Yeah, it's a little more complicated than that. The Chinese demanded silver and nothing else whatsoever for their goods, creating MASSIVE trade deficit with all of Europe, sucking practically all of the silver there and then some (from Mexico and Brazil). The traders found a way to get silver from the Chinese (in exchange for opium). Trade loomed even more. Then the Chinese decided to forcefully stop the Opium trade, which would crush their trading partners. This lead to the first Opium war, which was quickly settled, but the Chinese broke their part of the contract which lead to the 2nd Opium war.