History of opium in China

Last updated

The history of opium in China began with the use of opium for medicinal purposes during the 7th century. In the 17th century the practice of mixing opium with tobacco for smoking spread from Southeast Asia, creating a far greater demand. [1]

Contents

Opium imports into China 1650-1880.svg

Imports of opium into China stood at 200 chests annually in 1729, [1] when the first anti-opium edict was promulgated. [2] [3] By the time Chinese authorities reissued the prohibition in starker terms in 1799, [4] the figure had leaped; 4,500 chests were imported in the year 1800. [1] The decade of the 1830s witnessed a rapid rise in opium trade, [5] and by 1838, just before the First Opium War, it had climbed to 40,000 chests. [5] The rise continued on after the Treaty of Nanking (1842) that concluded the war. By 1858 annual imports had risen to 70,000 chests (4,480 long tons (4,550 t)), approximately equivalent to global production of opium for the decade surrounding the year 2000. [6]

By the late 19th century Chinese domestic opium production challenged and then surpassed imports. The 20th century opened with effective campaigns to suppress domestic farming, and in 1907 the British government signed a treaty to eliminate imports. The fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, however, led to a resurgence in domestic production. The Nationalist Government, provincial governments, the revolutionary base areas of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and the British colonial government of Hong Kong all depended on opium taxes as major sources of revenue, as did the Japanese occupation governments during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). [7] [8] After 1949, both the respective governments of the People's Republic of China on the mainland and of the Republic of China on Taiwan claimed to have successfully suppressed the widespread growth and use of opium. [9]

Early history

Historical accounts suggest that opium first arrived in China during the Tang dynasty (618907) as part of the merchandise of Arab traders. [10] Later on, Song Dynasty (9601279) poet and pharmacologist Su Dongpo recorded the use of opium as a medicinal herb: "Daoists often persuade you to drink the jisu water, but even a child can prepare the yingsu [A] soup." [11]

Initially used by medical practitioners to control bodily fluid and preserve qi or vital force, during the Ming dynasty (13681644), the drug also functioned as an aphrodisiac or chunyao (春药) as Xu Boling records in his mid-fifteenth century Yingjing Juan:

It is mainly used to treat masculinity, strengthen sperm, and regain vigour. It enhances the art of alchemists, sex and court ladies. Frequent use helps to cure the chronic diarrhea that causes the loss of energy ... Its price equals that of gold. [11]

Ming rulers obtained opium via the tributary system, when it was known as wuxiang (烏香) or "black spice". The Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty record gifts to successive Ming emperors of up to 100 kilograms (220 lb) of wuxiang amongst tribute from the Kingdom of Siam, which also included frankincense, costus root, pepper, ivory, rhino horn and peacock feathers.

First listed as a taxable commodity in 1589[ citation needed ], opium remained legal until the end of Ming dynasty, 1637.[ citation needed ]

Growth of the opium trade

Storage of opium at a British East India Company warehouse in India A busy stacking room in the opium factory at Patna, India. L Wellcome V0019154.jpg
Storage of opium at a British East India Company warehouse in India

In the 16th century the Portuguese became aware of the lucrative medicinal and recreational trade of opium into China, and from their factories across Asia chose to supply the Canton System, to satisfy both the medicinal and the recreational use of the drug. By 1729 the Yongzheng Emperor had criminalised the new recreational smoking of opium in his empire.

Following the 1764 Battle of Buxar, the British East India Company (EIC) became the rulers of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. The EIC gained control of tax collection, along with the opium monopoly of the defeated Mughal Empire. The East India Company Act, 1793 formally established this monopoly. [12] The EIC was £28 million in debt as a result of the Indian war, and found it difficult to raise silver to pay for Chinese tea that it sold to the British market, which had to be paid for in silver. [13] [14]

As the textile industry developed in Britain during the Industrial Revolution, the EIC drove Indian farmers out of cotton cultivation and shutting down Indian weaving operations. [15] :7 The EIC encouraged farmers to cultivate opium instead, over time resulting in opium crops far in excess of the demand for medicinal use. [15] :7

The EIC began auctions of opium in Calcutta to raise revenues. Since importation of opium into China was banned by Chinese law, the EIC established an indirect trading scheme relying partially on legal markets and also leveraging illicit ones. British merchants would first buy tea in Canton (Guangzhou) on credit. They would pay their debts by selling opium at auction in Calcutta. This opium was then transported to the Chinese coast aboard British ships, where it was sold to native merchants who would sell it in China. According to 19th Century sinologist Edward Parker, there were four types of opium smuggled into China from India: kung pan t'ou (公班土, gongban tu or "Patna"); Pak t'ou (白土, bai tu or "Malwa"); Persian, Kem fa t'ou (金花土, jinhua tu) and the "smaller kong pan", which was of a "dearer sort", i.e. more expensive. [16] A description of the cargo aboard Hercules at Lintin in July 1833 distinguished between "new" and "old" Patna, "new" and "old" Benares, and Malwa; the accounting also specifies the number of chests of each type, and the price per chest. The "chests" [B] contained small balls of opium that had originated in the Indian provinces of Bengal and Madras.

In 1797 the EIC further tightened its grip on the opium trade by enforcing direct trade between opium farmers and the British, and ending the role of Bengali purchasing agents. British exports of opium to China grew from an estimated 15 long tons (15,000 kg) in 1730 to 75 long tons (76,000 kg) in 1773 shipped in over two thousand chests. [17] The Jiaqing Emperor issued a decree banning imports of the drug in 1799. While China had trade relations with Britain, in order to balance financial books between the two Britain sold China opium from India which added to availability of opium in China's society. [18] By 1804 the trade deficit had turned into a surplus, leading to seven million silver dollars going to India between 1806 and 1809. Meanwhile, Americans entered the opium trade with less expensive but inferior Turkish opium and by 1810 had around 10% of the trade in Canton. [14] The EIC opium processed in Patna and Benares was supplemented in the 1820s with opium from Malwa in the non-British controlled part of India. Competition drove prices down, but production was stepped up. [19]

Opium smokers c1880 by Lai Afong. China, Opium smokers by Lai Afong, c1880.JPG
Opium smokers c1880 by Lai Afong.

In the same year the Emperor issued a further edict:

Opium has a harm. Opium is a poison, undermining our good customs and morality. Its use is prohibited by law. Now the commoner, Yang, dares to bring it into the Forbidden City. Indeed, he flouts the law! However, recently the purchasers, eaters, and consumers of opium have become numerous. Deceitful merchants buy and sell it to gain profit....If we confine our search for opium to the seaports, we fear the search will not be sufficiently thorough. We should also order the general commandant of the police and police- censors at the five gates to prohibit opium and to search for it at all gates. If they capture any violators, they should immediately punish them and should destroy the opium at once. As to Kwangtung (Guangdong) and Fukien (Fujian), the provinces from which opium comes, we order their viceroys, governors, and superintendents of the maritime customs to conduct a thorough search for opium, and cut off its supply. [20]

The decree had little effect. By Qianlong's time opium had become a mainstream recreation among scholars and officials, and by the 1830s the practice had become widespread in cities. The increase in popularity was a result of both social and economic shifts between the Ming and the Qing dynasties in which there was a boost in commercialization, consumerism, and urbanization of opium within the general public. [21] “Opium,” says one recent scholar, became “leisurely, urban, cultured and a status symbol” as an evidence of wealth, leisure, and culture. [22] The Qing government, far away in Beijing, was unable to halt opium smuggling in the southern provinces. A porous Chinese border and rampant local demand facilitated the trade. By 1838 there were millions of Chinese opium users opium was the main painkiller in a pre-aspirin age. They were less reliable workers and the silver they sent abroad was hurting the economy. [23] More and more Chinese were smoking British opium as a recreational drug. But for many, what started as recreation soon became a punishing addiction: many people who stopped ingesting opium suffered chills, nausea, and cramps, and sometimes died from withdrawal. Once addicted, people would often do almost anything to continue to get access to the drug. [24] Therefore, the Daoguang Emperor demanded action. Officials at the court who advocated legalizing and taxing the trade were defeated by those who advocated suppressing it. The Emperor sent the leader of the hard line faction, Special Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu, to Canton, where he quickly arrested Chinese opium dealers and summarily demanded that foreign firms turn over their stocks with no compensation. When they refused, Lin stopped trade altogether and placed the foreign residents under virtual siege in their factories, eventually forcing the merchants to surrender their opium. Lin destroyed the confiscated opium, a total of some 1,000 long tons (1,016 t), a process which took 23 days. [25]

First Opium War

China's crackdown on the use of opium clashed with Britain, which advocated for free trade as British merchants were the source of trading opium into China. [26] In compensation for the opium destroyed by Commissioner Lin, British traders demanded compensation from their home government. This put pressure on India from China as the overwhelming demand for opium was straining as the fixed supply simply no longer reached demands. [27] However, British authorities believed that the Chinese were responsible for payment and sent expeditionary forces from India, which defeated the Qing army and navy in a series of battles and brought China to the negotiating table. [28] The 1842 Treaty of Nanking not only opened the way for further opium trade, but ceded the territory of Hong Kong, unilaterally fixed Chinese tariffs at a low rate, gave Britain most favored nation status and permitted them diplomatic representation. Three million dollars in compensation for debts that the Hong merchants in Canton owed British merchants for the destroyed opium was also to be paid under Article V. [29]

Anglophone capitalists linked their opium trade to the trade in coolie labor, describing them together as "poison and pigs." [30] :5

Second Opium War

Despite the new ports available for trade under the Treaty of Nanking, by 1854 Britain's imports from China had reached nine times their exports to the country. At the same time British imperial finances came under further pressure from the expense of administering the burgeoning colonies of Hong Kong and Singapore in addition to India. Only the latter's opium could balance the deficit. [31] Along with various complaints about the treatment of British merchants in Chinese ports and the Qing government's refusal to accept further foreign ambassadors, the relatively minor "Arrow Incident" provided the pretext the British needed to expand their opium trade in China.

The Arrow was a merchant lorcha with an expired British registration that the Qing authorities seized for alleged salt smuggling. British authorities complained to the Governor-general of Liangguang, Ye Mingchen, that the seizure breached Article IX of the 1843 Treaty of the Bogue with regard to extraterritoriality. Matters quickly escalated and led to the Second Opium War, sometimes referred to as the "Arrow War" or the "Second Anglo-Chinese War", which broke out in 1856. A number of clashes followed until the war ended with the signature of the Treaty of Tientsin in 1860. [32] Although the new treaty did not expressly legalise opium, it opened a further five ports to trade and for the first time allowed foreign traders access to the vast hinterland of China beyond the coast.

Aftermath of the Opium Wars

The treaties with the British soon led to similar arrangements with the United States and France. These later became known as the Unequal Treaties, while the Opium Wars, according to Chinese historians, represented the start of China's "Century of humiliation".

The opium trade faced intense enmity from the later British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. [33] As a member of Parliament, Gladstone called it "most infamous and atrocious" referring to the opium trade between China and British India in particular. [34] Gladstone was fiercely against both of the Opium Wars and ardently opposed to the British trade in opium to China. [35] He lambasted it as "Palmerston's Opium War" and said that he felt "in dread of the judgments of God upon England for our national iniquity towards China" in May 1840. [36] Gladstone criticized it as "a war more unjust in its origin, a war more calculated in its progress to cover this country with permanent disgrace,". [37] His hostility to opium stemmed from the effects of opium brought upon his sister Helen. [38] Due to the First Opium war brought on by Palmerston, there was initial reluctance to join the government of Peel on part of Gladstone before 1841. [39]

Domestication and suppression in the last decades of the Qing dynasty

Chinese opium smokers c. 1858 Chinese opium smokers.jpg
Chinese opium smokers c. 1858

Once the turmoil caused by the mid-century Taiping Rebellion died down, the economy came to depend on opium to play several roles. Merchants found the substance useful as a substitute for cash, as it was readily accepted in the interior provinces such as Sichuan and Yunnan while the drug weighed less than the equivalent amount of copper. Since poppies could be grown in almost any soil or weather, cultivation quickly spread. Local officials could then meet their tax quotas by relying on poppy growers even in areas where other crops had not recovered. Although the government continued to require suppression, local officials often merely went through the motions both because of bribery and because they wanted to avoid antagonizing local farmers who depended on this lucrative crop. One official complained that when people heard a government inspector was coming, they would merely pull up a few poppy stalks to spread by the side of the road to give the appearance of complying. A provincial governor observed that opium, once regarded as a poison, was now treated in the same way as tea or rice. In the Qing dynasty all aspects of society had been affected by opium by the 1800s. [29] Recreational use of opium expanded to all areas of China from the urban inland to the rural county sides. It also filtered down from the urban elites and middle class to the lower, working class citizens. [21] By the 1880s, even governors who had initially suppressed opium smoking and poppy production now depended on opium taxes.

China opium den, circa 1896 China opium den.tif
China opium den, circa 1896

The historian Jonathan Spence notes that the harm opium caused has long been clear, but that in a stagnating economy, opium supplied fluid capital and created new sources of taxes. Smugglers, poor farmers, coolies, retail merchants and officials all depended on opium for their livelihood. In the last decade of the dynasty, however, a focused moral outrage overcame these vested interests. [40]

1908 opium production by province in "piculs." A picul is equal to 133.33 lbs. "Map showing where opium is grown in China" in 1908, from book - Present-Day Conditions in China; Notes Designed to Show the Moral and Spiritual Claims of the Chinese Empire, published 1908 (IA presentdaycondit00broo) (page 25 crop).jpg
1908 opium production by province in "piculs." A picul is equal to 133.33 lbs.

When the Qing government launched new opium suppression campaigns after 1901, the opposition no longer came from the British, whose sales had suffered greatly from domestic competition in any case, but from Chinese farmers who would be wiped out by the loss of their most profitable crop-derivative. Further opposition to the government moves came from wholesalers and retailers as well as from the millions of opium users, many of whom came from influential families. [41] The government persevered, creating further dissent amongst the people, and at the same time promoted cooperation with international anti-narcotic agencies. Nevertheless, despite the imposition of new blanket import duties under the 1902 Mackay Treaty, Indian opium remained exempt and taxable at 110 taels per chest with the treaty stating "there was no intention of interfering with China's right to tax native opium". [42]

The International Opium Commission observed that opium smoking was a fashionable, even refined pastime, especially among the young, yet many in society condemned the habit. [21] At this time the act of opium smoking was prevalent among students, soldiers, urban middle class, and wealthier peasants. One of the most influential groups was the sex industry that dominated the scene as the combination of both opium smoking and sex was the favoured pastime. [21] In 1907 Great Britain signed a treaty agreeing to gradually eliminate opium exports to China over the next decade while China agreed to eliminate domestic production over that period. Estimates of domestic production fell from 35,000 metric tons (34,000 long tons) in 1906 to 4,000 metric tons (3,900 long tons) in 1911.

Republican China

The combination of foreign and domestic efforts proved largely successful, but the fall of the Qing government in 1911 effectively meant the end of the anti-opium campaign. Local and provincial governments quickly turned back to opium as a source of revenue, and foreign governments no longer felt obliged to continue their efforts to eliminate the trade. [43]

Opium Smokers in illegal den, Beijing (1932) Opium Smokers - Beijing 1932.jpg
Opium Smokers in illegal den, Beijing (1932)

In the northern provinces of Ningxia and Suiyuan in China, Chinese Muslim General Ma Fuxiang both prohibited and engaged in the opium trade. It was hoped that Ma Fuxiang would have improved the situation, since Chinese Muslims were well known for opposition to smoking opium. [44] Ma Fuxiang officially prohibited opium and made it illegal in Ningxia, but the Guominjun reversed his policy; by 1933, people from every level of society were abusing the drug, and Ningxia was left in destitution. [45] In 1923, an officer of the Bank of China from Baotou found out that Ma Fuxiang was assisting the drug trade in opium which helped finance his military expenses. He earned $2 million from taxing those sales in 1923. General Ma had been using the bank, a branch of the Government of China's exchequer, to arrange for silver currency to be transported to Baotou to use it to sponsor the trade. [46]

The Nationalist Government under General Chiang Kai Shek during the Nanjing Decade (1928- 1937) followed contradictory opium policies. Chiang himself was morally opposed to opium use, but other government ministers saw opium as a source of much needed revenue. The government first attempted to reform the people into proper citizens to conform to the modern standards, then raised the official price, which discouraged a certain number of people, then sometimes shot the recidivists (strangely about one per county). [47] Chiang also turned to the Green Gang mob boss Du Yuesheng to head the Shanghai Opium Suppression Bureau. Remarked one American diplomat, "the real motive appears to be to increase revenues by drawing within the orbit of the Opium Suppression Bureau the opium traffic in the Settlement and French Concessions." Prohibition, that is, was a guise to extend the government opium monopoly. "Suppression" officials talked openly of their duty to realize more opium revenue for the government. [48]

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, to raise funds, the CCP in the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region cultivated and taxed opium (alias "特货", lit 'special good') production and dealing, selling to Japanese-occupied and Kuomintang provinces. [7] [8] [49] By 1945, opium taxes generated over 40 percent of the CCP's revenue. [7] According to Jonathan Marshall, Chongqing also regard opium as a key commodity in the smuggling from KMT controlled zone including Sichuan and Yunnan to Japanese occupied zone for compensating urgent government expeditions and military costing during protracted war era. To raise necessary revenue, Chongqing also permitted Shanghai Green Gang leader Du Yuesheng possessing many connections with Japanese controlled territory to manage opium smuggling business. Du's operation was under general Taili who took charge of anti-smuggling bureau's supervision. [48]

Under Mao

The Mao Zedong government is generally credited with eradicating both consumption and production of opium during the 1950s using unrestrained repression and social reform. [50] [51] Ten million addicts were forced into compulsory treatment, dealers were executed, and opium-producing regions were planted with new crops. Remaining opium production shifted south of the Chinese border into the Golden Triangle region. [52] The remnant opium trade primarily served Southeast Asia, but spread to American soldiers during the Vietnam War, with 20 percent of soldiers regarding themselves as addicted during the peak of the epidemic in 1971. In 2003, China was estimated to have four million regular drug users and one million registered drug addicts. [53]

See also

Notes

  1. ^
    Yingsu (罂粟) refers to the poppy, Papaver somniferum , and was used an alternative name for opium.
  2. ^
    A chest of opium contained approximately 100 "catties" or 1 "picul", with each catty weighing 1.33 lb (600 g), giving a total of ~140 pounds (64 kg)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opium</span> Dried latex obtained from the opium poppy

Opium is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy Papaver somniferum. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which is processed chemically to produce heroin and other synthetic opioids for medicinal use and for the illegal drug trade. The latex also contains the closely related opiates codeine and thebaine, and non-analgesic alkaloids such as papaverine and noscapine. The traditional, labor-intensive method of obtaining the latex is to scratch ("score") the immature seed pods (fruits) by hand; the latex leaks out and dries to a sticky yellowish residue that is later scraped off and dehydrated. The word meconium historically referred to related, weaker preparations made from other parts of the opium poppy or different species of poppies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qing dynasty</span> Manchu-led dynasty of China (1636–1912)

The Qing dynasty, officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last imperial dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by a Tungusic-speaking ethnic group who became known as the Manchus. The dynasty was officially proclaimed in 1636 in Mukden, and following the Battle of Shanhai Pass it seized control of Beijing in 1644, which is often considered the start of the dynasty's rule in China. Within decades the Qing had consolidated its control over the whole of China proper and Taiwan, and by the mid-18th century it had expanded its rule into Inner Asia. The dynasty lasted until 1912 when it was overthrown in the Xinhai Revolution. In Chinese historiography, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The multiethnic Qing dynasty assembled the territorial base for modern China. It was the largest imperial dynasty in the history of China and in 1790 the fourth-largest empire in world history in terms of territorial size. With 419,264,000 citizens in 1907, it was the most populous country in the world at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prohibition of drugs</span> History, effects and enforcement of the prohibition of drugs

The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Nanking</span> 1842 treaty between Qing China and Britain

The Treaty of Nanking was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese later termed the Unequal Treaties.

The Haijin (海禁) or sea ban was a series of related isolationist policies in China restricting private maritime trading and coastal settlement during most of the Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty. The policy introduced by the Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang significantly hampered the growth of China's domestic trade, although the Ming was not able to enforce the policy in full despite official proclamations, and trade continued in forms like smuggling until the late Ming government opened the port of Yuegang for trade. Later, the early Qing dynasty's anti-insurgent "Great Clearance" (1661-1683) also caused considerable devastating effects on communities along the coast, until the Qing seized control of Taiwan and opened coastal ports to foreign trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Opium War</span> 1839–1842 war between Britain and China

The First Opium War, also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of their ban on the opium trade by seizing private opium stocks from merchants at Canton and threatening to impose the death penalty for future offenders. Despite the opium ban, the British government supported the merchants' demand for compensation for seized goods, and insisted on the principles of free trade and equal diplomatic recognition with China. Opium was Britain's single most profitable commodity trade of the 19th century. After months of tensions between the two states, the British navy launched an expedition in June 1840, which ultimately defeated the Chinese using technologically superior ships and weapons by August 1842. The British then imposed the Treaty of Nanking, which forced China to increase foreign trade, give compensation, and cede Hong Kong to the British. Consequently the opium trade continued in China. Twentieth-century nationalists considered 1839 the start of a century of humiliation, and many historians consider it the beginning of modern Chinese history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Opium War</span> 1856–1860 war between allied British–French forces and Imperial China

The Second Opium War, also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Empire against the Qing dynasty of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opium Wars</span> Two 19th-century conflicts between China and Western powers

The Opium Wars were two conflicts waged between China and Western powers during the mid-19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lin Zexu</span> Chinese scholar-official (1785–1850)

Lin Zexu, courtesy name Yuanfu, was a Chinese political philosopher and politician. He was a head of state (Viceroy), Governor General, scholar-official, and under the Daoguang Emperor of the Qing dynasty best known for his role in the First Opium War of 1839–42. He was from Fuzhou, Fujian Province. Lin's forceful opposition to the opium trade was a primary catalyst for the First Opium War. He is praised for his constant position on the "moral high ground" in his fight, but he is also blamed for a rigid approach which failed to account for the domestic and international complexities of the problem. The Emperor endorsed the hardline policies and anti-drugs movement advocated by Lin, but placed all responsibility for the resulting disastrous Opium War onto Lin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese opium policy in Taiwan (1895–1945)</span>

Taiwan is an island located off the coast of Fujian in mainland China. The Chinese and Taiwanese people have a long history together, with the first Han Chinese settlers arriving in Taiwan in the seventeenth century. The Japanese empire acquired Taiwan following its cession from Qing dynasty China in the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) at the conclusion of the First Sino-Japanese War. This period of Japanese rule of Taiwan lasted until the Japanese surrender of WW2. During this period the colonial government of Japan initiated major policies to reduce the consumption of opium and opium derived products with much regarded success from contemporary sources both from the Japanese Colonial government and international sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canton System</span> Chinese policy in which all foreign trade was restricted to Canton/Guangzhou (1757-1842)

The Canton System served as a means for Qing China to control trade with the West within its own country by focusing all trade on the southern port of Canton. The protectionist policy arose in 1757 as a response to a perceived political and commercial threat from abroad on the part of successive Chinese emperors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old China Trade</span> Early commerce between the Chinese Qing Empire and the United States

The Old China Trade refers to the early commerce between the Qing Empire and the United States under the Canton System, spanning from shortly after the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 to the Treaty of Wanghia in 1844. The Old China Trade represented the beginning of relations between the United States and East Asia, including eventually U.S.–China relations. The maritime fur trade was a major aspect of the Old China Trade, as was illegal trafficking in opium. The trade era overlapped the First Opium War, which resulted from an attempt by China to enforce its prohibition on opium smuggling by Western traders and blockade-runners.

Madak was a blend of opium and tobacco used as a recreational drug in 16th- and 17th-century China. It emerged in southern coastal areas in the first half of the 17th century. In the last quarter of the 18th century madak was phased out by raw opium. The prohibition of madak in 1729 may have been a contributing factor to the increase in popularity of smoking pure opium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tang Jiyao</span> Chinese warlord (1883–1927)

Tang Jiyao was a Chinese general and warlord of Yunnan during the Warlord Era of early Republican China. He was military governor of Yunnan from 1913-27.

The Cohong, sometimes spelled kehang or gonghang, a guild of Chinese merchants or hongs, operated the import–export monopoly in Canton during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). During the century prior to the First Opium War of 1839–1842, trade relations between China and Europe took place exclusively via the Cohong – a system formalised by an imperial edict of the Qianlong Emperor in 1760. The Chinese merchants who made up the Cohong were referred to as hangshang (行商) and their foreign counterparts as yanghang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economic history of China before 1912</span> Economic history of Imperial China

The economic history of China covers thousands of years and the region has undergone alternating cycles of prosperity and decline. China, for the last two millennia, was one of the world's largest and most advanced economies. Economic historians usually divide China's history into three periods: the pre-imperial era before the rise of the Qin; the early imperial era from the Qin to the rise of the Song ; and the late imperial era, from the Song to the fall of the Qing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Century of humiliation</span> 1839–1940s Chinese period of intervention and subjugation by foreign powers

"Century of humiliation" or "hundred years of national humiliation" is a term used in China to describe the period of intervention and subjugation of the Qing dynasty and the Republic of China by Western powers and Japan from 1839 to the 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Destruction of opium at Humen</span>

The destruction of opium at Humen began on 3 June 1839 and involved the destruction of 1,000 long tons of illegal opium seized from British traders under the aegis of Lin Zexu, an Imperial Commissioner of Qing China. Conducted on the banks of the Pearl River outside Humen Town, Dongguan, China, the action provided casus belli for Great Britain to declare war on Qing China. What followed is now known as the First Opium War (1839–1842), a conflict that initiated China's opening for trade with foreign nations under a series of treaties with the western powers.

The Mackay Treaty was a sixteen article treaty signed by the governments of Great Britain and the Chinese Qing dynasty on 5 September 1902. Under the terms of the treaty, the likin system of taxation was abolished and the first moves made to abolish extraterritoriality for foreign nationals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoppo</span> Official in Qing-dynasty China responsible for regulating trade in the Pearl River Delta

Hoppo or Administrator of the Canton Customs, was the Qing dynasty official at Guangzhou (Canton) given responsibility by the emperor for controlling shipping, collecting tariffs, and maintaining order among traders in and around the Pearl River Delta from 1685 to 1904.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ebrey 2010, p. 236.
  2. Greenberg 1969, pp. 108, 110 citing Edkins, Owen, Morse, International Relations.
  3. Keswick & Weatherall 2008, p. 65.
  4. Greenberg 1969, p. 29.
  5. 1 2 Greenberg 1969, p. 113.
  6. "Global opium production", The Economist, 24 June 2010, retrieved 29 October 2012
  7. 1 2 3 Saich, Tony; Van De Ven, Hans J. (4 March 2015). "The Blooming Poppy under the Red Sun: The Yan'an Way and the Opium Trade". New Perspectives on the Chinese Revolution (0 ed.). Routledge. pp. 263–297. doi:10.4324/9781315702124. ISBN   978-1-317-46391-7. OCLC   904437646.
  8. 1 2 Hevia, James Louis (2003). "Opium, Empire, and Modern History" (PDF). China Review International . 10 (2): 307–326. doi:10.1353/cri.2004.0076. ISSN   1527-9367. S2CID   143635262.
  9. Baumler 2001, p. 1-2: "Although many of the specific techniques they used were similar to those of the Nationalists, the Communist anti-opium campaigns were carried out in the context of the successful effort to use mass campaigns to bring all aspects of local life under control, and thus the Communists were considerably more successful than were the Nationalists. Opium and drug use would not be a problem again in China until the post-Mao era."
  10. Li & Fang 2013, p. 190.
  11. 1 2 Zheng 2005, p. 11.
  12. Brewster 1832, p. 275.
  13. Lovell 2012, 176 of 11144.
  14. 1 2 Layton 1997, p. 28.
  15. 1 2 Hammond, Ken (2023). China's Revolution and the Quest for a Socialist Future. New York, NY: 1804 Books. ISBN   9781736850084.
  16. Parker & Wei 1888, p. 7.
  17. Salucci, Lapo (2007). Depths of Debt: Debt, Trade and Choices Archived 28 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine . University of Colorado.
  18. Wong, J. Y. (7 November 2002). Deadly Dreams: Opium and the Arrow War (1856-1860) in China. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-52619-7.
  19. Keswick & Weatherall 2008, p. 78.
  20. Fu, Lo-shu (1966). A Documentary Chronicle of Sino-Western relations, Volume 1. p. 380.
  21. 1 2 3 4 Zheng, Yangwen (2003). "The Social Life of Opium in China, 1483-1999". Modern Asian Studies . 37 (1): 1–39. doi:10.1017/S0026749X0300101X. ISSN   0026-749X. JSTOR   3876550. S2CID   146582691.
  22. Zheng (2005), p.  71-77.
  23. P. E. Caquet, “Notions of Addiction in the Time of the First Opium War.” The Historical Journal 58, no. 4 (2015): 1009–29. doi:10.1017/S0018246X14000739.
  24. THE OPIUM WARS IN CHINA
  25. Hanes & Sanello 2002, p. 54.
  26. Kiple 2007, p. 177: "England going to war for the principle of free trade -- in this case the right to sell opium -- and on behalf of "free tradres" determined to see China "opened" to the West.".
  27. Fay, Peter Ward (9 November 2000). The Opium War, 1840-1842: Barbarians in the Celestial Empire in the Early Part of the Nineteenth Century and the War by which They Forced Her Gates Ajar. Univ of North Carolina Press. ISBN   978-0-8078-6136-3.
  28. McLean, David (2006). "Surgeons of The Opium War: The Navy on the China Coast, 1840-42". The English Historical Review . 121 (491): 487–504. doi:10.1093/ehr/cel005. ISSN   0013-8266. JSTOR   3806140.
  29. 1 2 Chen, Song-Chuan (1 January 2017). Merchants of War and Peace: British Knowledge of China in the Making of the Opium War. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN   978-988-8390-56-4. JSTOR   j.ctt1k3s9gv.
  30. Driscoll, Mark W. (2020). The Whites are Enemies of Heaven: Climate Caucasianism and Asian Ecological Protection. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN   978-1-4780-1121-7.
  31. Brook & Wakabayashi 2000, p. 7.
  32. Ebrey & Walthall 2013, p. 378–82.
  33. Kathleen L. Lodwick (5 February 2015). Crusaders Against Opium: Protestant Missionaries in China, 1874–1917. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 86–. ISBN   978-0-8131-4968-4.
  34. Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy (2009). Opium: Uncovering the Politics of the Poppy. Harvard University Press. pp. 9–. ISBN   978-0-674-05134-8.
  35. Dr Roland Quinault; Dr Ruth Clayton Windscheffel; Mr Roger Swift (28 July 2013). William Gladstone: New Studies and Perspectives. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 238–. ISBN   978-1-4094-8327-4.
  36. Ms Louise Foxcroft (28 June 2013). The Making of Addiction: The 'Use and Abuse' of Opium in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Ashgate Publishing. pp. 66–. ISBN   978-1-4094-7984-0.
  37. Peter Ward Fay (9 November 2000). The Opium War, 1840–1842: Barbarians in the Celestial Empire in the Early Part of the Nineteenth Century and the War by which They Forced Her Gates Ajar. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 290–. ISBN   978-0-8078-6136-3.
  38. Anne Isba (24 August 2006). Gladstone and Women. A&C Black. pp. 224–. ISBN   978-1-85285-471-3.
  39. David William Bebbington (1993). William Ewart Gladstone: Faith and Politics in Victorian Britain. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 108–. ISBN   978-0-8028-0152-4.
  40. Spence, Jonathan (1975), "Opium Smoking in Ch'ing China", in Wakeman Frederic (ed.), Conflict and Control in Late Imperial China, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 143–173 reprinted in Spence, Jonathan D. (1992). Chinese Roundabout: Essays in History and Culture . New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN   0393033554. pp. 250–255
  41. Spence, Jonathan D. (2013). The Search for Modern China . New York: Norton. ISBN   9780393934519. pp. 244–245.
  42. Lowes 1966, p. 73.
  43. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Bulletin on Narcotics: A Century of International Drug Control (Vienna, Austria: 2010) pp. 57–58 [ permanent dead link ]
  44. Ann Heylen (2004). Chronique du Toumet-Ortos: Looking through the Lens of Joseph Van Oost, Missionary in Inner Mongolia (1915–1921). Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press. p. 312. ISBN   90-5867-418-5 . Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  45. Association for Asian Studies. Southeast Conference (1979). Annals, Volumes 1–5. The Conference. p. 51. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  46. Edward R. Slack (2001). Opium, State, and Society: China's Narco-Economy and the Guomindang, 1924–1937. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 240. ISBN   0-8248-2361-3 . Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  47. Baumler (2007).
  48. 1 2 Marshall, Jonathan (1976). "Opium and the Politics of Gangsterism in Nationalist China, 1927–1945". Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars. 8 (3): 19–48. doi: 10.1080/14672715.1976.10404414 .
  49. Felbab-Brown, Vanda (2009). "The Political Economy of Illegal Domains in India and China". The International Lawyer . 43 (4): 1411–1428. ISSN   0020-7810. JSTOR   40708079. But although opium poppy provided a source of funding for Mao's opponents, and although ideologically it was an anathema to him, Mao too did not attempt to interfere with the poppy economy during his insurgency years. Large segments of the population were dependent upon the poppy economy, and Mao was in turn in need of the rural population's support, or at least its tolerance of his anti-Chiang Kai-shek insurgency. Over time, not only did Mao tolerate poppy cultivation, he actually came to tax it as well.
  50. United States Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Communist china and illicit narcotic traffic. 1955年: United States Government Printing Office. OCLC   6466332.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  51. Nei zheng bu (1956). Chinese communists' world-wide narcotic war. Taipei,Taiwan: Ministry of Interior, Republic of China. OCLC   55592114.
  52. Alfred W. McCoy. "Opium History, 1858 to 1940". Archived from the original on 4 April 2007. Retrieved 4 May 2007.
  53. Michael Mackey (29 April 2004). "Banned in China for sex, drugs, disaffection". Archived from the original on 10 June 2004. Retrieved 8 June 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

Bibliography

Further reading