I also found weird the logistical nightmare : England had to send and supply troopers to the other side of the world, in a time when there wasn’t air transport. China had it all at home, thousands of soldiers.
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China had a massive population and economy… but they were ages behind Europe in military power and technology. And Europeans certainly helped keep them that way too, as any fight against the vastly superior forces of Europe was a sure Chinese humiliating defeat.
China at the time could easily be viewed as a very backwater, behind the times, and frankly backwards seeming military. They had tons of troops and resources, but their ability to fight and tactics to fight war laughable compared to Britain’s modern naval and land forces even though they sailed across the world to get there.
Also to be clear, it wasn’t a quick victory, it took a long time, and lot of effort, on both sides. But the battle was won before a shot was ever fired, Britain had no chance to lose, they were vastly superior, fighting an force that was underwhelming, had poor strategy and leadership, and were quite primitive in comparison… Britain had modern (for the time) naval weapons, cannons, artillery, and so on… China had jack shit to compare.
They had nothing like the caliber of cannons or ships that the British had. They had firearms, but very archaic ones.
Try winning a war when a good chunk of your population is doped up on opium provided by the enemy
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