Dmitri Mendeleev presented his periodic table of the elements based on increasing atomic weight on March 6, 1869, in a presentation to the Russian Chemical Society. While Mendeleev's table was the first to gain some acceptance in the scientific community, it was not the first table of its kind.
In the end, the British sale of opium was used as means for  obtaining more land and trading rights from the Chinese, leading to  the devastation of the Chinese government and economy which is why  The First Opium War will be remembered in history as the time when  China was ultimately betrayed by the British.
Opium Wars. The Opium Wars were two wars in the mid-19th century involving Anglo-Chinese disputes over British trade in China and China's sovereignty. The disputes included the First Opium War (1839â1842) and the Second Opium War (1856â1860). The wars and events between them weakened the Qing dynasty and forced China to trade with the other parts of the world.