The Opium Trade and Imperialism in China

Throughout her history and up until the early 19th century, mainland china was ethnocentric, independent and didn?t need to import products from the westbound countries (OBrien & international axerophtholere; Encyclopædia Britannica). However, with the display of the illegal opium trade, mainland China became the area for conquests for many countries from europium Asia and the united States. For countries such as Great Britain, the opium trade was a average of establishing imperialism in China, through first make China go over against her isolation policies in trade with the Western nations, and then auberge China into wars that would lead to China?s division into ?spheres of bow? and the Open Door Policy. There was an unmistakable imbalance in trade between the Western Nations and China. Chinese products such as tea, silks, and porcelain pottery were strongly demanded in Europe, dapple the products manufactured in Europe had low value for the Chinese. The Chinese t raded these goods for silver and gold, making the trading conditions not profitable for the Europeans. hence when the British spy the benefits of the opium trade established by the Portuguese in China, they came up with new methods of quick and cheap goal of opium poppies in Bengal, an Indian province controlled by the British (Encyclopædia Britannica & O?Brien).

British smugglers were nowadays illegally importing opium into the country, winning advantage of the pass around of the drug addiction. According to the China Year Book of 1916 ?The poppy has been cognise in China for 12 centuries, and its medici nal use for 9 centuries. . . . The importat! ion, however, continued to increase, and by 1790 it amounted to over 4,000 chests annually. In 1796 opium smoking was again prohibited, and in 1800 the importation of extraneous opium was again declared illegal. Opium was now contraband, but the fact had no effect on... If you want to relieve oneself a full essay, order it on our website: BestEssayCheap.com

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