Before revision: From 1804 to 1820, a period when the Qing dynasty needed to finance the suppression of the White Lotus Rebellion, Chinese merchants were soon exporting silver to pay for opium rather than Europeans paying for Chinese goods with the precious metal.Yangwen Zheng, "The Social Life of Opium in China, 1483-1999 " Modern Asian Studies (2003) 37#1 pp 1-39.
After revision: From 1804 to 1820, a period when the Qing dynasty needed to finance the suppression of the White Lotus Rebellion, Chinese merchants were soon exporting silver to pay for opium rather than Europeans paying for Chinese goods with the precious metal.Yangwen Zheng, "The Social Life of Opium in China, 1483–1999 " Modern Asian Studies (2003) 37#1 ,