Essay from the year 2018 in the subject Business economics - Economic and Social History, Columbia Southern University, language: English, abstract: The paper is about the dispute between Chinese mandarins and British merchants during the 19. Century and the consequences for todays development of bilateral trade and political relations between advanced then capitalist England and feudal China. It has to be noted that, in recent decades, there is a decline in interest in clarifying the East-West problem, creating a system of well-arranged historical description of the emergence and development of commercial organizations, the most prosperous of all known to humanity and controlled by a group of London merchants. All aspects of its activities deserve careful study: the beginning of establishing links between England and the East, the creation of an empire, the policy of neo-colonialism, maritime trade with China, as well as the causes and consequences of opium wars. The growth and volume of trade relations between England and the East overshadowed the period of the long and difficult struggle of the East India Company for the establishment of these relations. Therefore, a thorough, detailed, and comprehensive study of the processes and origins of the development of bilateral trade and political relations between advanced then capitalist England and feudal China is one of the most important and relevant tasks in understanding the historical experience accumulated by mankind, above all, political and social experience.