China Gets Addicted, Goes To War
If you asked any Chinese man what he did in his spare time 90% of them would reply “Opium”. Opium, the drug that’s taken the majority of the population and destroyed them, leaving them with no money and their health in shambles. It started nearly 70 years ago, when England’s idea to sell opium took off. China did not want anything from Europe besides silver, and lots of it. Because of Europe’s high demand for Chinese items they had to accept it. England was losing too much silver, they needed to think of something, and fast. They came up with the idea of drugs. Opium was the ideal contender because of its mass appeal and high addiction rate it was able to get the country begging for more. The Qing dynasty tried to stop them, resulting in the first opium war. China had attempted to stop trade and got England to stop trade but in actuality they hadn’t stopped and had sent an army over to attack china. The war ended when china was forced to sign the treaty of Nanjing. This stated that china had to pay Britain as well as open four trade ports and give Hong Kong to Britain.
