How did Western powers control trade with China?
1 Answer
"Gunboat Diplomacy" They forced the Chinese Government to enter into "unfair" agreements by force of arms.
Explanation:
The Opium Wars forced the Chinese to open Chinese Ports to Western Governments and made the trade in Opium legal. The Chinese had made it illegal before. The British in particular had large amounts of Opium available to them in India. The British would then get expensive Chinese manufactured goods and other produces like tea cheaply and sell them to Europe.
Previously the Chinese would only accept Silver in trade. If the Chinese tried to object they we militarily defeated by superior European arms and they would placed at greater disadvantage and lose further lands and also forced to pay compensation to the European victors. There were several rounds of this in the mid to late 1800s and early 1900s.
They would also have gunboats patrol Chinese rivers to ward off pirates and keep trade moving.
