The Opium War--1839-42 In the nineteenth century, Chinese green tea became very popular among Europeans and Americans. Chinese silk and porcelain were also in great demand. The Chinese, on the other hand, needed almost nothing the west had to offer. This created an imbalance of trade, especially bad for the British, who were weary of sending shiploads of silver to Hong Kong. Their solution was to develop a third-party trade: exchanging their merchandise in India and Southeast Asia for cotton and opium, welcomed in China as currency, ... (more)