Foreign+Trade

China had extremely strict limits on who they were aloud to trade with. The Europeans were only aloud to trade around one town called Guangzhou. Mostly China would sell silk, porcelain, and tea in exchange for gold and silver. At this time China had it good they were exporting way more goods, then goods being imported. China believed that there was nothing China needed that the west has. In the 1700's there were two events that would force china to start buying goods from Europe and the rest of the world. The first was a decline in China and the second is the Industrial Revolution. The industrial revolution made china fall behind in technology and forced them to buy from the west. In the 1700's Britain started to sell opium to the Chinese in exchange for tea. The Chinese were soon addicted to the opium and started spending tons of money on it; all the silver and gold spent on opium disrupted their economy. Not to much later the Chinese government outlawed opium and would kill any one who is selling opium. China asked Britain to stop selling opium but Britain said no they were entitled to the right of free trade. This event would cause the Opium war between China and Britain. Britain would end up slaughtering the Chinese due to their new steel war ships compared to the Chinese old wooden ships. This event lead to the Treaty of Nanjing, signed in 1842, witch Forced china to give up its trading rights to the west, France and the U.S would soon have China sign similar treaties. Soon enough china was forced to open more ports for trade along their coasts. Some Chinese exports http://www.asiavtour.com/upload/section/20071004035513.jpg What Kind of rule was set up in China? When the Europeans moved in to china they set up a speres of influence. So they controlled their trade pretty much, they said who they could trade with and what their trade laws would be.

For more information on internal pressures click here!