The First Opium War or Anglo-Chinese War fought from 1839 to 1842 between Britain and China was the product of a century-long imbalance between the two countries' trade and has had lasting impacts on China. . Britain was a nation addicted to tea, a delicacy that could only be grown in China, and the money they were spending there was beginning to deplete the treasury. Britain's counterattack was opium. The harmful effects of the drug quickly became apparent, as addiction problems worsened; Chinese and British officials began to debate the morality of the opium trade. As one historian wrote, “Opium entered China on camelback and ended up breaking the back of an entire nation.” The Chinese emperor attempted to ban the use of the drug that sparked the First Opium War. The war had devastating consequences on China; economic, social and political, thanks to the signing of the Treaty of Nanking. While some impacts were beneficial in that the war allowed China to take its first steps in its long journey towards membership in international society, others were more damaging in that the war was also the trigger of many rebellions that followed, notably the Taiping Rebellion. The immediate economic impact on China was the Treaty of Nanking, signed by Chinese and British officials and consisting of thirteen articles. Article VII stipulated that China had to pay all reparations, a total of twenty-one million dollars in silver (six million for the opium confiscated by Lin Zexu (Imperial Commissioner of Guangdong) in 1839, three million for the debts owed to China). British merchants by the Canton merchants and a further twelve million in war reparations). The twenty-one million was to be paid in three installments and interest of ...... middle of paper ...... Another. Edition. Robson Books Ltd. The Taiping Rebellion 1850-1871 Tai Ping TianGuo. 2014. The Taiping Rebellion 1850-1871 Tai Ping TianGuo. [ONLINE] Available at: http://taipingrebellion.com/. [Accessed April 3, 2014]. Emmanuel CY Hsu, 1995. The Rise of Modern China.5Rev Ed Edition. Oxford University Press, USA. Jonathan D. Spence, 1991. The Search for Modern China. 1st paperback edition. WW Norton & Company. Jonathan D. Spence, 1991. The Search for Modern China. 1st paperback edition. WW Norton & Company. Immanuel CY Hsu, 1995. The rise of modern China. 5Rev Ed Edition. Oxford University Press, USA.Viewer - The Opium Wars with Julia Lovell. 2014. Viewer - The Opium Wars with Julia Lovell. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.coveritlive.com/index2.php/option=com_altcaster/task=viewaltcast/template=/altcast_code=249dffc17c/ipod=y. [Accessed April 3 2014].