• The opium war was between Britain and China

Long term causes

Cultural and Diplomatic Differences

• Chinese believed that they were the at the center of the world
  • They were surrounded by obedient, “Inferior” nations
• However, by the early 19th century Britain too believed themselves to be number 1 power in the world. The most civilized and cultured nations
• So basically both of the countries viewed each other as inferior

Economic Differences/Attitude towards Trade

• British were frustrated with China's “Closed door” trading system
  • This was known as the caton system
• The British wanted china to have an open door aka free trade policy
  • Wherein merchants and businessman could trade freely in China
• The British organised two diplomatic missions with china with the aim of improving trade relations between the two countries

Short Term Causes

• Dispute over the opium trade
  • The british wanted to stop paying china in gold and silver
  • They wanted to find smth that they could trade that would interest china
  • They came up with the idea of trading opium to china
    • Opium had been used in china for a long time
      • Medicinally alleviates pain
    • But the british introduced the drug as a recreational habit
      • being highly addictive, smoking opium took a hold over china
• The key motive of the britishers was that the demand for chinese tea had grown back at home, which offered vast profits to companies
• The main company trading with the chinese was the british east india company
  • The east india company grew opium in india
• The east india company exchanged vast amounts of with china, and the social and economic impacts of the drug were seen pretty soon
• Opium addiction in china:
  • Affected the authorities
  • Destroyed families
    • Poor families even sold their own children to buy opium
• Instead of silver flowing into china, it started flowing out of their hands and into the british opium traders
  • The demand for opium far outweighed the demand for tea
    • It became far more profitable than selling tea and silk to the home markets