China in 1800–1870
China was ruled by the Qing dynasty, and from 1757 only the port of Guangzhou was open to foreign merchants. Britain bought tea, silk and porcelain from China, but China bought few British goods, so British merchants brought in opium — a harmful narcotic — from India. The Chinese government banned the opium trade and destroyed opium at Guangzhou in 1839; this started the First Opium War of 1839–1842. Defeated, China in 1842 gave Hong Kong to Britain and opened several ports under the Treaty of Nanjing; the Second Opium War of 1856–1860 added more such concessions. Discontent with taxes and poverty led in 1850–1864 to the Taiping rebellion under Hong Xiuquan; the rebels took Nanjing in 1853, and millions of people died in the war.
“Trade balance”: show China–Britain trade in a two-column table (what was sold, what was bought).