Why Did Britain Get China Addicted To Opium? | Empires of Silver | Absolute History

It's hard to believe but silver was at one time worth more than gold. China used silver as their currency and the West had to pay in silver for Chinese goods. This angered the British and so they sought a commodity that the Chinese would be forced to buy. China did not covet any goods that the West had except one: Opium.

Join the Absolute History club to get access to exclusive member benefits! 💚

#AbsoluteHistory

[caneestudio]

America & Europe hasn't changed. Their attitude "what's yours is mine, & what's mine stays mine".

[Seven-ldzv]

This is an amazing documentary series about a topic that's almost forgotten in modern Western societies. I do feel like it still minimized the involvement of Britain, France and Japan in the destruction of the Qing empire. It remarkably leaves out what the British did to Puyi; the last emperor of the Qing, it leaves out the Japanese invasion of China and massacres at Nanjing, Shanghai and other places.

[wenliu]

Chinese people have always used gold, silver and copper as currency, and iron coins have been used in some periods. The problem was that gold was so rare that copper became a supplement at first, and then copper became common and cheap, and silver became the mainstream. By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the growth of the population and the prosperity of the country led to a shortage of silver until the Qing Dynasty, when a large amount of silver was earned from trade with Western colonists, and then new problems emerged.

[johnwilson]

It wasn't "Britain" that got China addicted, it was the Honourable East India Company - the largest conglomerate the world has ever seen. Drug trade and Slavery were two of the reasons they were nationalised by the British Government and an end put to their drug and slave trafficking.

[capoislamort]

The Brits couldn’t conquer china though, they got India, but not old china.

[jonnyqwst]

I spent several months in china in the late eighties, my first wife was Chinese. Almost no one in the west has any idea the degree to which china today and since the 19th century have been waiting for revenge for being beaten and exploited. It’s a huge motivation in chinas rise.

[reginaldmorton]

The documentary was correctly directed with additional facts i was unaware. Yes, the British modernized chinese harbors and organization but all of this work wasn't done to benefit china. All of the work done by western powers was concentrated around chinas ports in order to streamline the flow of opium into China. Yes silver and tea was a major influence for profits but a kilograms of opium bought in India for 10 pounds would be worth 10k pounds once it reached the chinese coastline. Britain was the first Narco state.

[HDsharp]

Just listen to the Brit. He said 'why should Britian be restricted in trade with China. Excuse me, what kind of entitlement is that? What gives Brits the right to trade with China in the first place? China can trade with whom they want, how they want Because they had the goods. That's how business works, they had the leverage.

[pearsonfrank]

I am a Brit. For 60 years I have been waiting for those we oppressed, enslaved and impoverished to exact their revenge. China is correctly leading the way legally with diligence. Not all Brits are or were bad people but no one has ever sought to apologise or pay Reparation

[gisellem]

So the Americans dumped the tea purchased with opium into the ocean and the Chinese dumped the opium used to buy the tea into the river. Classic.

[philiprobinson]

Makes me wonder if China's role in the fentanyl manufacture and America's problem with fentanyl is a form of payback/learning from the past.

[tilunet]

In french, still today, the word for money is "argent", wich means silver. Now I know why. Wonderful series.

[patrickllt]

This is just 1 of the many reasons China has rapidly modernised its military.

[digitalnomad]

Brilliant presentation of Chinese history that explains why present day China remains hell-bent on modernizing itself.

[Guvnor]

In every chinese household they're reminded of the 8 allied nations stealing and invading China lest they forget

[youngsixty]

The fact that we get free documentaries on YouTube by Absolute History is truly a gift. 👏👏👏
May I also remind you the fact that our Native American population in our motherland, the Continent of America before the European Colonizers arrived, was around 15 millions, while the European population in their motherland, the Continent of Europe was around 25 millions.
Today, Native American population is 15 million, while the European population, in the Continents of America + Europe, is a staggering TWO BILLION! A shocking sad truth. 😔
In my humble opinion, it's about time to decolonize the Colonized lands, and return it to rightful owners Native American people.
Notorious global cardinal crimes the Christian West has committed, and benefited a great deals, such as Slavery & Colonialism had long been over, why on earth is notorious Colonization still lingering on, may I ask? 😔

[lockejohn]

Mr Krabs describes the British interest best "Money. Money money money money money"

[terryboehler]

China wanted silver for their tea. The British said "no, we're going to introduce an addiction which will allow us to trade opium for tea.

[upadhyayrathiraj]

The British forced Indian farmers of Bengal to abandon their traditional farming and produce opium. This resulted in severe financial losses and loss of food products in India. The opium was sold in China by the British...the original drug-runners.

[RichardBrett]

Drugs such as opioid, cocaine, heroine, etc., are very addictive. Just look at the drug addicts living in the streets of America!