Suggestion here that British traders alone
benefitted. But vast fortunes made by Chinese inter- mediaries. (M. Collis, Foreign Mud, Faber 1946 (reprinted 1980) says that British did not force opium on unwilling Chinese.) The British provided opium (reprehensibly perhaps) to an eager market. (See
conclusion below and its reference to Fenton Bressler, The Chinese Mafia, (Hamlyn) 1981. Chapter 6 p.66 "The Golden Triangle is really a Golden Quadrangle". He means Yunan. See page 72 for China and its production of the poppy.