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A comment on The China tea trade was a paradox of global capitalism. Parent comment

Re:The China tea trade was a paradox of global capitalism by solidsnack9000 on Monday May 25, 2020 @01:38PM (#23303066)
There was, in fact, huge demand. The delivery of British opium to China required a lot of help from Chinese merchants. Opium was legal in China and had been brought in from abroad for several hundred years by that point. Importation was banned in the 1700s after the Portuguese got into the business; but excluding foreigners did not actually exclude foreign opium, since Chinese merchants would bring it in and pass it off as Chinese-sourced opium.
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Re:The China tea trade was a paradox of global capitalism by clairity on Monday May 25, 2020 @02:19PM (#23303395)
none of those assertions provides any relevant rationale for huge pre-existing demand prior to the british desire to extract riches in exchange for drugs.
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Re:The China tea trade was a paradox of global capitalism by solidsnack9000 on Monday May 25, 2020 @02:42PM (#23303625)
Demand for opium was on the upswing in China before the British entered the trade.

The British did not have a power to manufacture demand in China and in fact could not place personnel in China. British opium was smuggled into China by Chinese merchants.

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Re:The China tea trade was a paradox of global capitalism by clairity on Monday May 25, 2020 @03:12PM (#23303928)
again, all assertion, no rationale.

besides, the british didn't need to be in the interior of china en masse to induce demand.

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Re:The China tea trade was a paradox of global capitalism by solidsnack9000 on Monday May 25, 2020 @03:36PM (#23304142)
I don't have a rationale for the increasing demand for opium in the 1700s -- I don't know why it was increasing -- but it is well documented.
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