Before the Opium War, China had a completely different relationship with the Western world. China then believed itself to be better than other civilizations. China has also had little or no contact with Western countries due to natural and political barriers. It was only when Western countries looked for spices in China that China confronted the Western world. Even though trade was just opening up to China and the Western world in the early 16th century, China continued to look down upon some foreigners. With the increase in trade between China and Western countries, the inequality of trade between them has become very obvious. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay China's high supply of tea, Chinese silk, medicines, and porcelain, alongside strong demand from Western countries, has kept China's trade doing extremely well. These goods were expensive and the West paid China with money. Increased trade appeared to have expanded China's economy, but in reality China was plunged into a silver and copper crisis. Silver had a higher value than copper. But even though silver was worth more than copper, copper was still produced more, leading to copper inflation. The problem was that copper was the only item used to pay taxes, so people ended up losing money. To meet the tax quota on silver, more copper was needed. Also around this time, there was an annual flight of money, so people began to hoard and value their money more, thus leaving more money out of circulation. Silver is hoarded for its value, but copper is still produced at the same time. The British trading company, the East India Company, exchanged silver for Chinese tea as demand grew in the West. As these trades continued, the East India Company fell into huge debt. Unfair tariffs and taxes, as well as trade monopolies with Chinese merchants, have also made the situation more difficult. In an attempt to resolve this conflict, a triangular trade was created, selling Indian cotton and then using the money to buy tea. However, even after this, the East India Company was still in debt and the demand for silver was increasing. Thus, the East India Company used opium for its trade. It was more important for the East India Company to pay for Chinese imports with other currencies than with this increasingly scarce silver. The British solution to this imbalance was for the East India Company to export to China larger volumes of opium grown in Bombay and Patna in Bengal. Opium was used as both a poison and a medicine, so it was considered paradoxical. On the one hand, opium was a popular, legal, and highly effective painkiller that relieved pain and treated dysentery..