How did the Opium epidemic affect Chinese families?

For many years, Great Britain worked within this system to run a three-country trade operation: It shipped Indian cotton and British silver to China, and Chinese tea and other Chinese goods to Britain. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the balance of trade was heavily in China’s favor. One major reason was that British consumers had developed a strong liking for Chinese tea, as well as other goods like porcelain and silk. But Chinese consumers had no similar preference for any goods produced in Britain. Because of this trade imbalance, Britain increasingly had to use silver to pay for its expanding purchases of Chinese goods.

Explanation: