Upon the completion in 1971 of my manuscript on Commissioner Yeh, I set out to trace the origins of the Arrow War. The dangers of embarking on a project which had no obvious or easy answers were quick to reveal themselves. The discovery of eagerly sought information simply raised more questions than it answered. The resolution of one problem merely produced more perplexities. Thus, the structure of an envisaged book continued to be erected, demolished, and rebuilt. Chapters were drafted, taken apart, and rewritten. Slowly but surely, I went beyond the boundaries of China into India, Great Britain, France, the United States, and Russia; and from political and diplomatic history to economic and imperial history, international law, and strategic studies. What began as an examination of an alleged insult to the British flag belonging to the boat Arrow led to an analysis of Chinese and British diplomacy; of Victorian passions; of the love-and-hate relations among Britain, France, the United States, and Russia; of Chinese tea and silk exports; of British India's economic strategies and opium monopoly; of Westminster politics and British global trade; and even of the cotton supplied to Lancashire mills by the Americans, who thereby made up the trade deficit caused by their heavy purchases of Chinese tea.

Consequently, the project went on for so long that some friends and colleagues thought it might never be completed; but not Professor Wang Gungwu. His wise counselling and staunch support from beginning to end is greatly appreciated.