4 ms·

William Jardine getting half of China addicted to opium and starting a war out of the issue wasn't good for China or Britain.

• James_K 2y ago
  Well it wasn't good for us unless you count all the money we made out of it before they started fighting back.
  • ffsm8 2y ago
    The British people certainly didn't make a lot of money from that. One person did. But blaming whole countries for the actions of single entrepreneurs has been the MO for a very long time now, so I can see how you feel correct making that statement
  • spacebanana7 2y ago
    What benefit did the British people - or the British state - get out of this at any point? Jardine Matheson didn't exactly pay many taxes at the time or employ many people in the UK.
• busterarm 2y ago
  Maybe if China was willing to buy anything else but opium, that never would have happened. China's exports were in hot demand and they would only transact in silver but wouldn't buy anything to return that silver supply to global markets. It was causing massive problems in the silver market with over 40% of the yearly global supply going directly to purchasing Chinese exports. Trade imbalances like that always lead to war. historically.
  • HPsquared 2y ago
    In that case the solution would be a floating silver price. Was this some kind of currency peg breaking? Ironic really.
    • ben_w 2y ago
      Had anyone invented fiat back then? I assumed the concept was more recent.
    • orwin 2y ago
      Yes, the silver standard was a thing before the gold standard, and those switched back and forth depending on the current gold rush.