By all means, study the opium wars. If the Chinese are distributing fentanyl in America as revenge for the opium wars, they’re fools in that they’ve picked the wrong targets. Besides that, China should know that revenge is a fool’s errand regardless.
Terrence McKenna has a really good account of the opium wars in Food of the Gods but you have to get through the combined history of almost every other drug on earth in order to reach it. Highly recommend.