Question

1. Can you identify the groups that gained from and supported the trade in opium between the British,the Indians, and the Chinese?
2. Compare the persistence in the export of Opium to China and the persistence of the export of Opium and its derivative into the USA?
3. In what way could you say that the methods are the same in China as in the USA today.

Answer 1

1. By 1773 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 Bengal, where they developed a method of growing opium poppies cheaply and abundantly. These groups benefited through opium trade across countries.

2. 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.

Other Western countries also joined in the trade, including the United States, which 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.

Western traders, including those from the United States, had long sought a variety of Chinese products (including furniture, silk and tea), but found there were few products that China wanted from the West. American trade with China began as early as 1784, relying on North American exports such as furs, sandalwood, and ginseng, but American interest in Chinese products soon outstripped the Chinese appetite for these American exports. American traders soon also turned to opium to supplement their exports to China.

3. We can say that the methods are same between these countries. In 1949, Chinese government completely banned opium in China. After that America is facing a great trade deficit since there is a huge demand for Chinese products in America. Like ancient period, currently America is facing trade imbalance from China.