Question

in the 19th century, the british had a trade imbalance with china, meaning that they were buying a lot of chinese goods, but not selling very much to the chinese. the main reason for this imbalance was that the british became a nation of tea drinkers and the demand for chinese tea rose astronomically. it is estimated that the average london worker spent five percent of his or her total household budget on tea. to prevent a trade imbalance, the british tried to sell more of their own products to china, but there was not much demand for products like heavy woolen fabrics in a country accustomed to either cotton or silk clothing. though the qing emperor declared that his country had no interest in european goods, the british found one product that they could profit from in china: opium. opium is an addictive drug that comes from the poppy plant and is usually smoked. it is grown in regions of central asia that during the 18th, 19th, and part of the 20th century were a part of the british colony of india. the british did all they could to increase the trade. they bribed officials, helped the chinese work out elaborate smuggling schemes to get the opium into china’s interior, and distributed free samples of the drug to innocent victims. the cost to china was enormous. the drug weakened a large percentage of the population (some estimate that 10 percent of the population regularly used opium by the late nineteenth century), and silver began to flow out of the country to pay for the opium. many of the economic problems china faced later were either directly or indirectly traced to the opium trade. 5. what is opium? why was it valuable to the british?

Explanation:

To answer "What is opium? Why was it valuable to the British?", we extract from the text: Opium is defined as an addictive drug from the poppy plant, usually smoked. It was valuable to the British because it helped address their trade imbalance with China—they could profit by selling opium to China (as there was little demand for their other goods, but opium found a market), allowing them to earn revenue and reduce the trade deficit caused by high tea imports.

Answer:

• What is opium? Opium is an addictive drug that comes from the poppy plant and is usually smoked.
• Why was it valuable to the British? It was valuable because it provided a product the British could profit from in China to address their trade imbalance (they were buying much Chinese tea but selling few of their goods to China, and opium had a market in China, allowing them to earn money and reduce the trade deficit).