opium war

• 1842 - Treaty of Nanking signed, Hong Kong ceded to Britain
• there was a trade deficit because the US was buying a lot of goods such as tea and porcelain but China only wanted silver.
• Since Britain was losing a lot of money, they decided to use opium which was made from poppies in India to get their money back from the Chinese
• Britain flipped the trade deficit, now we started to give them the silver
• many people got addicted to opium. their health declined and there was reduced labour and this affected military power
• Britains and China went to war but ultimately China lost and they signed the treaty of Nanking
• Britain got HK and 21 million dollars
• China was forced to open 5 ports for trade
• most favoured nation

  policies that other countries didnt need to follow, Britain also don't need to follow
• extraterritoriality


  Chinese laws do not apply to British people on Chinese soil