Statistics

__** Before and After Statistics of the Opium War: **__

The main cause of the war between Britain and China was the amount of Opium being imported into China. Before 1820, Great Britain produced as little as 4000 chests of Opium per year. For ten years starting in 1820, Britain started to increase the Opium production to 1,800 chests because of the number of Chinese citizens buying them. By 1832, the amount of Opium being imported into China had increased dramatically to about 20,000-30,000 chests per year. During this time many Chinese were becoming addicted to the drug. In 1836, the number of drug addicts in China were estimated to be about 12.5 million people total. However, throughout the years of Opium imports, many Chinese citizens were becoming ill because of this drug. The Qing emperor was furious at Great Britain. This led to the First Opium War in 1832.



Opium originally wasn't very popular in the trading field. Only about 4,000 chests were traded each year. As of 1820 the demand for Opium dramatically increased, reaching about 18,000 chests traded per year. From 1832 onwards, the annual shipment of opium to China amounted to between 20,000 and 30,000 chests. In the year 1838, it reached 40,200 chests. The amount of drug addicts in China increased to about 12,500,000, which is why the drug to become so popular. The total opium imports were valued at $18,000,000 (U.S.). Opium was estimated as the world's most valuable single commodity trade in the 19th century. Much of the money gained was used to finance Britain's colonization of India.

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 Opium - A drug created by Great Britain that negatively affected the Chinese.

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