Opium Trade

The table on page 567 illustrates how much the British took advantage of China's weaknesses. China had already fallen apart, and their government did not have control of their people. There was also a huge economic problem, because China's natural resources could not provide for their huge population. Because of these weaknesses, Britain knew they could trade with China unfairly and the Chinese government wouldn't be able to do anything about it. The table shows that opium imports were more more than double cotton and other items. The fact that opium was an highly addictive drug, and that everyone wanted it, made it even more difficult for the Chinese government to stop the illegal trade. Not only this, but many Chinese officials were corrupted because they were bribed by the British importers, and because of their own addictions they were unable to do anything about the problem. Also, the table shows that the money China is gaining (23,852,899 in Spanish dollars) was much less than the money it was losing to Britain for it's imports (32,426,623) which were more than 50% opium.
We can relate this problem to the 21st century because opium is similar to other drug trafficking problems in the world today, such as marijuana.