Opium War

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Although this topic is so vast, I offer some ideas and resources to help you to create your own paper. Once you write a draft, please send as a new posting for our editing and feedback. Please note that we are unable to "write" papers for clients. We can merely offer guidance and notes.

Introduction: Please add a hook to lure your readers and to introduce the topic. Since you are looking at East and West, you might make a play on words here. You also need to articulate your thesis clearly in this introduction in order to effectively structure the paper and state your paper's "game plan" as I call it.

As you then make a strong transition into your first main point, it is pertinent to trace the historical development of why the British smuggled opium into China.

As you then write a few paragraphs using research about the British motivation for presence and opium trade in China, please feel free to infuse some of my ideas and links to help you:

Please note that the British motivation for opium smuggling was politically and economically based. To illustrate, research attests that by the 1830s, "Britain realized it could make up the trade deficit with China by selling Indian opium into the Chinese market, making opium Britain's most profitable and important crop in world markets" (http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/1871-1914/section7.rhtml). As a result, you can find more research and discuss the economic hopes and ramification from the British perspective here.

As you look at the outcome, you can talk about how the "opium poured into China faster than tea poured into British hands; soon, Chinese merchants, already addicted themselves and buying for an addicted population, paid British opium traders in pure silver" (http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/1871-1914/section7.rhtml).

As you further research and write about the obvious economic implications about why the British smuggled and dealt the opium, I also think that imperialism and political motivation played an eminent role within the topic. As you look at the background in the early 1800s, you can also cite how "the British treasury was being depleted due to its dependence upon imported tea from China"
(http://regentsprep.org/Regents/global/themes/imperialism/china.cfm).

When ...