The Role of Opium in Trade Between Britain and China

Opium paved way for a heavy British presence in China. It was the main product that Britain exported to China and it became to cause major problems for China. It's popularity caused the British to gain the upper hand in Trade relations between the two countries. It was instrumental in Britain gaining a foothold in China. The table on page 567 demonstrates the drug's popularity and in China, as well as its huge impact on trade. More importantly it shows that because of Opium's popularity, China began to lose money by maintaining trade with Britain because they were importing more British goods then they were exporting Chinese goods; this also gave Britain a chance to spread its culture into China, which had been much harder before. The use of opium in the trade between China and Britain reminds me of how European powers exploited their trade partners in the slave trade by slowly gaining large presences in Africa while African kingdoms weakened each other in their own small wars, allowing them to be conquered easily.