Trade Imbalance Between China And China

Europe seemed to remain the most neutral in this desperate silver trade, choosing to remain only involved enough to observe. British merchants were not entirely reliant on trade to or from the Asian worlds so merely recorded how China received “nothing but silver” (Doc. 4) and the Portuguese use this to “their good advantage in China”. However, England could not remain completely unaffected as scholars such as Charles D’Avenant observed. Luxury goods especially spices and silks have become prominent in European culture. While Europe draws from Asia “nothing on solid use” it has “tasted of this luxury” (Doc. 8) and it is not advisable for England to pull out of this silver trade. England could afford to remain more objective, but it could not pull out entirely. It had roots planted early on, and it would cause severe social disturbance to tear them up.

The British wanted to do business with China after seeing the market potential because of the population, as well as the significant growth in the past two centuries. China’s population increased by 330 million people less than two centuries. The agricultural production in China was not able to keep up with the rapid increase in population. The British saw opportunity in this and believed that they could generate a great amount of money from the market. China’s refusal to trade with the British was

English needed the tea from China which was one reason caused British to negotiate with the Chinese to open more trade opportunity to the outsiders, and the denial of exporting tea to the British caused the later Opium War.

In the 19th Century British planned to invade China for economic reasons. It had no motives to conquer the state rather entice it to accept a free trade. The country was rich in tea which was in high demand not only in Britain but all over the world. China also had porcelain and silk which the Britons envied. The intruders did not have enough silver to buy the commodities thus opted for a barter system. Consequently, a war between the two states occurred. It was fought between 1848 and 1852 with China becoming unsuccessful due advanced military competence of Britons. The signing of an agreement between them then followed, and British was additionally awarded extraterritorial rights by China. However, the imperialism in China was a positive thing to the natives because it introduced trade and much education in the region which opened up opportunities.

British trade with China during the Qing dynasty from 1750 - 1900 was economically harmful for the Chinese, and the Chinese Imperial government responses were political. A document showing a Chinese citizen’s view on the events and how they played out would have helped me to better understand how it affected the people of China’s

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 letter Lin Zexu sent to Queen Victoria, we can say that the Chinese feel that foreign relations are only good if each country benefits from it and is not harmed. He states in the first paragraph, “If there is profit, then he shares it with the peoples of the world; if there is harm, then he removes it on behalf of the world.” This could be a strategy he uses to persuade the Queen to prohibit the sale of Opium to China. The reason for this request is because it is causing addiction problems and death due to overdosing. This is considered harmful which is why he believes the Queen should prohibit the sale of opium. The decision to end this trade only occurred after the emperors own son died after overdosing. It took an important individual

That is, until they were introduced to opium. They got hooked fast and it became extremely high in demand, in fact, opium became the most traded commodity in the world. China started out getting it from Great Britain, who was producing their opium in India. Soon though, the United States became the second largest opium providers to China; however, it was produced in Turkey and it was lower quality. Merchants in the U.S. used the money they made from selling opium to build railroads, universities such as Princeton, and small towns like Salem, Mass. Opium became such a large problem in China, that they declared it illegal. Because it was difficult to stop the trade of opium, China set up the “Canton System” which was made up of 6 rules. The first rule was that trade of opium was not allowed. The second rule was that trade in China could only take place in Canton. The third rule was that trade in China could only occur 6 months out of the year. The fourth rule was that merchants could not bring women with them to trade, decreasing their chances of staying. The fifth rule was that foreigners could not learn Chinese, and vice versa. This created a trade language, pidgin language. The last rule was that foreigners could only deal with Hong merchants. The Canton System was not very effective, as Europeans started smuggling opium. Commissioner Lin tried writing a letter to the queen to stop

In order to seek for profit, British merchants never stopped illegal behavior in China. Even after Lin Zexue sent a letter to Queen Victoria, British merchants still continued their business regardless of the laws in China2. During the process of prohibiting the opium trade in some of Chinese coastal cities, the conflict of interests between Chinese government and British merchants had become more and more severe. According to the document, British troops started to attack the forts at Taikok and Shakok [paragraph 2, line 3 to 4], and they invaded the inner river and besieged the provincial city [paragraph 3, line 1 to 2]. Taking into account of the lives of Chinese people, the emperor made an unusual concession, hoping that British troops would abstain from creating further troubles [paragraph 3, line 7 to 9]. However, contrary to Daoguang’s expectations, the British troop continued to offend Chinese territories [paragraph 4, line 2 to 4]. In Daoguang’s view, it was their concession at the beginning that led to the invasion of the British troop. Whereas he neglected one of the important reasons of the British invasion: Britain’s desire of opening the Chinese market in search for higher profits was restricted by the Chinese laws and policies3. In response to the British invasion, Chinese government dispatched Yikin and others to defend British troops with their own troops [paragraph 5, line 1].

In the early eighteen hundreds, Britain and other European countries demanded more and more Chinese commodities, especially tea and silk. However, only the port in Canton was opened to foreign countries, and Chinese would not take any other form of payments besides silver. The desire to make China into a free market that foreigners have more access to and the increasing, though illegal, European opium import to China eventually created tension between the European countries, especially Britain, and the Chinese government (Allingham Par. 1-2). The two battles fought and won by European powers were known as the Opium Wars. China’s politics, economy, and intellects were both positively and negatively

The appointment of Lin Tse-hsu as Imperial Commissioner at Canton was the catalyst that changed the trajectory of Chinese-British relations. Tse-hsu immediately began to shut down the opium trade at its source by exposing and punishing corrupt officials and seizing opium supplies without compensation. He wrote a letter to Queen Victoria requesting Britain forego further opium imports to China, citing Britain's banning of its use and trade within its own borders (Hooker). The Queen's refusal enraged Tse-hsu and he threatened to end trade with Britain altogether. Britain responded by using their superior military might to compel them to keep trade channels open and to remove the many trade restrictions currently in place, thus beginning the first opium war. It is important to note that the opium trade was merely the final straw amongst a heap of British-Chinese tensions. With a decisive victory in 1842, the Chinese were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanking, which significantly reduced their autonomy and awarded the British favorable trading conditions. However, by 1856, the British felt China was not abiding by the terms of the treaty and launched another campaign, the second opium war, that ended in 1860, and reduced China to something more

As early as 1793 the Qing Dynasty began to have trouble with their trades. When China began to work with the British for trade it became an exploitive exchange from the British. Western trade was limited to the Southern port of Canton (Guangzhou).This was known as the Canton trade system period (1757-1842). The Chinese government issued trading licenses exclusively to authorized merchants. These merchants would be the only ones allowed to deal with Western traders. This system helped keep trade with foreign countries running smoothly and, by extension, helped to eliminate the possibility of external threats. In Britain's case, as the demand for tea rose and the production of manufactured goods increased during the Industrial Revolution, it wanted to develop and increase trading opportunities and to establish diplomatic relations with China. This led to Macartney's famous British mission to China in 1793. China began to enforce rules that were as fickle as wind, England decided to send lord Macartney as an Ambassador to Emperor Qianlong to negotiate safer and

Although he and many other Chinese saw this as a means of ridding the country of this evil drug, Britain took this as an insult. The British had felt as though this was a destruction of private property and that it created a large loss of revenue for them. But it must be taken into consideration the fact that Lin had demanded the halt of the product as he claimed that it was a harmful, addictive drug and Britain was unwilling to comply. As well the British government new this was an illegal substance in China and the selling of it would be involved with piracy and smuggling, but went along with it anyhow. [10]

There were many problems with the system of trade in China; even before opium trading began. China, believing herself to be the most civilized and advanced country, did not feel the need to satisfy Britain, a “barbarian” country’s request for freer trade and were concerned the British wanted land. Britain however,

It was such threats that prompted Palmerston of England to dispatch a warship to China to protect British property in 1837. Despite this, China still raged on against the narcotic and in March of 1839 convinced the head of the British trade commission at Canton, Captain Charles Elliot, to hand over more than 20,000 chests of opium. However, after the killing of a Chinese by drunken seamen and the lack of punishment put forth on them by the British, Lin suppressed all trade with England and proceeded with other measures as well. Lin ordered that delivery of all rice, tea, meat and fresh vegetables to the anchored ships at Macao to be intercepted and cut off. Freshwater springs that were known to be used by the British at various points along the coast were poisoned. Large banners were posted to warn Chinese villagers not to drink from the streams. Lin then pressured the Portuguese authorities at Macao to evict the British from their harbor, under penalty of severe trade restrictions. These drastic measures forced all of the British ships to retreat from Macao to Hong Kong by the middle of August.