History of opium in China

Uncommon card · No. 148264

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 (4,480 long tons (4,550 t)), 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...

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