Analysis on why England forced Opium into China
The Chinese government on the other hand was vehemently against opium for a long time and wanted to completely ban the substance. This was a clear breach in morality from Great Britain. It’s essentially the school yard bully forcing a weaker kid to eat dirt except on a global scale, but why would they act like a schoolyard bully? If we take a look at the text England’s motivation is clear, after The First Opium War (a war between England and China involving the opium trade), “For the destruction of this opium, as was well known, we [England] compelled China to pay 6,000,000 dollars”(Fry 450).
If China had to pay that much money for it to be destroyed, then opium sales in China was clearly a huge source of revenue for the British. So clearly Britain was forcing opium on China because they didn’t want to lose out on all that money. Though they did destroy the opium, England's lust for wealth could not be sated. The english continued to smuggle opium into China using the Canton river and its tributaries. They even kept smuggling after the Treaty of Tientsin, which was signed in 1858 and limited the importation of opium to specific duties. Clearly, the sole reason England forced opium on China was their greed and their want to increase their wealth and global power. This isn't the only example of England forcing itself on other countries. The Native Americans were killed and Driven from their homes when the English were colonizing the Americas. All so Britain could increase their wealth and power.