The history of opium in China began with the use of opium for medicinal purposes during the Tang dynasty in 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.
Imports of opium into China were 200 chests annually in 1729, when the first anti-opium edict was promulgated. By the time Chinese authorities reissued the prohibition in starker terms in 1799, the figure had leaped; 4,500 chests were imported in 1800. There was a rapid rise in opium trade in the 1830s, and by 1838, just before the First Opium War, imports had climbed to 40,000 chests. The rise continued on after the Treaty of Nanking (1842) that concluded the war. By 1858 annual imports had risen to 70,000 chests (), approximately equivalent to one year's worth of the total global production of opium between 1995 and 2005. Among the unequal treaties with the foreign powers, treaties at Tianjin (1858) and Beijing (1860) required China to legalize opium.
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 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). After 1949 the newly-formed government of the People's Republic of China successfully suppressed the widespread growth and use of opium.
Early history Historical accounts suggest that opium first arrived in China during the Tang dynasty (618907) as part of the merchandise of Arab traders. 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 soup."
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 () as Xu Boling records in his mid-15th 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.
Ming rulers obtained opium via the tributary system, when it was known as wuxiang () or "black spice". The Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty record gifts to successive Ming emperors of up to 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, opium remained legal until the first half of the 18th century.
Growth of the opium trade
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 an edict of the Yongzheng Emperor had criminalized recreational smoking of opium. Traffickers were to be punished in the same way as smugglers, and opium den operators were subject to capital punishment. This is considered to be the start of opium suppression efforts in China. However, the measure proved ineffective, and opium imports increased steadily throughout the 18th century.
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. The EIC was £28 million in debt as a result of the Bengal 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.
As the textile industry developed in Britain during the Industrial Revolution, the EIC drove Indian farmers out of cotton cultivation and shut Indian weaving operations. The EIC encouraged farmers to cultivate opium instead, over time resulting in opium crops far in excess of the demand for medicinal use.
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 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. A description of the cargo aboard 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" 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 in 1730 to in 1773 shipped in over 2,000 chests.Salucci, Lapo (2007). Depths of Debt: Debt, Trade and Choices . University of Colorado. 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. 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. 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.
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.
The decree had little effect. 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. “Opium,” says one recent scholar, became “leisurely, urban, cultured and a status symbol” as an evidence of wealth, leisure, and culture. 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 usersopium was the main painkiller in a pre-aspirin age. Users were rendered listless and incapable, and the silver being sent abroad put pressure on the Chinese economy.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. 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 drug withdrawal. Once addicted, people would often do almost anything to continue to get access to the drug.THE OPIUM WARS IN CHINA 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 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 in 1839, some 1,000 long tons (1,016 t), a process which took 23 days.
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. British traders demanded compensation from their home government for the opium destroyed by Commissioner Lin. This put pressure on India from China as the overwhelming demand for opium was straining as the fixed supply simply no longer reached demands. 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. 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.
Anglophone capitalists linked their opium trade to the trade in coolie labor, describing them together as "poison and pigs."
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 India's opium could balance the deficit. 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.