At that time, the Qing government insisted on the closed-door policy, which was a stumbling block for Britain to dump its products to China. Therefore, Britain always appears as a deficit in the trade between the two countries.
In order to reverse this situation, Britain began to smuggle a large number of opium to China for huge profits. Because opium is addictive, the Qing government banned the import of opium from the beginning.
However, the opium market was prosperous, and some officials at that time also made huge profits in the opium trade, so opium smuggling activities near Guangzhou became more and more rampant, and the opium ban was ineffective. The influx of opium made Britain get what it wanted, and about 6 million taels of silver flowed into Britain from China every year.
Extended data:
Before the Opium War, the Qing government issued several smoking bans. However, the East India Company either sold opium to British and Indian businessmen in India and shipped it to Guangzhou for sale by ships bound for Hong Kong, or transported it to the mainland of China by barges outside the port.
At the same time, opium merchants also paid bribes to anti-smuggling officials in China. Through these methods, opium smuggling trade developed rapidly before the Opium War. After the monopoly of the British East India Company was abolished, more opium was imported into China.