question_answer

How did the British make the Chinese addicted to opium?

Answer:

(i) The Portuguese had introduced opium into China where it was used for medical purposes in very small quantity.

(ii) The Chinese were aware of the danger of opium addiction and the Emperor had forbidden its production and sale except for medicinal purposes.

(iii) But the English began an illegal trade in opium.

(iv) It was unloaded in a number of seaports of south-eastern China and carried by local agents to the interiors.

(v) While the English cultivated a taste for Chinese tea, the Chinese became addicted to opium.

(vi) People of all classes took to the drug?shopkeepers and peddlers, officials and army men, aristocrats and also the poor.

As China became a country of opium addicts, British trade in tea flourished.