A history of trading coffee tea and opium in the nineteenth century in china

Chinese export lacquer tea chest with scenes of tea trading the interior fitted with metal canisters, circa In an age of social change opportunists saw tea as a way of profiteering from a commodity, which after all was hyped with the blessing of the government. It is not easy to be certain how much tea was sold for.

See Article History Opium trade, in Chinese historythe traffic that developed in the 18th and 19th centuries in which Western countries, mostly Great Britainexported opium grown in India and sold it to China.

The British used the profits from the sale of opium to purchase such Chinese luxury goods as porcelain, silk, and tea, which were in great demand in the West. Opium was first introduced to China by Turkish and Arab traders in the late 6th or early 7th century ce.

Taken orally to relieve tension and pain, the drug was used in limited quantities until the 17th century. At that point, the practice of smoking tobacco spread from North America to China, and opium smoking soon became popular throughout the country. By it had become such a problem that the Yongzheng emperor ruled —35 prohibited the sale and smoking of opium.

That failed to hamper the trade, and in the Jiaqing emperor outlawed opium importation and cultivation. In spite of such decrees, however, the opium trade continued to flourish. Early in the 18th century the Portuguese found that they could import opium from India and sell it in China at a considerable profit.

By the British had discovered the trade, and that year they became the leading suppliers of the Chinese market. The British East India Company established a monopoly on opium cultivation in the Indian province of Bengalwhere they developed a method of growing opium poppies cheaply and abundantly.

Other Western countries also joined in the trade, including the United Stateswhich dealt in Turkish as well as Indian opium.

Britain and other European countries undertook the opium trade because of their chronic trade imbalance with China. Consequently, Europeans had to pay for Chinese products with gold or silver.

The opium trade, which created a steady demand among Chinese addicts for opium imported by the West, solved this chronic trade imbalance. The country traders sold the opium to smugglers along the Chinese coast. The gold and silver the traders received from those sales were then turned over to the East India Company.

In China the company used the gold and silver it received to purchase goods that could be sold profitably in England. The amount of opium imported into China increased from about chests annually in to roughly 1, chests in and then to about 10, per year between and The weight of each chest varied somewhat—depending on point of origin—but averaged approximately pounds By the amount had grown to some 40, chests imported into China annually.

The balance of payments for the first time began to run against China and in favour of Britain.

Meanwhile, a network of opium distribution had formed throughout China, often with the connivance of corrupt officials. Levels of opium addiction grew so high that it began to affect the imperial troops and the official classes. The efforts of the Qing dynasty to enforce the opium restrictions resulted in two armed conflicts between China and the West, known as the Opium Warsboth of which China lost and which resulted in various measures that contributed to the decline of the Qing.

The first war, between Britain and China —42did not legalize the trade, but it did halt Chinese efforts to stop it.

In the second Opium War —60 —fought between a British-French alliance and China—the Chinese government was forced to legalize the trade, though it did levy a small import tax on opium. By that time opium imports to China had reached 50, to 60, chests a year, and they continued to increase for the next three decades.

The trade was thus almost completely stopped by Opium smoking and addiction remained a problem in China during the subsequent decades, however, since the weakened central republican government could not wipe out the native cultivation of opium.

Opium smoking was finally eradicated by the Chinese communists after they came to power in Learn More in these related Britannica articles:The history of tea dates back to ancient China, almost 5, years ago. According to legend, in B.C. Emperor Shen Nung discovered tea when leaves from a wild tree blew into his pot of boiling water.

The History of Opium By:Kenneth Opium has a long history dating back to thousands of years. Opium has been used for recreational purposes since at least the 15th Century in India, China and Persia.

The Opium trade had become more common and regular in the 17th Century when it was blended with Tobacco and smoked. The Portuguese . Britain and other European countries undertook the opium trade because of their chronic trade imbalance with China. There was tremendous demand in Europe for Chinese tea, silks, and porcelain pottery, but there was correspondingly little demand in China for Europe’s manufactured goods and other trade items.

Opium trade, in Chinese history, the traffic that developed in the 18th and 19th centuries in which Western countries, mostly Great Britain, exported opium grown in India and sold it to timberdesignmag.com British used the profits from the sale of opium to purchase such Chinese luxury goods as porcelain, silk, and tea, which were in great demand in the West.

PREV BACK TO MAIN NEXT History Trading Tea for Opium May 01, by James Norwood Pratt. Language was not the major obstacle to doing business with the Chinese-currency was.

The goods the British had to offer in trade were mainly English broadcloth, not much wanted in semitropical Canton and not allowed for sale in bitterly cold north .

The nineteenth century witnessed the most explosive episode in the history of the tea trade: the Opium Wars. This turmoil centered on economic and outright military conflict between the .