Opium Wars- Imperialism in China

This war was one of the very first drug wars and took place in china. Known as the Opium War it is also known for the Algo- chinese war. The drug was produced and shipped in from the East indies to china by the British. It got the chinese addicted to this drug in the early 1800s. When opium was first introduced to china, it was used for diseases like dysentery, cholera, and also diarrhea. The british during the 1700 discovered that opium could be mixed with tobacco to be smoked. During the 1800s chinese green tea became very popular and high in demand from the western countries. When chinese gorvernment realized that the british merchants were selling the opium drug was being sold to the chinese. Until 1838 the opium drug was restricted from trade , The emperor wrote a letter to Queen Victoria asking why it was illegal in their country but selling china such harmful drugs. The letter unfortunately was never delivered directly to the Queen. Since the chinese warriors thought that the queen never acknowledged the letter than it the warriors thought that it challenged them. Chinese officials destroyed the opium drug and banned english man from china. China was unaware of the british attacking, China was unaware of the attack and their advanced technologies and China was very behind when it came to their weapons. China was as a result defeated by Great Britain and forced to sign a treaty.