enclose lands. 
Enclosures were also important for 
long-term investments on land and 
to plan crop rotations for maintaining 
soil fertility. Thus, the Parliament 
passed the Enclosure Acts.
 V. Source-based Question
 Q. Read the following extract (Source E) 
taken from NCERT textbook, page 133 
and answer the questions that follow:
 Ans. (i) In 1839, the Chinese Emperor 
sent Lin Ze-xu to Canton as a Special 
Commissioner with instructions to 
stop the opium trade.
 (ii) The Emperor was aware of the dangers 
of opium addiction. Therefore, he 
wanted to stop its trade.
    No, he did not get success in his effort 
because Britain, by declaring a war 
against China, forced it to legalize 
opium trade.
 (iii) Lin Ze-xu, the Special Commissioner 
at Canton in 1839, estimated that 
there were over 4 million opium 
smokers in China.
 VI.  Picture-based Question
 Q. Observe the picture given below, 
taken from NCERT Textbook page 
129, carefully and answer the 
following questions:
 (i) What has been shown in the above 
picture?
 (ii) When and why did it take place? [HOTS]
 Ans.(i) The above picture is of Black Blizzard. 
It refers to the violent terrifying  dust-
storms that began blowing over the 
southern plains of America during 
1930s. 
 (ii) The expansion of wheat agriculture led 
to terrifying dust-storms in the 1930s. 
In the early 19th century, zealous 
farmers had recklessly uprooted all 
vegetation, and tractors had turned 
the soil over and broken the sod into 
dust. As a result, the whole region of 
the Great Plains had become a dust 
bowl.
TEST YOUR SKILLS
 1. Mention any two disadvantages of the 
mechanical harvesting machines in 
the USA.
 2. Name the countries which were 
involved in ‘Triangular Trade’.
 3. What is meant by the Enclosure 
Movement? What problems did it pose 
before the poor?
 4. Under what circumstances did 
terrifying dust-storms begin to blow 
over the southern plains?
???