Short Story

To pay for the tea from China, the East India Company grew opium in India and sold it for silver in China. After a Chinese attempt to stop this, the Opium War broke out.

The long-term effects of the opium trade were economically harmful to the Chinese. In “An Argument for Legalization,” senior official and advisor to Emperor Daoguang,

Opium came from opium poppy seeds, which were grown and sold under British ruling in India. The British East India Company developed a monopoly which took place in effectively growing opium and making profits and/or trading it with the Chinese in exchange for their premium good such as silk, porcelain, and tea. According to Memorials on the Legalization and Elimination of Opium by Xu Naiji and Yuan Yulin, they explained how the rise of opium prompted many debts and death around China. Opium became an addiction for many, from the poor to officials in government positions. Cutting off all access of trading opium would’ve started issues in the trading network, not just with Britain but with the Western countries as well. Instead of passing laws to completely ban opium, they reverted to only permitting the barbarian merchants to import opium to pay duty as a medication. This made it unacceptable for money to be involved with the product. According to Xu Naiji, smokers of opium were lazy, with no purpose in life and if they were caught smoking it, the only punishment was getting the opium confiscated. However, if any officer, scholar, or soldier were found smoking opium, the would be immediately dismissed from public employ. Yuan Yulin, a minister, believes that the expansion of opium is the government’s fault, being that they cannot decipher right from wrong; he thought it was unfair that prohibition of smoking opium only applied to the officers of the government, scholars, and military but not the common people. The British capitalized on the effects of opium, because many of China’s population were going to put forth their money, goods, etc. for

In conclusion, the 1839 “Letter to Queen Victoria” by Lin Zexu argued that Opium is a source of evil and pain and appealed to the Queen of Great Britain to abolish sale and smuggling of opium in China. Zexu did this through exemplifying the past trading relationship of China and Great Britain, also by moral persuasion, and last by means of warnings and

While most of the Western Hemisphere was undergoing drastic advancements, such as former colonies gaining their independence and transforming into more modernized nations, a lot of mishaps were occurring in the Eastern Hemisphere—China, specifically—a nation that was notorious for its isolation from foreign influences. European nations began to greedily eye China’s abundance of desirable resources, such as tea, porcelain, and silk. However, China had very little need or desire for European goods. In an attempt to resolve the trade imbalance Britain began importing opium into China, which would prove to be disastrous for the Chinese population. The dispute over the importation of the drug eventually led to the

In the beginning of the 19th century the British began to trade opium, an illegal drug, for tea with China which caused, “...the first Opium War...which resulted in a Chinese defeat and the expansion of British trading privileges...”This discrepancy in the trading relationship between the Chinese and the British caused China’s to forfeit their trading territory to the British. The outcome of the Opium War was a setback for the Chinese. Places where the Chinese previously conducted business was no longer available. Economical wars were not uncommon: “During the mercantilist period…a military...would deter attacks by other countries and aid its own territorial expansion.” The focus of many governments became to protect their economy by constantly gaining more territory to increase business. The change of China’s trade routes could have negatively affected the economy. If the Chinese economy were to weaken it could affect the economies of other countries that China interacted with. The Columbian Exchange, a network of trade routes throughout the world, caused the environment to change as, “ ...Old World crops such as wheat, barley, rice, and turnips...raveled west across the Atlantic, and New World crops...traveled east to Europe.” The exchanging of crops between the New World and the Old World, two different geographical areas,

China and British perspectives on the opium trade were contradistinctive and ultimately became the foundations of the Opium Wars in 1839-42 and 1856-60. The clash of opinions were not based around the narcotic opium itself but stemmed from a misunderstanding of cultures, conflicting economic behaviours and different ethical ideologies.

The Opium War was a major part of China’s history. There were many economic issues, (the high cost of importing opium), political issues (disobedience of Chinese ban on opium imports) and consequences of the British victory (Britain’s greater power over China) that precipitated the Opium war, but the British victory had the greatest impact on China because the extension of British power reduced China’s autonomy and made them more dependent on Europe. The high cost of importing opium had major consequences that weakened the Chinese economy and was a leading cause for the Opium War. Document A is a record of the British Imports and Exports at the Port of Canton.

When the trade monopoly of the East India Company started to end in 1834 and the United Kingdom declared that they want a free trade in China, the Chinese authority ignored their wish to close the Canton-System. So the East India Company had to illegally sell their Opium in China, illegally in the way that they violated the Canton-System as they did not only stay in Canton and also since they lost their trade monopoly their selling of Opium lead to much more selling of Opium by various merchants, what in the end lead to an overflowing amount of illegal Opium in

The aim of this investigation is to find the extent to which the British and Chinese trade of opium into China caused the corruption and eventual downfall of the Qing dynasty. The main body of this investigation focuses on the corruption and failure of the Chinese government in controlling British incursions, which caused its citizens to rebel and thus began the downfall of the Qing Dynasty. The introductions of opium to China and the effects it had on China will be assessed in accordance to origin, value, purpose, and limitation. The British and Chinese trade in relation to opium and its role of corruption in the Qing Dynasty will be analyzed also.

Britain’s inability to reverse the trade deficit led to its export of opium to China. Opium was addictive and brought profits for Britain. However, because opium was highly addictive and was causing sickness both physically and mentally, the Qing government banned the use of opium in China. In my view, the ban on opium was the major cause that irritated the British government, which gave rise to Britain’s decision on declaring war on

Xu’s memorandum advocates for the government allowing opium to be brought into China by foreign traders as a taxable good as the best way to combat the opium problem. Xu views strict laws against opium as ineffectual for tackling the drug problem in China, noting in the first paragraph that, “the more severe the interdicts against [opium] are made, the more widely do the evils arising therefrom spread” (Xu page 1). While he acknowledges the addictive and destructive effects of opium on those who use it, Xu believes that the stricter the laws proscribing the dissemination and use of opium, the more widely used the drug becomes. Xu argues that the prohibitions against the opium trade led to increased smuggling by foreign traders and increased use of the drug across China. Conversely, when the state’s policy towards opium was one of leniency, in which opium was allowed into China and taxed as a medicine, the issues involving opium were

The trading of opium included a lot of countries like Britain the U.S turkey India and Chinese markets. It all started because British merchants started smuggling opium into china to balance the purchases on tea for exports. When china found out what was happening the British send gunboats to attack chinese coastal cities. “China did not have the military capacity so they were defeated and forced to sign the treaty of Nanking and the British supplementary treaty”(Office of the Historian). These stated that some ports of china like Shanghai were open to British trade and residence.

The Opium Wars were a series of three wars between the Chinese and the British; primarily fought in regard to the illegal trade of opium in China during the 19th century. They manifested the conflicting natures of both nations and demonstrated China’s misconceptions of its own superiority. The Opium Wars resulted in the humiliating defeat of the Chinese to a country they considered to be “barbarians”.

Opium- an addictive drug originally used as a painkiller. It is obtained from the unripe seeds of the opium poppy and can be made into substances that a person can smoke causing relaxation, alleviated anxiety, and a state of euphoria. Continued use of the drug also induces deterioration to the mind and body of a person eventually causing death. The substance was therefore stated illegal in China during the late 18th Century yet consistently smuggled into the country via British merchant ships. As the Chinese placed more restrictions on trade in an effort to abolish the importation of opium, the battle against the drug raged on until war was unavoidable between England and China. It is this war that lasted from 1839-1842