(i) The Portuguese had introduced opium into China where it was used for
medical Purposes in very small quantity.
(ii) The Chinese were aware of the danger of opium addiction and the
Emperor had forbidden its production and sale except for medicinal
purposes.
(iii) But the English began an illegal trade in opium.
(iv) It was unloaded in a number of seaports of south-eastern China and
carried by local agents to the interiors.
(v) While the English cultivated a taste for Chinese tea, the Chinese became
addicted to opium.
(vi) People of all classes took to the drug-shopkeepers and peddlers,
officials and army men, aristocrats and also the poor.
As China became a country of opium addicts, British trade in tea
flourished.