I realise that the chinese believed in the mandate of heaven, but still I think that the British military and navy would seem imposing even to the Chinese.
/u/EnclavedMicrostate has a great series of posts tackling this and many other issues in the Opium wars: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/8v2254/saturday_showcase_june_30_2018/e1jwkje?utm_source=reddit-android
Final installment with links to all others: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/92mckv/saturday_showcase_july_28_2018/e36pa8q?utm_source=reddit-android