The Illegal drug trade in China is largely focused on the golden triangle area near the China-Myanmar border.
Opium Opium has played an important role in China's history since the First and Second Opium Wars in the mid-19th century. The fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 led to a resurgence in domestic opium 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 a major source of revenue.
The Mao Zedong government is generally credited with eradicating both consumption and production of opium during the 1950s using unrestrained repression and social reform. 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. 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.
Synthetic drugs Manufacture of crystal methamphetamine (ice, shabu, bingdu) is facilitated by the availability of precursor chemicals, such as pseudoephedrine and ephedrine. Seizure information indicates that methamphetamine laboratories are located in SAR Hong Kong and the Golden Triangle in Myanmar (Burma). Many of the traffickers for the clandestine crystal methamphetamine laboratories are from organized crime groups based in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has documented the displacement of synthetic drug production from China to the Southeast Asia region. In a 2019 assessment of regional transnational organized crime, it described a “profound transformation” occurring, with manufacture of synthetic drugs on a steep incline in Myanmar, with drug syndicates displaced from China by heavy law enforcement suppression efforts. The same report noted that transnational organized crime groups operating in Myanmar work with militias and ethnic armed organizations to both manufacture and trafficking crystalline and tablet methamphetamine.
While production has largely migrated out of China, precursor chemicals have still been traced and seized entering Myanmar and Laos from China, which has an extensive domestic chemical industry. Laos is a key route into the Golden Triangle for precursors from China, and finished products from the region have been seized across the region and beyond. Numerous seizures of precursors from China have occurred in recent years, including one disclosed in 2021 in which Lao authorities seized 200 tons of precursors including 72 tons of propionyl chloride from China. Seizures in the Mekong region have been sustained in recent years, totaling over 169 tons and a record of over 1.1 billion methamphetamine tablets in 2023, more than any other part of the world, with Myanmar representing one of the world's largest sources of the drug.
The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ) is a key transit point for the trade. The GTSEZ was founded and is chaired by sanctioned Chinese national Zhao Wei. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has raised concerns on multiple occasions times about Laos being used as a base by organized crime to traffic drugs, precursor chemicals and other illicit commodities, noting that unregulated border casinos in the Mekong region including Kings Romans in the GTSEZ are being used to launder money.
Trafficking + Drug-related arrests in China,1991–2003Sources: Chinese Government Information, 1991–2002, and the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), U.S. Department of State, 2002, and INCSR January 2003-June 2003. Year Arrests Convictions 1991 8,080 5,285 1992 7,025 6,588 1993 7,677 6,137 1994 10,434 7,883 1995 12,990 9,801 1996 18,860 13,787 1997 24,873 18,878 1998 34,287 27,229 1999 37,627 33,641 2000 39,604 33,203 2001 40,602 33,895 2002 42,854 32,222 2003 31,400 25,879
Trafficking groups
Many of the individuals involved in the international trafficking of Southeast Asian heroin are ethnic Kokang, Yunnanese, Fujianese, Cantonese, or members of other ethnic Chinese minority groups that reside outside of China. These groups reside, and are actively involved in drug trafficking in regions such as Myanmar, Cambodia, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States.
These criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking are increasingly arming themselves with automatic weapons and grenades to protect their drug shipments from theft by rival organizations. In China, sentencing for drug trafficking can include capital punishment. For example, the seizure of 50 grams or more of heroin or crystal methamphetamine could result in the use of the death penalty by the Government.
Hui Muslim drug dealers are accused by Uyghur Muslims of pushing heroin on Uyghurs. Heroin has been vended by Hui dealers. There is a typecast image in the public eye of heroin being the province of Hui dealers. Hui have been involved in the Golden Triangle drug area.
Drug seizures +Drug seizures in China (in metric tons) 1995–2003Source: Chinese Government, 1995–2001; DEA Beijing, 2002 and INCSR (China), January 2003-June 2003. 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Heroin 2,376 4,347 5,478 7,358 5,364 6,281 13.2 9.29 4.07 Opium 1.11 1,745 1,880 1,215 1,193 2,428 2.82 1.2 N/A Precursor chemicals 86 219 383 344 272 215 208 300 N/A Marijuana 0,466 4,876 2,408 5,079 0,106 4,493 0,751 1.3 N/A Crystal methamphetamine 1,304 1,599 1,334 1,608 16,059 20.9 4.82 3.19 4.53
Heroin
China shares a 2000 km border with Myanmar, as well as smaller but significant borders with Laos and Vietnam. Chinese officials state that the majority of heroin entering China comes over the border from Myanmar. This heroin then transits southern China, through SAR Hong Kong, and then on to international markets. Increased Chinese interdiction efforts along the Myanmar–China border have forced traffickers to use routes in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, and SAR Hong Kong.
Synthetic drugs
Due to the availability of the precursor chemicals, traffickers produce large amounts of crystal methamphetamine. Several ports in Hong Kong SAR serve as transit points for crystal methamphetamine transported by containerized cargo to international drug markets.
For decades, Asian crime syndicates in partnership with ethnic minority militias have used the Golden Triangle - centred on northern Myanmar and including parts of Laos and Thailand - to grow opium and refine heroin.
More recently, meth production by groups such as the Sam Gor syndicate has exploded in the region, in part due to a crackdown in neighbouring China.Huge fentanyl haul seized in Asia's biggest-ever drugs bust
Another case involved Liu Zhaohua, who produced up to 31 tonnes of methamphetamine and made more than US$5.5 billion from it. In 2006, during the term of Hu Jintao, Liu was sentenced to death for drug trafficking, and in 2009 Liu was executed.
Fentanyl In August 2022, China suspended counter-narcotics cooperation with the United States in retaliation for then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. The cooperation was restored in late 2023 following a diplomatic summit between General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in 2023, China continued to be the primary source of fentanyl being imported into the United States, killing over 100 Americans every day. Over a two-year period, close to $800million worth of fentanyl pills were illegally sold online to the US by Chinese distributors."Online Sales of Illegal Opioids from China Surge in U.S.", The New York Times, January 24, 2018"Americans spent nearly $800M in 2 years on illegal fentanyl from China: 5 things to know", Becker's Hospital Review, January 25, 2018 The drug is usually manufactured in China, then shipped to Mexico, where it is processed and packaged, which is then smuggled into the US by Mexican drug cartels.
In October 2023, OFAC sanctioned a China-based network of fentanyl manufacturers and distributors. U.S. President Donald Trump blamed China for the opioid crisis in the United States. He said the tariffs are intended to pressure China to do more to stop the flow of fentanyl into the US.
In 2025, the Trump administration sharply criticized China for allegedly sustaining the flow of fentanyl into the United States, with President Trump accusing Beijing of "poisoning our citizens" through the export of precursor chemicals used in the drug's production. While U.S. officials acknowledged a drop in fentanyl purity, suggesting difficulties in accessing key ingredients, China rejected the accusations, framing the opioid crisis as primarily a U.S. domestic issue driven by demand. Chinese authorities emphasized their regulatory actions and cooperation but expressed frustration over the lack of recognition from Washington. Commenting on China's role, RAND Corporation researcher David Luckey argued that, as a command economy, China has the capacity to exert far greater control over its chemical industry, stating that if the Chinese Communist Party truly wished to prevent companies from supplying precursors to criminal networks, it could do so more effectively.
Drug-related money laundering "Unlike other MLOs, which transfer proceeds into and out of the country, a significant amount of the money laundered by CMLOs stays in the United States. Traditionally, CMLOs purchase criminal proceeds in U.S. cities for a nominal fee, transfer the equivalent value of foreign currency to drug traffickers’ foreign bank accounts and then “sell” the drug proceeds at a substantially higher rate to Chinese nationals seeking to avoid China's currency controls. These organizations also exploit China's “one country, two systems” policy by using the more liberal banking system in Hong Kong to establish USD bank accounts to facilitate their schemes."
Drug abuse and treatment
Drugs of choice + Wholesale drug prices in China (U.S. dollars),January 2003Source: DEA Beijing Drug Location Price Southeast Asian heroin (price per 1 unit = 700 grams) Guangzhou 18,000 Fuzhou 18,000 Burmese border 5,000 Crystal methamphetamine (price per kilogram) Guangzhou 3,700 Xiamen 4,000 MDMA (price per tablet) Beijing 27–36 Shanghai 27–36 Guangzhou 9 Fuzhou 9 The major drugs of choice are injectable heroin, morphine, smokeable opium, crystal methamphetamine, nimetazepam, temazepam, and MDMA. Preferences between opium and heroin/morphine, and methods of administration, differ from region to region within China. The use of heroin and opium has increased among the younger population, as income has grown and the youth have more free time. China considers crystal methamphetamine abuse second to heroin/morphine as a major drug problem. The use of MDMA has only recently become popular in China's growing urban areas.
The South China Morning Post reports the rise in the use of ketamine, easy to mass-produce in illicit labs in southern China, particularly among the young. Because of its low cost, and low profit margin, drug peddlers rely on mass distribution to make money, thus increasing its penetrative power to all, including schoolchildren. The journal cites social workers saying that four people can get high by sharing just HK$20 worth of ketamine, and estimates 80 per cent of young drug addicts take 'K'.Yeung, Philip (9 April 2010), We have a way; where's the will to tackle drugs? , South China Morning Post
Addict population As of 2013, there were 2,475,000 registered drug addicts in China, 1,326,000 of which were addicted to heroin, accounting for 53.6% of the addict population. Some unofficial estimates range as high as 12 million drug addicts.