For years, china had enjoyed a favorable balance of trade with foreign nations. but the british trade of with china disrupted the economy in the early 1800s and led to wars between the two nations.

 Chinese history, the traffic that developed in the 18th and 19th centuries in which Western countries, mostly Great Britain, exported opium grown in India and sold it to China. The British used the profits from the sale of opium to purchase such Chinese luxury goods as porcelain, silk, and tea, which were in great demand in the West.