The Social Life of Opium in ChinaTraces the transformation of opium from a medicine to a narcotic. In a remarkable and broad-ranging narrative, Yangwen Zheng's book explores the history of opium consumption in China from 1483 to the late twentieth century. The story begins in the mid-Ming dynasty, when opium was sent as a gift by vassal states and used as an aphrodisiac in court. Over time, the Chinese people from different classes and regions began to use it for recreational purposes, so beginning a complex culture of opium consumption. The book traces this transformation over a period of five hundred years, asking who introduced opium to China, how it spread across all sections of society, embraced by rich and poor alike as a culture and an institution. The book, which is accompanied by a fascinating collection of illustrations, will appeal to students and scholars of history, anthropology, sociology, political science, economics, and all those with an interest in China. |
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addiction aphrodisiac art of sex bamboo Beijing Bencao British called Canton chapter Chen Chenghua China Chinese culture commodities consumer coolies court cultures of consumption Customs Daoguang domestic cultivation drinking drug dynasty East elite emperor enjoyed opium eunuchs foreign fragrance Fujian Guangdong Guangxi helped Hong Huang Hunan Ibid Imperial Jardine Matheson Jiang Jiangnan Jiangsu Jiaqing lamp late nineteenth late Qing leisure class liang lived lower classes luxury Manchu medicine merchants Ming Nanjing opium became opium consumption opium paste opium pipe Opium Regimes opium smoking opium trade political redefinition poppy popular prohibition prostitutes provinces qian Qianlong Qing reign scholar-officials second Opium War sex recreation Shanghai Shanxi Shen Shuju Sichuan smoked opium smuggling snuff bottles social society south-east Asia story of opium studied Taipei Tang dynasty tobacco smoking urban Wang Tao Wanli women Xiang yanghuo Yangzhou Yapian yingsu Yunnan Zhang Zhejiang Zheng