Our beloved country that was once at the top of the trading industry has weakened immensely and is in need of your assistance. The purpose of this letter is to call to your attention the West’s main motives for imperialism, the detrimental effects it has done to our country, and what needs to be done to put an end to China’s spiraling downfall. We must fight to defend China’s honor and to put an end to the shameful opium trade.
To begin, it is an understatement to say that the West had numerous motives for their growing influence on East Asia. The motive that had the biggest impact on China was Britain’s desire to make more money and to expand and control foreign trade for their benefit. To accomplish this goal, the West introduced the highly addictive drug known as opium to China and their profits sky rocketed. Another economic based motive was that Britain wanted to create new markets for products and to acquire our sacred raw materials. Britain wanted nothing more than to get their hands on Chinas delicate silk, porcelain, and tea in exchange for gold and silver. The industrial revolution had created a need for expanded markets for Europe’s goods. Britain successfully obtained this need by forcing China to sign the Treaty of Nanjing that forced us to open five ports to foreign trade. Aside from the economic motives, there was a plethora of religious reasons for imperialism. The religious motives included Europe’s desire to spread Christianity, and to disseminate European values and moral beliefs. We have come to understand the reasons of why the Europeans wanted to provoke western civilization on China; however, it has only caused our once peaceful country great distress.
Moreover, imperialism has done China far more bad than it has done good. Coming from a house wife with a family of four, my eyes have seen horrid effects of the opium trade. My husband, who was in the shipping business, has lost his job along with a countless number of others, because...