Question

state the impact of opium trade on China ( ncert history class 9)

Answer 1

Impact of Opium on the Chinese Society

The court feared the government was rotten with addiction, it was also alarmed by the economic consequences of the increasing export bulk silver. The silver drain caused inflation, farmers therefore had to pay increasingly higher taxes without any growth of income for the state.

Furthermore, traffic in the drug brought officials into contact with gangsters, and debased public office. Opium was viewed as an agent of barbarian aggression, a ‘moral poison’ which debased people’s minds. It dissolved the proper social relationships (lun-li) which distinguished man from the beasts, and Chinese from the barbarians.

Obviously the opium had consequences in the health of people as well. Even though there are no concrete details about the health, we can see that the population dropped after 1850

Figures 1 and 2 as well as Table 1 show how the import of Opium in China increased, while the price decreased.