Hacker News Reader

Comment by mjhay | Hacker News Reader

Historically (before ~1800 let's say) China was known for its very high-quality goods. In fact, the Silk Road trade and later trade with the Spanish was almost exclusively Chinese goods flowing out and gold and silver specie flowing in - mainly because their domestic production was good enough that foreign goods couldn't compete. This was enough of a thing that the Romans became concerned at the amount of specie flowing out of the empire to pay for silk and other Chinese goods.

View on HN

> mainly because their domestic production was good enough that foreign goods couldn't compete

Most international trade (well intercontinental anyway) was restricted almost exclusively to luxury goods. And Europe didn't have to export in that regard besides glassware up until the 19th century. Transportation costs were way too high to export/import anything that might have taken up more space across long distances (especially over land).

After the industrial revolution imports to China remained at relatively very low levels due to heavily protectionist policies by the imperial government until the opium wars.

Obviously opium was the most egregious example and by modern standards China clearly had the right to restrict its imports. Opium just happened to be the most profitable one, however importing anything else (like cotton, furs, steel tools, mechanical items) besides gold/silver was very hard as well which why (amongst other thing) many Chinese people living on the coast weren't that keen on supporting the government (of course China was in sate of near permanent civil war and endless revolts during most of the century).

This is was the reason for the Opium Wars with the English. The English wanted Chinas tea but the Chinese didn't want anything from the English so the English were bleeding gold and silver into China.

So the English forced Opium onto the people of China against the will of the King of China. China rebelled, the English conquered and forced the Chinese to open their ports and accept Indian-grown opium as trade for Chinese tea.

That continued until the English found the secret plants that made the Chinese tea. They stole those plants and planted them in India.

That's a very dramatic narrative. As if the English or the Chinese were united among themselves. As if Chinese traders and smugglers didn't collude, or that the opium ban was a purely moral one and not commercial.

Depends on which storyteller you listen to. The English would tell you that the Chinese were being unfair in their trade and had it coming it to them (the wars). The Chinese would tell you that they have had a century of humiliation[1].

Somewhere inbetween those stories lies the truth. However as with the current crisis, it was the English that invaded with their Navy, that would make them the aggressor and hence the bad-~guy~human. Taking todays value system and applying it to events that happened some 180 years ago.

[1] = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_of_humiliation

Reply on news.ycombinator.com