As a Singaporean Chinese (mom's from Hong Kong), I often hear how the British victory in the Opium Wars was the start of some tumultuous downturn for the Qing Empire, even though I understand its actual fall to be the abdication of the throne in 1911.
At the same time, I'm also reading Jonathan Spence's God's Chinese Son, discussing how the Taiping rebellion killed millions around the same time period- and that was just one of many similar events. Yet I seem to see most of these discussed very abstractly- in terms of some sort of general 'loss of legitimacy' for the Qing, or even the idea of a loss of sovereignty (if such a concept isn't anachronistic when applied)
I suppose this means I have two questions. To what extent were the Opium Wars responsible for the fall of the Qing some 50 years later, in light of other events; and how reliable is most Chinese historiography regarding this 'century of humiliation'?
I don't have answers to your questions, but I would highly recommend Peter Ward Fay's "The Opium War" as a solid source for getting to know about the Opium Wars and their impact. I haven't read it myself:), but I found his book "The Forgotten Army" one of the most thoroughly researched and balanced treatments of the Indian National Army when I started researching that topic.
"The Opium War" has been on my reading list for some time now, and I will finally order it soon--thanks for your question.