"CONTENTdm"@en . "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=3962991"@en . "Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection"@en . "Giles, Herbert Allen, 1845-1935"@en . "2015-07"@en . "1923"@en . "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/chungpub/items/1.0114624/source.json"@en . "40 pages ; 18 cm"@en . "application/pdf"@en . " NINEPENCE NET\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0> I\n\"***.\nSome Truths About\nOp\nmm\nBY\nHERBERT A. GILES, M.A.,\nLL.D. (Aberd.)\nProfessor of Chinese in the\nUniversity of Cambridge\nCAMBRIDGE\nW. HEFFER & SONS LTD.\n1923 The University of British Columbia Library\nTHE\nCHUNG\nCOLLECTION\ntit Some Truths About Opium\n[The following article was forwarded early\nin April to The Times for publication. I\ncannot say that I expected The Times to publish\nit, being as it is diametrically opposed to the\npolicy advocated in that paper, though I\nthought there might be a chance of admission\nfor the views of an opponent who lived many\nyears in China and has perhaps made a more\nspecial study of Chinese social life than any\nmember of the Conference. The editor, however, was good enough to return the article\npromptly, leaving me with no sense of grievance\nwhatever.\nThen, remembering that Sir James Knowles,\nfor whom I had formerly written a number of\narticles of various kinds, was in the habit of\ngiving both sides of a question, I sent along my\npaper to The XIX Century and After. The\neditor kept it for six weeks, until the Conference\nwhich I had hoped it would anticipate was well\nunder way, and then returned it, too late for\nany other monthly, with regrets that he could\nnot make use of my \"interesting article \"~ 4 SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nprobably meant as editorial solatium\u00E2\u0080\u0094on the\nground of too many contributions already in\nhand.]\nThe Opium Question being now once more\nto the front in the form of another Conference,\nit may not be unprofitable to recapitulate\ncertain known facts and to bring out a few\nother important points which do not so far\nappear to have been noticed.\nIt is generally supposed that the vice of\nopium-smoking was introduced into China by\nthe British East India Company, and was later\non forced upon the Chinese people by the\nstrength of the British empire. This view has\nlately been put forward in The Chinese\nStudent for November, 1922, an excellent\npublication issued by young Chinese who are\nbeing educated in this country, and who are\nprobably as unaware of the real history of\nopium in China as the ingenuous philanthropist\nwho sends his guinea to swell the funds of the\nAnti-Opium Society. Thus it comes about\nthat The%Chinese Student boldly declares\nthat \"China has been far more sinned against\nthan sinning/' than which nothing could be\nfurther from the truth. SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM 5\nThe \"sleep-compelling poppy\" (Papaver\nsomniferum, L.) is called by the Chinese ying-su\njar-maize; the first word referring to the shape\nof the capsule, the second to the seeds contained\nin it, and not, as stated below, to the slenderness\nof the stalk. There are several other ancient\nfancy-names, such as \"rice-bag,\" \"Imperial\nrice,\" and \"grain-like.\" This poppy is not a\nnative of Asia. It is said by Sir Ray Lankester\nto be a cultivated variety of P. setigerum, and to\nhave been carried to the Far East from the\nLevant. It is not one of the eleven flowering\nplants recorded in the pre-Confucian Odes.\n1.\u00E2\u0080\u0094The ying-su was first mentioned in Chinese\nliterature by Kuo To-t'o, whose exact date is\nuncertain but may fairly be assigned, at the\nlatest, to the 8th century of our era. He\npublished a work On Planting in which\nthere is a chapter headed \"On Planting the\nPoppy.\" We are there told that \"the poppy\nshould be planted by night at the mid-autumn\nfestival, in order to secure large flowers with\ncapsules full of seeds.\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094What for?\n2.\u00E2\u0080\u0094The next mention of the poppy comes\nfrom a writer, named Yung T'ao, with whom\nwe are on firmer ground, for we know that he 6 SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\ngraduated in a.d. 834. His contribution is in\nverse, and runs literally as follows:\nThe wanderer under distant skies\nis quit of sorrow's gloom,\nWhen on ahead he first descries\nthe poppy-flowers abloom.\nIt must be obvious that \"poppy flowers\" here\nstands for \"poppy-fields.\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094Again, what for?\n3.\u00E2\u0080\u0094In 973, the first Emperor of the Sung\ndynasty gave orders for the preparation of a\nnew Herbarium, in which the poppy was\ninserted as a cure for dysentery.\n4.\u00E2\u0080\u0094In the nth century, Su Tung-p'o, the\nfamous statesman and poet who flourished a.d.\n1036-1101, wrote the following lines, which are\nhere translated for the first time and are\nimportant as providing the earliest recognition\nof the narcotic value of the poppy.\nPLANTING SHOOTS OF THE DRUG (sic)\nI built a small house to the west of the city,\n.And stored it with pictures and books;\nAround and about the window-frames\nThe pine and the bamboo spread out their shade.\nI pulled up the thorns and cleared the ground,\nIn order to make good vegetables grow; SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM J\nBut my gardener said to me,\n\"The poppy is the plant to grow here.\nYing means small Hke a jar,\nSu means slender like maize (see above).\nIt may be planted with wheat,\nOr it will ripen with millet.\nIts shoots do for a spring vegetable,\nIts fruit may be compared with autumn grain.\nMashed to the consistency of cow's-milk,\nBoiled to a divine gruel,\n'Tis good for the weakness of old age,\nWhen appetite for food and drink fails,\nWhen meat cannot be digested,\nAnd when vegetables lose their flavour.\nUse a willow pestle and a stone bowl,\nMix with liquid honey, and simmer,\n.And it will be pleasant to the taste and good for\nthe throat,\nSoothing the lungs and nourishing the stomach.\"\nThen for three years I barred my door,\nHaving no occasion to go home.\nThere was an old Buddhist hermit,\nAnd we used sit silent together\nBut when we had drunk a single cup of this gruel,\nWe would burst into happy laughter.\nSo that my visit to Ying-chou\nWas just like a pleasure trip to Mt Lu. SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nIn another poem by the same author, \"The\nPoppy,\" a Buddhist priest advised a decoction\nof some species of thyme, adding that his boy\ncould prepare a bowl of poppy-broth.\n5.\u00E2\u0080\u0094The next mention of the poppy occurs in\nthe poems of Hsieh K'o, whose date is circa a.d.\n1120. One extract runs thus:\nIn our garden we crush the poppy-seeds,\nAnd make a broth which is better if mixed with\nhoney;\nIt is an elixir for want of appetite in middle-life;\nWhy worry over cooking wretched rice-gruel?\n6.\u00E2\u0080\u0094Another poet of the Sung dynasty a.d.\n960-1260, Yang Wen-li, has some lines headed\nThe PoppyrFlower,\" referring to its seeds:\nBirds twitter, bees hum, and butterflies flitter\naround,\nVieing with one another in announcing God's\nsummons to the Ruler of Flowers.\nThe myrmidons of ^the Sun-God have no offerings\nto make,\nSo they seek to borrow from the spring wind ten\ndays' allowance of grain.\nIt is in a botanical work of the 12th century\nthat we first hear of hashish, which however is\nonly dealt with as a medicine. A romantic SOME TRUTHS .ABOUT OPIUM\nnovel of the 13th century has an account of a\nfamous doctor (d. a.d. 220) who performed\nsurgical operations on patients under the\ninfluence of hashish as an anaesthetic; and\nalthough there is no real evidence forthcoming\nof such achievements, the mere existence of the\nstory makes it clear that at an early date the\nnarcotic properties of hashish were well known\nin China.\n7.\u00E2\u0080\u0094The poppy-flower is also mentioned by a\nwild spirit, named Feng Tzu-ch'en, who flourished under the Mongol dynasty circa 1280:\nEither with a frosted chiysanthemum in my\ncap,\nOr a flaming poppy as a hat-pin.\n8.\u00E2\u0080\u0094Under the Ming dynasty we have the\nfamous eunuch, CMng Ho, who conducted\nseveral naval expeditions, in 1412-15 reaching\nCeylon where he set up a stMe which has recently\nbeen unearthed. The practice of opium-\nsmoking is said to have been introduced by him,\nbut this seems to be only a tradition.\n9.\u00E2\u0080\u0094Lin Hung, circa a.d. 1426, has a note\n\"On Poppy-juice Fish,\" which is prepared by\ncarefully washing the seeds, straining and\nwarming the juice, sprinkling it with vinegar,\nB 10\nSOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nforming it into lumps, and then cutting these\nup into flakes Hke fish-scales. Unfortunately,\nwe are left to guess what is to be done with these\nscales when ready.\nio.\u00E2\u0080\u0094Wang Shih-mou, who graduated in 1559,\nwrote among a number of other works Notes\non Flowers in which after remarking that the\npoppy is second only to the white peony in\nluxuriance of bloom, remarks that it must be\ncarefuUy cultivated (obviously for commercial\npurposes), and is beautiful only at a distance.\nHe adds a point which \"was recorded, from hearsay only, by the present writer in 1875, and\nwhich was much disputed at the time, viz. that\n\" the seeds of the poppy are Hable to deprive a\nman of his viriHty,\" which can only mean that\nthe poppy was weU-known as a narcotic.\nn.\u00E2\u0080\u0094We now come to the great Chinese\nMateria Medica, by Li Shih-chen, which was\ncompleted in 1578 and published towards the\nend of the 16th century. The author deals first\nwith the plant (ying su), its colours, the shape\nof the capsule, its seeds, its various names, its\nmedicinal properties, etc., of which the foUowing\nare examples:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\"Its tender shoots make a very\ntasty vegetable.\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094\"The fine white seeds in the SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nII\ncapsule may be boiled and eaten with rice, or\nmashed with water may be strained and eaten\nwith bean-curd.\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094It is recommended for\ndiabetes, cough and dysentery; \"but though its\nefficacy is quickly felt, unless taken with caution\nit wiU kill a man as though with a sword.\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094\n\"It wiU cure dysentery Hke a god, but is very\nconstipating, and wfll cause vomiting, on which\naccount people are afraid to take it.\"\nLi Shih-chen deals separately with \"opium,\"\nproperly so called, under the name of A-fu-yung t\nthe first character of which, by a sHght change\nof sound, he explains as \" our,\" thefu-yung being\nthe hibiscus mutabilis; q.d. \"our hisbiscus,\"\nwhich he says was introduced from T'ien-fang,\n'the holy square,\" the Kaaba at Mecca, now\nused for Arabia. But a-fu-yung is the Chinese\nequivalent of the Arabic afiyun opium. He also\ngives the name a-p'ien or ya-p'ien, which he is\nunable to explain. It is in use at the present\nday and is Hkewise regarded as a corruption of\nafiyun.\nHe goes on to describe the pricking and\nscraping the capsule, and gives a number of\nprescriptions for its use medically. \"For\ndysentery or diarrhoea, take j^-q part each of an\nounce of opium, of putchuk, of coptis teeta, and 12\nSOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nof pai shu (not identified). Mash these and\nmake with rice into pills about as big as a small\nbean, one to be given to an adult and half a one\nto old people or children.\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094\"Too frequent\nuse for dysentery or blind piles wiU deprive a\nman of his viriHty.\" He also notes that opium\nin the form of piUs is largely sold at the capital\nas an aphrodisiac, but declares that this is only\na trick of the quack doctor. This beHef, however, is still prevalent.\n12.\u00E2\u0080\u0094Two more writers of the Ming dynasty\nmention the poppy; Kao Lien of the 17th\ncentury as a beautiful flower, and Wang Hsiang-\nchin, circa 1640, as himself a cultivator of the\nplant. They do not use the term opium.\nThe reader is now fairly weU in control of all\nthe chief facts recorded about opium down to\nthe beginning of the Manchu dynasty, a.d. 1644,\nand we may pass on to the British East India\nCompany, the estabHshment of which in China\ncannot be assigned to any exact date, but the\nexclusive rights of which came to an end in\n1834. However, it was in 1773 that the\nCompany began to deal in smaU parcels of\nopium, the import of which had previously\nbeen in the hands of Portuguese merchants. In\n1796 this trade was forbidden by the Chinese SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\n13\nGovernment; but prohibitions under the Manchu s\nwere always regarded by the people as matters\nof form (chii win) rather than matters of law.\nDown to quite recent years, if not under the\nRepubHc, every incoming territorial magistrate\nmade a point of issuing a stereotyped proclamation threatening the severest punishments to aU\nscoundrels who might venture to open gambling-\nhouses, opium dens, disorderly houses, etc., etc.\nYet nothing ever happened, except transference\nof bulHon or notes.\nBy 1820 the import of the drug had considerably increased, and in 1838 a more serious\nattempt was made to check the trade; not\nbecause of its immoraHty, but because of the\nlarger and larger export of silver which began\nto alarm the authorities.\nIn 1839 a great patriot but a poor statesman,\nLin Ts\u00C2\u00A3-hsu, was sent as Commissioner to\nCanton, with fuU powers and strict orders to\nbring the trade to an end. Lin opened his\nadministration by the harmless poHcy of\nwriting a long letter to Queen Victoria, in which\nhe stated that \"the ways of God are without\npartiaHty, and there is no sanction for injuring\nothers in order to benefit oneself.\" He went on\nto say that \"as regards rhubarb, tea, the fine r\n14\nSOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nraw silk of Chehkiang, and similar rich and\nvaluable products of China, should foreign\nnations be deprived of them, they would be\nwithout the means of continuing life.\" He then\npointed out that \"considering the powerful sway\nof the Celestial Court over its own subjects and\nbarbarians alike, there would be no difficulty in\nat once taking the Hves of offenders.\" He .would\nbe satisfied with admonition only, provided the\nQueen would \"immediately issue a mandate for\nthe coUection of all the opium, that the whole of\nit may be cast into the depths of the sea.\" Then\npeace and prosperity for everybody.\nLin's next step was to seize all the opium he\ncould lay his hands on, to the amount of 20,291\nchests. This he destroyed in pubHc, on the 16th\nof June, by mixing it with water in large\ntrenches dug for the purpose. Lin's action was\nnot an original idea of his own, nor the first\nattempt of the kind. In February, 1835, large\nquantities of opium had been seized under\norders from the Viceroy and Grovernor, and\ninstructions were given that it should be burnt\non the MiHtary Parade-ground. The burning,\nhowever, was not carried out in pubHc; and all\npersons concerned, Chinese and foreigners alike,\nwere weU aware that the whole thing was a sham, SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\n15\nexcept for the profits reaped by the authorities\nconcerned.\nThe so-called \"Opium War\" foUowed Lin's\naction; not primarily propter hoc, as it has\npleased many to assert, but post hoc, and also\npost aud propter a long series of arbitrary and\noffensively tyrannical acts against the Hves and\nproperties of British merchants.\nBy the Treaty of Nanking, 1842, a fine of\ntwenty-one millions of doUars in all was imposed\non the Chinese Government; but the opium\nquestion was left in a state of flux, and so\nremained until England, this time with France,\nwas forced into another war, ending with the\ncapture of Peking in i860 and the ratification\nof the Treaty of 1858, wherein the import of\nopium was legalized.\nThis legalization, the soundest step ever taken,\nand now again wisely put forward by Sir Francis\nAglen, soon called into existence an anti-opium\nmovement among a number of no doubt weU-\nmeaning persons, who however would have been\nmuch better employed in regularizing the drink\nquestion in their own country. It was led by a\nperiodical called The Friend of China which\nin spite of the honesty of purpose of its supporters\nfrom a purely reHgious point of'view, may now, i6\nSOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nby the Hght of subsequent events, be regarded\nas perhaps the worst enemy that China has\never had.\nOpium-smoking continued to be carried on, as\nalways, under the nominal ban of the government and equally always with the connivance\nof officials, many of whom were habitual smokers,\nsome in moderation and some to excess, just as\nwe see in the case of alcohol. In fact, China\nwhich for many centuries had been an excessively drunken nation, had turned voluntarily\nto the quieter and much more harmless pleasures\nof opium. Against the exaggerated ad cap-\ntandum statements of the Anti-Opium Society,\nbased upon reports by missionaries, may be set\nthe testimony of many distinguished men,\ndiplomats, physicians, Consular officers, and\nothers, who failed to see in the consumption of\nopium a curse as great as that of alcohol in\nEngland and America, and whose remarks\non the subject are stiU available:\u00E2\u0080\u0094Sir R.\nAlcock, Sir E. Hornby, Dr. Ayres, Dr. P. Smith,\nDr. Osgood, Sir John Davis, Editors of Hongkong Daily Press, Shanghai Courier,. N.-C.\nDaily News, C. T. Gardner, C.M.G., Edward\nYeates, F.R.C.S.I., Sir R. Hart, C. C. Clements,\nand many others. SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\n17\nDr. James Watson, Customs Medical Officer\nat Newchang and an old resident in China,\nwrites in his Report, 1877, which covers two\nyears, about the various Chinese patients who\nhave passed under his hands, as follows:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\" AR\nof them have been smoking opium for many\nyears, but with the exception of ten per cent.,\nthe amount consumed was not greatly, occasionally not at all, increased from year to year.\nThey were able to attend to their duties, were\nhealthy and active, and enjoyed a good appetite.\nIn reference to these, the ninety per cent, the\nconclusion I have come to is that opium, so far\nas I could see, did them no good, but it did not\nmanifestly injure them.\"\nOne more opinion from a missionary. The\nRev. F. Galpin refused in 1882 to sign the\npetition to the House of Commons against the\nimportation of Indian opium into China and\nexpressed his \"disbeHef of many of the statements contained therein.\" He said, \"I beg to\nexpress my hearty dissent from the idea that\nthe Chinese people or Government are reaUy\nanxious to remove the abuse of opium. The\nremedy has always been, as it is now, in their\nown hands. Neither do I believe that if the\nimportation of Indian opium ceased at once, the i8\nSOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nChinese Government would set about destroying\na very fruitful means of revenue. On the\ncontrary, I feel sure that the growth of Chinese\nopium would be increased forthwith.'' .And such\nindeed was the case.\nIn 1908, the Manchus made what purported\nto be a serious attempt to get rid of opium\naltogether. Anti-opium piUs, which of course,\ncontained morphia, were put on the market,\nwith deadly effect; so that by 1909 we read in\nThe Daily Telegraph (Jan. 1) of a \"Cure\nworse than the Disease.\" .Also in the London\nand China Telegraph that \"the Opium\nAboHtion was, for a time, entirely genuine. The\nreform at present in the Capital is nothing but a\nfarce.\" MeanwhUe, the Singapore Commission\ncame to the sensible conclusion that \"the\nquestion should be dealt with by increased\ncontrol, and not by prohibition;\" and at the\nsame time Mr. R. Willis, Consul-General at\nMoukden drew attention to the increased use of\nmorphia by subcutaneous injections, which\nthreatened to become a worse evU than the\ndisease it was intended to cure. It is curious\nto be able to note here that so far back as 1837\na missionary, no doubt with strictly honest\nintentions, actually suggested that \"morphia SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\n19\nshould be introduced as a substitute for crude\nopium.\"\nIn 1910, a temple at Foochow was lent as a\nhospital for the cure of opium victims. Dr. G.\nWUkinson says, in his March report, \"Our\noldest man was 78, and it might perhaps be\nremarked that there was not much point in his\ngiving up the smaU quantity of opium that he\nhad taken for 40 years.\" Again^in The\nLondon and China Telegraph of 3 06tober, we\nread, \"In this country the beHef is almost\ngeneral that every Chinaman is a confirmed\nopium-smoker, that opium dens, pestilent\nhotbeds of vice and depravity, are found\nthicker than our pubHc-houses, whereas the\ntruth is that not 3 per cent of the population\never smoke opium at all.\"\ni In 1912, the newly-established Chinese\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2RepubHc made a vigorous attempt to stop not\nonly the import of opium but also opium-growing in China. There was a Conference of\nPowers at the Hague, initiated by the United\nStates; and the wisest of all the Powers invited\nseems to have been Turkey, who flatly declined\nto attend. In wisdom, at any rate, this country\ncame a good second; for we read in The\n-Times of n Dec, 1911, that \"the British 20\nSOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nGovernment, in accepting the invitation, expressed its conviction that the ilHcit traffic in\nmorphine and cocaine in India, China, and other\nFar Eastern countries is becoming an evU worse\nthan opium-smoking, and that this evU is certain\nto increase as restrictions on the production and\nuse of opium in India and China become more\nstringent.\"\nThere is no doubt that under the RepubHc a\ngreat effort was made, but by extremely violent\nmeasures, which never succeed in the long run.\nMr Choy Loy, Official Interpreter, Central\nCriminal Court, London, declared that \"Dr\nSun Yat Sen, the first President to be elected,\nmade the taking of opium an offence punishable\nwith death. And since then thousands have\ngone to their last account. The form of death\nin such cases is shooting, and often, in Canton, I\nhave seen victims of the curse placed against\nthe waU and shot by a firing-party.\"\nAt a meeting on 19 April, 1917, the archbishop of Canterbury was sanguine enough to\nsay in a letter, \"One hears on aU sides expressions of genuine thankfulness for what has been\naccompHshed. A burden of anxiety, and to\nsome extent of national self-reproach, has now\nbeen roUed away.\" But against the archbishop's SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\n21\nmost unjust accusation of national reproach\nmay be set the facts here given, whfle against\nhis premature exultation there rises up always\nthe weU-worn Horatian tag: \"You may drive\nout nature with a pitchfork, yet she wiU always\ncome back.\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094And she has.\nIn December, 1918, \"Indian opium to the\nvalue of $16,000 was seized on board the\nChinese Customs Revenue cruiser on which Sir\nFrancis [Inspector-General of Maritime Customs]\nand Lady Aglen were returning to Shanghai\nfrom a visit of inspection to the southern ports\n(Times, 3 Jan. 1919).\" In the same issue we\nread, \"Recent revelations show that the\nJapanese, ever since Great Britain abolished\nthe export of Indian opium to China, have been\ndriving a roaring trade in the drug. Opium is\nalso extensively cultivated in Korea. Mean-\nwhfle cultivation in China is increasing by leap-\nand bounds in most of the provinces. In\nKweichow the Provincial Assembly officially\npermits cultivation (see below).\"\nThe import of opium through the Japanese-\ncontroUed ports of Dairen and Tsingtao feU\nfrom 333 piculs in 1918 to 156 piculs in 1919;\nand in the former year 1200 chests of Indian\nopium, valued at 24,000,000 taels, are said to SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nhave been pubHcly burnt by the Chinese Government, whUe the poppy flourished over large\ntracts of the country and the trade in and the\nuse of the drug showed every sign of reviving\n(Maritime Customs Report).\nIn April, 1919, Dr Wu Lien-teh, the eminent\nphysician, openly stated at an anti-opium\nmeeting in Peking that no less than eighteen\ntons of morphia was coming annually into\nChina (28 tons in 1919), most of it to be distributed by Japanese agents. The Peking\ncorrespondent of The Times in the issue of\n27 March, 1920, says, \"Official records show\nthat during the first 10 months of 1919 there\nwas imported into America 250 tons of crude\nopium, which represents 35 tons of morphia,\nand other noxious drugs;\" and one ton being\n\"sufficient for the annual medicinal needs of all\nthe Americans from Alaska to Patagonia, it is\nnotorious that practically the whole of the\nopium entering America reaches China in one\nform or another.\" The International Anti-\nOpium Association placed the total importation\nof morphia into China during 1919 at 1,000,000\nounces. MeanwhUe, the Provincial Government\nof the Province of Kweichow had pubHcly\nauthorized the cultivation of opium for the SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\n23\nyear 1919, the revenue of the previous year\nhaving amounted to no less than $1,700,000.\n\" In the spring of 1919 the writer traveUed for\ndays through .districts in Western Szechuan,\nwhere the cultivation of opium had previously\nbeen completely eradicated, without ever being\nout of sight of the countless fields of red and\nwhite poppy in fuU bloom (E. Teichman's\nTravels of a Consular Officer in North-West\nChina).\" During this same year, according to a\nstatement made by Mr BasU Mathews and\npubHshed by the League of Nations Union,\nenough morphine was smuggled into China to\ngive at least three hypodermic injections to\nevery man woman and chUd of China's\n400,000,000 population.\nIn October, 1922, the Contemporary Review published a striking article by \"A\nWandering Naturalist,\" a few extracts from\nwhich wiU not be out of place. This is how\nprohibition is described.\u00E2\u0080\u0094\"A tyrant Government, having issued its decree, gave no further\nwarning; China from the sea to Tibet, trembled\nand obeyed. Woe to that man who did not!\nCrops were uprooted and trampled on; men were\nbeaten senseless by the roadside in the midst\nof their ruined fields; the job was done with a 24\nSOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nsavage thoroughness which defies parallel.\" It\nwas magnificent, said \" A Wandering Naturalist, 'J\nbut it was not statesmanship. In this connexion\nmay be mentioned the telegram from K'ai-yuan\nFu which reported that \"sixty persons were\nkiUed and many more injured as the result of a\ncoUision between the miHtary and farmers in\nthe province of Shansi, arising out of the drastic\nmeasures taken by the Chinese Government to\nprevent the recultivation of opium.\" The\nWanderer continues: \" Opium had scarcely been\nsuppressed when conditions for its reintroduc-\ntion were firmly estabUshed. They all smoke\nnow\u00E2\u0080\u0094the merchant, the scholar, the mandarin,\nthe farmer, the muleteer\u00E2\u0080\u0094every one. The\nrelapse is complete.\" .Also this: \"There are\nmilHons of people in Asia who demand opium,\nand until individual persons can be taught to\nsee the foUy of their own vice there wiU always\nbe other people to supply it\u00E2\u0080\u0094for a consideration.\" \u00C2\u00A7 | f |f\nOn December 30, 1922, the general secretary\nof the International Anti-Opium Association is\nsaid to have witnessed the destruction by fire,\nat the Temple of Agriculture, Peking, of opium,\nmorphia, pipes, lamps, etc., to a huge amount,\ngreatly exceeding all previous burnings of the SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\n25\nyear, and valued at over $200,000. And now\ncomes the deadly fact that the amount of opium\ntherein was small, and that the great bulk of the\nstuff consisted of morphia, morphia piUs, heroin,\netc., in consequence of which no fewer than 1856\npersons were arrested.\nNow morphia is admittedly several times\nmore noxious than opium, and cocaine many\ntimes more noxious than either; so that it may\nbe logicaUy concluded that this present state\nof China is worse than the first, especially as no\none who has any real acquaintance with China\nand the Chinese wiU beHeve for a moment that\nprohibition is ever likely to succeed.\nThe foUowing last straw may perhaps break\na back that is even more obstinate than the\ncamel's.\n1923. Dr. Aspland, secretary of the International Anti-Opium Society of Peking, reports\nthat the growth of the poppy is rapidly increasing\nin all directions. \"Little or nothing is being\ndone to limit production, despite Government\nprotestations on the subject.\" He goes on to\nstate that the Chinese Government is now\ncontemplating an opium monopoly, as the only\nmeans of raising funds, disbanding the large\nprovincial armies, and saving the country. SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nBribery is rampant. \"A member of the Maritime Customs service was recently offered\n>ioo,ooo to connive at a big deal, and a few\nweeks ago a Chinese tidewaiter, on refusing to\npass opium, had his twelve-year-old boy kidnapped; and only by the Customs paying a big\nransom was the child's Hfe saved.\" Further,\nin the province of Fukien, a province which\nlast year was practically free from poppy,\ntaxes are now levied on poppy cultivation\nand fine coUected from those who refuse to\nplant.\n.Archdeacon PhUHps, of Kienning, says that\nopium is now unblushingly sowed everywhere,\"\nand that inside a bmlding \" I noticed a number of\npeople smoking, although the outside of the\nbuilding had a proclamation recently posted\nforbidding it.\"\nThe Foochow branch of the International\nAnti-Opium Association stated to the foreign\nConsuls that from \"two districts in southern\nFukien, the miHtary authorities plan to raise no\nless than fifteen milHon doUars from opium\ntaxes alone. It is also a matter of common\nknowledge that the five hospitals for 'curing\nthe opium habit' which have recently been\nestabUshed in Foochow by the head of the SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\n27\nOpium Suppression Bureau are really f aciHtating\nthe sale and consumption of opium.\"\nAt a meeting of the Central Asian Society on\nMarch 8, Mr A. Jelf, a member of the F.M.S.\nCivfl Service, who had worked in British\nMalaya and claimed to understand the Chinese,\nsaid that he did not agree with many of the\npresent-day remarks about opium. Nearly aU\nthe Chinese he knew smoked opium, and he\nwould prefer an opium-smoking Chinaman to a\nbrandy- or stout-drinking one.\nA correspondent in China of The China\nExpress and Telegraph (March 15) writes as\nfoUows: \"The opium situation demonstrates\nthe absurdity of convening a conference to\ndiscuss the aboHtion of Consular jurisdiction.\nThe only persons violating opium laws who are\nprosecuted under the stringent Criminal Code\nare the hapless Russians (amenable to Chinese\njurisdiction), the whole of the Chinese miUtarists\ndealing in the drug by the ton.\"\n[Sir John Jordan now writes in The Times, as\nfoUows:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\"Prohibition and State regulation of\nopium are both ineffective under present conditions in China. The only effective remedy Hes in\nthe elimination of miHtarism, which is responsible for the revival of the cultivation.\" But this 28\nSOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\n\"elimination\" impHes nothing less than the\nreduction of the independent Tu-chuns and the\nunification once more of China. Who is to\naccompHsh these feats? The only suggestion\ngiven is that \"Chinese chambers of commerce\nhave already started a movement for the\nremoval of this incubus, and have soHcited the\nco-operation of their foreign friends in the\nattainment of several items in their programme.\"\nAny more shadowy plan of action it is difficult\nto conceive.\nNor does the Conference, so far as it has gone,\nseem to have achieved anything more practicable or even more definite.\n\"Bishop Brent, the U.S. delegate, strongly\nattacked India's poHcy respecting opium\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094\na stick which has often been appHed before to\nthe rump of the British Lion\u00E2\u0080\u0094and proceeded\nto show how weU things have been done since\n1898 in the PhiHppines. He completely gave\nhis case away when he went on to say that \" the\nmeasures adopted by the U.S. Government\nagainst opium-smoking were still in operation,\nbut that it would be necessary to come to some\nagreement with other countries in order to\nsuppress the traffic entirely.\" If America can\nfail in an insignificant dominion, how can this\n.~%.~r~ SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\n20.\nConference be expected to succeed in a country\nas big as Europe to which her rule does not\nextend? The bishop further received an\nawkward blow from Sir John CampbeU, the\nIndian delegate, who \" drew attention to figures\nin the report, showing that whUe India in 1920\nexported 8,000 kflos of raw opium to Formosa,\n88,000 kflos reached Formosa from the LTnited\nStates,\" a fact which Bishop Brent had to\nadmit.\nIn The China Express and Telegraph (June 7),\nwe read that Sir Malcolm Delevingne suggested\nthe foUowing:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\n(1) Suppression of the system of leases and the\nconstitution of a monopoly; (2) Sale of opium in tue\nwarehouses of the State; (3) Limitation of the\nquantities of prepared opium offered for sale; (4)\nExamination of the registration and licensing regime\nalready introduced in certain colonies in the Far East;\n(5) Unification of the price of opium; (6) Unification\nof penalties for infraction of the opium laws; (7)\nAn international agreement for the appHcation of the\nabove measures; \u00C2\u00AB,8) A periodical study of the\nsituation.\nDoes any one who knows China believe for a\nmoment that these proposals could be carried\nout?\nHere is another extract, not the only one 3o\nSOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nwhich shows that unanimity is by no means the\nrule of the Conference:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nActing on the proposal of M. Bourgeois, French\nrepresentative, the Commission rejected by 4 votes\n(Germany, China, France, Holland) to three (Great\nBritain, India, Japan) Article 3, which runs as follow:\n\" It is recognised that it is for the Government of each\nf State to decide what is and what is not to be regarded as medicinal or scientific employment of these\ndrugs within its own borders.\"\nThe discussion was then adjourned at the request\nof Sir Malcolm Delevingue, who desired an opportunity of considering the situation, as the vote on\nArticle 3 had changed the sense of his motion.\nThe ultimate outcome of this Conference, no\nmatter what measures may be adopted, or with\nwhat penalties for infraction, it is not difficult to\nforesee. Meanwhile, the net results up to the\npresent moment of Chinese and foreign efforts to\ndeHver China from the greatly exaggerated\ncurse of opium have been (1) to increase enormously the area of poppy-growing in the various\nprovinces concerned\u00E2\u0080\u0094see last mail's advices:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nA huge opium harvest is reported between\nWanhsien and Chungking. There will be a tremendous export this spring from Szechuan.\nAnd (2) to flood the country with morphia,\ncocaine, heroin, etc., which are admittedly more\ndeadly stiU. Thus, all the money collected and SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nspent by the Anti-Opium Society since its\nfoundation about fifty years ago might as weU\nhave been thrown into the sea. Just now, it\nwould be lamentable to see further sums expended in this direction when so much remains\nto be done at home for starving ex-officers, for\nhousing the poor, for the care of the deaf and\ndumb and blind, for prevention of cruelty to\nchUdren and animals, and even for matters of\nlesser importance, the preservation of the\n'Victory\" and of our ancient buUdings, etc.,\netc.\nFrom The China Express and Telegraph\n(June 14):\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nThe former Chinese Premier, Wang Chung-hui,\nspeaking to Reuter's correspondent in Paris, said\nthat China's attitude, as upheld at Geneva by\nMr. Chu, was that, though China fully shared in\nthe desire of the Western Powers to suppress the\nillegitimate production and consumption of the drug,\nsuch suppression was an internal question with which\nChina should deal herself. International interference\nwould be misinterpreted by public opinion in China.\nThe provinces where the poppy was cultivated were\nthose outside the Central Government's control. As\nsoon as all China was united under the Central\nGovernment (Dr. Wang is optimistic enough to\nspeak of union as within the bounds of practical\npolitics) the suppression of the drug throughout the\ncountry would foUow. SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nMr. Campbell explained the difficulties created by\nthe position of China, where opium is being grown to\na wholly unprecedented extent. Turkey and Persia,\nhe said, must be brought within The Hague Convention, or the attempt to control the supply of raw\nopium must inevitably fail. Similarly it was\nessential that Switzerland should join the Convention,\nseeing that that country is one of the most important\ncentres in the world of the drug traffic. \" If,\" he\nsaid, in conclusion, \" The Hague Convention is\nhonestly and efficiently enforced to-day, the opium\nproblem will be solved to-morrow.\"\nSir John Jordan, interviewed, said : \" India used\nto export about 100,000 chests a year, mostly to\nChina; now her exports are 8,000 chests, almost\nexclusively to the East Indies. She is prepared to\nreduce this if there is a reduced consumption; and if\na progressive reduction over a period of ten or twenty\nyears is provided for we have in view the disappearance of the Indian side of the problem. China is\nproducing hundreds of tons of opium, and it looks\nalmost as though she were going back to the old, bad\nstate of affairs before the suppression of opium by\nagreement with India was brought about.\"]\nSurely, then, in the matter of narcotics or\nintoxicants, judging from past experience, it\nwould have been and would stiU be better to\nleave China to work out her own salvation,\nwhich she has always been able to do to her own\ncomplete satisfaction for so many centuries\npast. If she prohibits or regularizes the SOME TRUTHS ABOUT OPIUM\nimportation of any drug, it is for her and not for\nus to take the necessary measures against\nsmuggHng. That course, at any rate, would\nleave leisure to weU-meaning but misguided\nphUanthropists to devote more attention and\nfunds to the needs and regeneration of their\nown feUow-countrymen. Opium Smoking\n[From The Shanghai Evening Gazette, 14 Jan., 1875,\nand republished in Chinese Sketches, 1876. Written\nafter seven years in China.]\nMany writers on Chinese topics deHght to\ndweU upon the slow but sure destruction of\nmorals, manners, and men, which is being\ngradually effected throughout the Empire by the\nterrible agency of opium. Harrowing pictures\nare drawn of once weU-to-do and happy districts\nwhich have been reduced to know the miseries\nof disease and poverty by indulgence in the fatal\ndrug. The plague itself could not decimate so\nquickly, or war leave half the desolation in its\ntrack, as we are told is the immediate result of\nforgetting for a few short moments the cares of\nlife in the enjoyment of a pipe of opium. To\nsuch an extent is this language used, that\nstrangers arriving in China expect to see nothing\nless than the stern reality of aU the horrors they\nhave heard described; and they are astonished\nat the busy, noisy sight of a Chinese town, the\ncontented, peaceful look of China's viUagers,\nand the rich crops which are so readfly yielded\nto her husbandmen by many an acre of OPIUM SMOKING\n35\nincomparable soU. Where, then, is this scourge\nof which men speak? Evidently not in the\nhighways, the haunts of commerce, or in the\nquiet repose of far-off agricultural hamlets.\nBent on search, and probably determined to\ndiscover something, our seeker after truth is\nfinally conducted to an opium den, one of those\nmiserable hells upon earth common to every\nlarge city on the globe. Here he beholds the\nvice in aU its hideousness; the gambler, the\nthief, the beggar, and such outcasts from the\nsocial circle, meet here to worship the god who\ngrants a short nepenthe from suffering and woe.\nThis, then, is China, and traveUers' tales are\nbut too true. A great nation has fallen a prey\nto the insidious drug, and her utter annihUation\nis but an affair of time I\nWe confess, however, we have looked for these\nsigns in vain; but our patience has been rewarded by the elucidation of facts which have\nled us to brighter conclusions than those so\ngenerally accepted. We have not judged\nChina as a nation from the inspection of a few\nlow opium-shops, or from the half-dozen\nextreme cases of which we may have been\npersonaUy cognisant, or which we may have\ngleaned from the reports of medical missionaries 36\nOPIUM SMOKING\nin charge of hospitals for native patients. We\ndo not deny that opium is a curse, in so far as a\nlarge number of persons would be better without\nit; but comparing its use as a stimulant with\nthat of alcohoHc Hquors in the West, we are\nbound to admit that the comparison is very\nmuch to the disadvantage of the latter. Where\nopium kills its hundreds, gin counts its victims\nby thousands; and the appalling scenes of\ndrunkenness so common to a European city\nare of the rarest occurrence in China. In a\ncountry where the power of corporal punishment\nis placed by law in the hands of the husband,\nwife-beating is unknown; and in a country\nwhere an ardent spirit can be suppHed to the\npeople at a1 low price, delirium tremens is an\nuntranslatable term. Who ever sees in China\na tipsy man reeling about a crowded thoroughfare, or lying with his head in a ditch by the\nside of some country road? The Chinese people\nare naturally sober, peaceful, and industrious;\nthey fly from intoxicating, quarrelsome sam-\nshoo, to the more congenial opium-pipe, which\nsoothes the weary brain, induces sleep, and\ninvigorates the tired body.\nIn point of fact, we have failed to find but a\ntithe of that real vice which cuts short so many OPIUM SMOKING\n37\nbrilHant careers among men who, with all the\nadvantages of education and refinement, are\neuphemistically spoken of as addicted to the\nhabit of \"lifting their Httle fingers.\" Few\nChinamen seem really to love wine, and opium,\nby its very price, is beyond the reach of the\nblue-coated masses. In some parts, especially in\nFormosa, a great quantity is smoked by the\nweU-paid chair-cooHes, to enable them to perform the prodigies of endurance so often required\nof them. Two of these feUows wiU carry an\nordinary Chinaman, with his box of clothes,\nthirty mUes in from eight to ten hours on the\nhottest days in summer. They travel between\nfive and six nnles an hour, and on coming to a\nstage, pass without a moment's delay to the\nplace where food and opium are awaiting their\narrival. After smoking their allowance and\nsnatching as much rest as the traveUer wiU\npermit, they start once more upon the road;\nand the occupant of the chair cannot fail to\nperceive the Hghtness and elasticity of their\ntread, as compared with the duU, tired gait of\nhalf an hour before. They die early, of course;\nbut we have trades in civiHsed England in which\na man thirty-six years of age is pointed at as a\npatriarch. 38\nOPIUM SMOKING\nIt is also commonly stated that a man who\nhas once begun opium can never leave it off.\nThis is an entire faUacy. There is a certain\npoint up to which a smoker may go with impunity, and beyond which he becomes a lost\nman in so far as he is unable ever to give up the\npractice. Chinamen ask if an opium-smoker\nhas the yin or not; meaning thereby, has he\ngradually increased his doses of opium until he\nhas established a craving for the drug, or is he\nstiU a free man to give it up without endangering\nhis health. Hundreds and thousands stop short\nof the yin; a few, leaving it far behind them in\ntheir suicidal career, hurry on to premature old\nage and death. Further, from one point of\nview, opium-smoking is a more self-regarding\nvice than drunkenness, which entafls gout and\nother evfls upon the third and fourth generation.\nPosterity can suffer Httle or nothing at the hands\nof the opium-smoker, for to the inveterate\nsmoker all chance of posterity is denied. This\nvery important result wfll always act as an\nefficient check upon an inordinately extensive\nuse of the drug in China, where chUdren are\nregarded as the greatest treasures Hfe has to\ngive, and blessed is he that has his quiver\nfuU. OPIUM SMOKING\n39\nIndulgence in opium is, moreover, supposed\nto blunt the moral feelings of those who indulge;\nand to a certain extent this is true. If your\nservant smokes opium, dismiss him with as\nHttle compunction as you would a drunken\ncoachman; for he can no longer be trusted. His\nwages being probably insufficient to supply\nhim with his pipe and leave a balance for famUy\nexpenses, he wiU be driven to squeeze more than\nusual, and probably to steal. But to get rid\nof a writer or a clerk merely because he is a\nsmoker, however moderate, would be much the\nsame as dismissing an employe for the heinous\noffence of drinking two glasses of beer and a\nglass of sherry at his dinner-time. An opium-\nsmoker may be a man of exemplary habits,\nnever even fuddled, stiU less stupefied. He\nmay take his pipe because he Hkes it, or because\nit agrees with him; but it does not foUow that he\nmust necessarily make himself, even for the time\nbeing, incapable of doing business. Wine and\nmoonHght were formerly considered indispens-\nables by Chinese bards; without them, no inspiration, no poetic fire. The modern poetaster\nwho pens a chaste ode to his mistress's eyebrow,\nseeks in the opium-pipe that flow of burning\nthoughts which his forefathers drained from the OPIUM SMOKING\nwine-cup. We cannot see that he does wrong.\nWe beHeve firmly that a moderate use of the\ndrug is attended with no dangerous results;\nand that moderation in all kinds of eating,\ndrinking, and smoking, is just as common a\nvirtue in China as in England or anywhere else.\n[In the above view I had not wavered when\nI left China at the end of 1892, after many\nyears of free intercourse with the people, as\nweU as with officials.]\nPrinted by W. Heffer & Sons Ltd.. Cambridge, England. 7 Uajub U\n\\nI\n\u00C2\u00AB\u00E2\u0082\u00AC* .\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0"@en . "Books"@en . "HV5816_G54_1923"@en . "10.14288/1.0114624"@en . "English"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "Cambridge [Eng.] : W. Heffer & Sons"@en . "Rare Books and Special Collections"@en . "These images are provided for research and reference use only. Written permission to publish, copy or otherwise use these images must be obtained from Rare Books & Special Collections http://www.library.ubc.ca/spcoll/"@en . "University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. HV5816 .G54 1923"@en . "Opium"@en . "Some truths about opium"@en . "Text"@en . ""@en .