The British make profit from China
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_ Before the 1800's, the trade between China and Britain went on with no problems. The Chinese had a trade surplus over the British because the Chinese imported more things than what they exported. They mostly traded their to the British. By the early 1800's, the British wanted to tip the balance of trade to their side. They traded more and more Opium, an addictive narcotic, to the Chinese. Opium addicted many Chinese. The Chinese addicts
would smoke opium on a daily basis. This gave the British lots of profit. When the
Chinese government realized that the use of this drug can harm the
human body, they requested the queen of England to stop the Opium trade. The queen of England didn't respond to the request. The Chinese, then, attack
the British ships that contained Opium. Furious with the lost of potential profits, the British attacked China's ports. With Britain having a more advanced weapons than China,
they defeated the Chinese with ease. From this moment on, the British was pretty much in control of China. They forced the Chinese to pay for all the losses in the Opium War. The Chinese were also forced to sign unequal treaties that benefited only the Europeans. On the positive side, the British helped modernized China. But considering all the things that China went through under British rule, the British got the better end of the deal.