Why British attack china in the opium war?

Answer 1

• The Opium War was fought over cultural, diplomatic and trade differences between Britain and China, although named after a single substance (opium)
• Because of it's many centuries of isolation from the West, China had no need of western goods or services to match the Western taste for spices, silk and tea. Opium from India, however, of high quality and potency like nothing cultivated in China, found popular favor with China's massive population.
• Scottish merchants therefore transported opium from ports in India and sold it at great profit to an increasingly addicted Chinese populace.
• Chinese officials became increasingly uncomfortable with problems of crime, fecklessness and social irresponsibility that resulted from opium misuse.
• The Emperor of China himself appointed Lin Tse-Hsu as Imperial Commissioner for the Destruction of Opium. Western traders bristled at this interference with trade and profit but, undeterred, Lin arrived in Canton, the only Chinese city where trade with the West was permissible, in March 1839, and set about destroying 20,000 chests of opium. The international Hong merchants of Canton were henceforth forbidden to trade in opium on pain of death. This action was seen by Britain as an unwarranted attack on free trade, as destruction of British property, and as dangerous interference with British subjects abroad. Troops were sent out from India to reinstate European-style free trade.

The Opium War as can be seen above was frustrating to Chinese authorities. The war took place in the years 1839 - 1842, and was part of Great Britain's imperialist programs in China. By its victory, Great Britain forced the following terms:

A. China was compelled to allow imports of opium;

B. Annexed Hong Kong; and

C. Granted Great Britain the privilege of extraterritoriality.

Answer 2

They wanted opium.