cularly for Britain. Over the 17th century, the growing demand in Europe and America for Chinese goods greatly increased. For example, tea had recently become fashionable in Europe and there was also great demand for Chinese silk and porcelain. However, China had little interest in trading for, what they considered, inferior foreign products. In other words, the Chinese goods highly demanded in Britain were unable to match the growth in the Chinese consumer demand for Western exports such as cotton, wool, and mechanical goods. As a result, British trading companies were forced to pay high tariffs and ran a tremendous trade deficit with China. Thus, the British had to pay for the Chinese goods in silver (Thomas 1). This continuous flow of silver into China had lead to great prosperity for the Chinese people. For instance, "In the 1760s',the silver flow into China surpassed 3 million taels; in the 1770s', the amount grew to 7.5 million, and by the 1780s', 16 million taels. Despite this, it had caused a great panic for the British government maintaining its silver. Nevertheless, by the late eighteenth century, Britain had come up with a different and witty product, "opium", to trade in China for Chinese goods. After selling their opium in China, the Western merchants deposited the silver they collected in payment with company representatives in Canton in trade for letters of credit. Then the company used the silver to buy tea, porcelain, and other Chinese goods for sale in Britain. Thus, a "triangular trade of goods from Britain to India, India to China, and China to Britain" initiated, at each step of which a high return of profit could be made (Spence 130). Essentially, these two reasons were the most important causes of why the opium trade commenced for China.
             As I had mentioned before, the opium trade between the British and the Chinese had unfortunately led to the smoking of opium. Before, opium poppy had only been ...