Chinese Foreign Trade In The 19th Century

The nineteenth century was a period of unrest for china as it suffered through the opium wars. These wars that was fought with great Britain was to force china to open its doors to foreign trade. The hypothesis that trade creates foreign friendships and financial security will be proved untrue as I investigate and present how china is stripped of its wealth, dignity and territories.

China, which traded within its large borders was self sufficient. This self sufficiency is supported by this quote from Emporor Ch'ien Lung who said 'our celestial empire possesses all things abundant'. China produced superior and unique products compared to European export trade items. The superiority of the Chinese produced products is represented in the visit by Lord Macartney in 1793 who presented to the Chinese Emporer with optical and magnetic instruments and metalware and wedge wood dishes only to find the Chinese already had these things as well as better porcelain. Macartney recorded
The problem was that China had everything it needed, except silver so asked for payment in silver. The European powers desperate to trade with China found they did not have enough silver to trade. They weren't happy But it wasn't just a lack of silver the Chinese were charging high tariffs and customs duties that also needed to be paid. The European powers believed there was a trade imbalance. So the British searched for another item to trade in large quantities. They took Opium from their Indian colonies and took it to China where there was none. The Chinese quickly became addicted to the drug and traded their silks, tea and spices. This was a dirty tactic by the British, trading in a illegal drug. Would we tolerate this today? Look at recent events of a group of 9 Australia's who tried something similar bringing drugs from Bali to Australia - they got life imprisonment and the leaders were shot by firing