In 1839, the Daoguang Emperor appointed to end the opium trade [1, 5]. Lin took drastic measures:
By the 1830s, millions of Chinese citizens were addicted, causing severe social and economic decay [3, 5]. how_britain_went_to_war_with_china_over_opium
Silver began flowing out of China to pay for the drug, crippling the Chinese economy [2, 6]. The Breaking Point: Commissioner Lin Zexu In 1839, the Daoguang Emperor appointed to end
The island was ceded to Britain "in perpetuity" [1, 2]. millions of Chinese citizens were addicted
To reverse this deficit, the British East India Company began smuggling , grown in British-colonized India, into China [1, 3]. Although opium was illegal in China, the trade was incredibly lucrative [4, 6].
