WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Chinese wanted to stop the trade. Although opium was valued as a medicine that could ease pain, assist sleep and reduce stress, by 1840 there were millions of addicts in the country. Illegal opium imports were also eroding what had once been a favourable balance of trade.

Detailed explanation-2: -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 China.

Detailed explanation-3: -The British had already discovered a great market in southern China for smuggled opium, and American traders soon also turned to opium to supplement their exports to China.

Detailed explanation-4: -Chinese goods such as silk, porcelain, and especially tea were very popular. However, Chinese merchants did not want to buy British goods in return. As a result, Britain had to pay silver for the goods that it was importing, eventually risking a silver shortage. Britain’s solution to this trade imbalance was opium.

Detailed explanation-5: -In the end, though, China responded to the Opium Wars by making major concession to the Western imperial powers, ending their economic isolationism, and making territorial concessions as well.