It was opium that defeated the Qing Dynasty. Why did it become the lifeline of the Qing Dynasty?

At that time, there was no money in the Qing Dynasty, and foreigners thought of a way, that is, the Qing Dynasty signed the Treaty on Trade Laws and Regulations with foreign countries, stipulating that the tax rate of opium was 30 taels per 100 Jin, so that opium could bring a lot of income to the Qing Dynasty, and this money became a lifeline in the late Qing Dynasty.

After signing the Treaty on the Aftermath of Trade Charter with western powers, the western powers exported opium to China like a flood. The Treaty on Aftercare Trade Regulations stipulates that the opium tax rate is 320 per 100 Jin, which is a clear support for opium to enter China. However, because the Qing customs obtained very generous tariffs on opium imports, it is natural not to think about the harm caused by opium. But it also means that all kinds of opium bans won by loyal ministers in Qing Dynasty exist in name only.

By the 1970s of 19, the opium trade in the provinces of the Qing Dynasty was very prosperous, and opium in these places of the Qing Dynasty also brought considerable tax revenue. Celebrities in the late Qing Dynasty said that most of the money in the late Qing Dynasty came from opium, which was worth more than 26 million a year. The national harvest comes from this, and the official expenditure comes from this. If opium, an important income, is lost, the loss of Qing Dynasty will be hard to make up.

After the prosperous period of Kanggan, the national strength of the Qing Dynasty gradually weakened and the financial situation became increasingly tense. Later, it experienced two Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion. The losses caused by the war were enormous, and the Qing Dynasty was unable to remedy them. Even when Zuo recovered Xinjiang, he had to borrow money from the British bank. Foreign opium and local opium can bring more than 26 million taels of silver tax to the Qing government every year, which is equivalent to half of the annual fiscal revenue during the prosperous period of Kanggan. The money was considerable for the Qing government at that time. So this money was the lifeline of the Qing government at that time.