Has anyone ever heard of the Opium war? i guess it was an event in history, i am too in love with the answers i get on this site to go to google to look it up, so if anyone knows, could you help me out? lol

The British fought two "Opium Wars" with China in the 1830s and 1850s.

The root causes were:

1) the West's insatiable desire for tea, silk, and porcelain - at that time produced exclusively in China.
2) the Chinese's lack of desire for anything from the West - except an insatiable desire for opium, then grown in India and Burma (then controlled by the British), or for pure specie (gold and silver).
3) the Chinese government's desire to stomp out opium addiction in China which was destroying the country.

If not for the sale of Opium to China, England's negative balance of trade with China would have emptied her treasury of gold and silver in about 11 weeks, and the rest of Europe's and the Americas in less than a year.

At the time, there was no way to ban trade with China, at least effectively: merchants would have successfully defied and evaded the law, depleting the West of all specie. So Britain went to war (twice) to force the Chinese government to keep its ports and markets open to British opium.

The most visible and enduring result of the first war was the establishment of Hong Kong, the center of British mercantile and financial power in East Asia.

There were actually 2 wars. 1 in the 1830's and one in the 1850's. Britain was selling opium to the Chinese through India. Problem was opium was banned in China. Neither side seemed willing to negotiate so there were wars. That's about all I know.

I beleive the Opium War involved China at the turn of the 19th century. The British and other colonial powers, including the US, were trying to monopolize this trade, while keeping the central China government weak.