4 ms·

Can you put some numbers on that? How much money was transferred, in today's dollars?

liftbigweights 8y ago
It's impossible to say. We can realistically only see the broad strokes of history. 1. We know that the west was running a significant trade deficit with china. To such a degree that we finally decided war was the only option. We know that soon after the first opium war, china started running a trade deficit with the west. 2. We know that economic impact was so significant it collapsed much of chinese society and led to the greatest catastrophe in the 19th century. Up to 30 million people died. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion Putting that into perspective, up to 20 million chinese during ww2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties 3. We know that half of the largest western banks were founded in the mid 1800s ( HSBC, Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas, Santander, Deutsche Bank, Toronto-Dominion, Royal Bank of Canada, Societe Generale, etc ). Doesn't mean that all the banks were financed by opium money but that immense capital accumulation occurred in the west making it possible to found a large number of banks. 4. We know enough capital was accumulated in the west to heavily industrialize. Though we credit britain with starting the industrial revolution in the early 1700s, it didn't become significant until the mid 1800s when britain and primarily the US went on a major industrial campaign. 5. On the flip side, we know that china didn't have the capital or stability to industrialize. 6. We know opium money produced at least two US presidents in short time. As for getting a specific number. I don't know how we'd even get that. We know it was significant enough that it completely tilted the world in favor of the west and ruined china for 100 years.
- acct1771 8y ago
  Sources on the Presidential funding? Not that I'm in disbelief or even mildly surprised.

It's impossible to say. We can realistically only see the broad strokes of history. 1. We know that the west was running a significant trade deficit with china. To such a degree that we finally decided war was the only option. We know that soon after the first opium war, china started running a trade deficit with the west. 2. We know that economic impact was so significant it collapsed much of chinese society and led to the greatest catastrophe in the 19th century. Up to 30 million people died. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion Putting that into perspective, up to 20 million chinese during ww2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties 3. We know that half of the largest western banks were founded in the mid 1800s ( HSBC, Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas, Santander, Deutsche Bank, Toronto-Dominion, Royal Bank of Canada, Societe Generale, etc ). Doesn't mean that all the banks were financed by opium money but that immense capital accumulation occurred in the west making it possible to found a large number of banks. 4. We know enough capital was accumulated in the west to heavily industrialize. Though we credit britain with starting the industrial revolution in the early 1700s, it didn't become significant until the mid 1800s when britain and primarily the US went on a major industrial campaign. 5. On the flip side, we know that china didn't have the capital or stability to industrialize. 6. We know opium money produced at least two US presidents in short time. As for getting a specific number. I don't know how we'd even get that. We know it was significant enough that it completely tilted the world in favor of the west and ruined china for 100 years.

acct1771 8y ago
Sources on the Presidential funding? Not that I'm in disbelief or even mildly surprised.