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Weimin Zhong The Roles of Tea and Opium in Early Economic Globalization: A Perspective on China’s Crisis in the 19th Century pp. 86-105 Page 86 -

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To make up the trade deficit with China, Britain took advantage of its Indian colony and did its best in expanding its opium trade Within this triangular trade scheme, Britain was the master, India was the instrument, and China was the ultimate victim

Interestingly tea also played a pivotal role in the development of British society and economy

The improvement of the average British person’s diet is the best example of such a phenomenon Until the later period of the 18th century, teas had become a staple food among the new dietary habits of the British working class – tea, bread and cheese formed the most important parts of a common daily diet For the working class who had an extremely limited income, bread and tea was ideal at a time when meat and beer prices were soaring Even claimed that ‘without tea, the British empire and its industry would have never arise. Without regular tea supply, British enterprises would have gone bankrupt: Alan Macfarlane, Iris Macfarlane, 2003 p.179.

Tea tax was an essential component of fiscal revenue for the British government

The profits the East India Company gained from the importation of Chinese tea were so attractive that even those who firmly stood for free trade and against the Company’s monopoly of Oriental trade were silenced

The levy on tea after 1783 was still obstinately high, sometimes as high as 100% The interests the British government benefited from in relation to import duties on tea were far higher than the profits China made form the export of tea: John Wong, 2002, p.343 During the last years of the British East India Company’s monopolization, the tax revenue from tea added an annual average of 3.3 million pounds to the national treasury of Britain, equivalent to 10% of the total income of the British Exchequer and almost all the profits of the East India Company: Michael Greenberg (1961) p.3. Even after the company was closed between 1842-1860 – average revenue from tea tax was 8.68%: John Wong (1998), p.349.

‘Selling opium in China kept being the financial source the Select Committee relied on to fund their investment in the tea shipped homeward’

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This is because the British failed to trade other manufactured goods including cotton etc

Greenberg states that the total economic significance of opium ‘cannot be measured in terms of profits it brought to the British traders in China, but by its reaction with the East India Company on the Indian and Chinese affairs – territorial and commercial.’

Page 95 - What satisfied the British was the fact that every year there was a constant hug growth margin and a good market for opium – ensure Britain had sufficient silver dollars to purchase Chinese commodities (tea) Page 96 -

Opium was the one commodity that ‘had caused the general changes of global trade between China and the West in the 19th century’...