There
was a lot of tension between Great Britain and China due to the opium
trade of British merchants and the Chinese of the Qing dynasty. Since
the British needed Chinese goods but did not have enough silver for
trading, they decided to exchange Chinese goods for opium instead.
Because of the opium trade, there were many Chinese who became
addicted to the substance. This lead to a high number of unstable
individuals in China. This lead to the Chinese revolting against the
British merchants. This, in turn, lead to the opium war.
