A Report on China’s Opium War Against the United States | Opinion

During the 19th century, opium was British India’s most valued export and China its most lucrative market. So much so that in 1858 Britain went to war not to prevent drug trafficking, but to promote it. Faced with widespread addiction, rising crime, and social unrest, the Qing dynasty began destroying opium and executing drug dealers. The emperor even wrote to Queen Victoria asking if she really understood the damage being done to China by this illicit trade. The answer was the Second Opium War, a British invasion of China, the sacking Peking and finally the forced legalization of opium exports…