Narcotic Culture
A History of Drugs in China
256 pages
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20 halftones
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5-1/2 x 8-1/2
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© 2004
To this day, the perception persists that China was a civilization defeated by imperialist Britain's most desirable trade commodity, opium—a drug that turned the Chinese into cadaverous addicts in the iron grip of dependence. Britain, in an effort to reverse the damage caused by opium addiction, launched its own version of the "war on drugs," which lasted roughly sixty years, from 1880 to World War II and the beginning of Chinese communism. But, as Narcotic Culture brilliantly shows, the real scandal in Chinese history was not the expansion of the drug trade by Britain in the early nineteenth century, but rather the failure of the British to grasp the consequences of prohibition.
In a stunning historical reversal, Frank Dikötter, Lars Laamann, and Zhou Xun tell this different story of the relationship between opium and the Chinese. They reveal that opium actually had few harmful effects on either health or longevity; in fact, it was prepared and appreciated in highly complex rituals with inbuilt constraints preventing excessive use. Opium was even used as a medicinal panacea in China before the availability of aspirin and penicillin. But as a result of the British effort to eradicate opium, the Chinese turned from the relatively benign use of that drug to heroin, morphine, cocaine, and countless other psychoactive substances. Narcotic Culture provides abundant evidence that the transition from a tolerated opium culture to a system of prohibition produced a "cure" that was far worse than the disease.
Delving into a history of drugs and their abuses, Narcotic Culture is part revisionist history of imperial and twentieth-century Britain and part sobering portrait of the dangers of prohibition.
In a stunning historical reversal, Frank Dikötter, Lars Laamann, and Zhou Xun tell this different story of the relationship between opium and the Chinese. They reveal that opium actually had few harmful effects on either health or longevity; in fact, it was prepared and appreciated in highly complex rituals with inbuilt constraints preventing excessive use. Opium was even used as a medicinal panacea in China before the availability of aspirin and penicillin. But as a result of the British effort to eradicate opium, the Chinese turned from the relatively benign use of that drug to heroin, morphine, cocaine, and countless other psychoactive substances. Narcotic Culture provides abundant evidence that the transition from a tolerated opium culture to a system of prohibition produced a "cure" that was far worse than the disease.
Delving into a history of drugs and their abuses, Narcotic Culture is part revisionist history of imperial and twentieth-century Britain and part sobering portrait of the dangers of prohibition.
"For over a century Chinese and Western historians have, for different reasons, acquiesced in the image of a nineteenth-century China enslaved by imperial bondage to a pandemic of opium addiction. Narcotic Culture offers an elegant, compelling, and timely exposition of an entirely different story: a China where opium use was an indigenous addition to a long-established cultural complex, and where the true crisis of addiction was triggered not by opium itself but by the Western 'anti-opium' medications which followed in the wake of its prohibition. As such it not only revises a century of flawed historiography, but poses a profound challenge to the founding myth of contemporary drug policy."
"A fascinating and provocative introduction to China's narcotic history. The authors challenge the view of opium as the ultimate symbol of national humiliation, forced upon a helpless China by imperialist powers in a mantra perpetuated by Chinese and Western historians alike. Arguably the first comprehensive attempt to write a social history of drugs in China."
"[This is an] informative, scholarly and dispassionately fascinating book. . . . Drawing on a wealth of recent research, Narcotic Culture explodes various myths surrounding the use of opium in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century China. Conventionally, and also according to Communist propaganda, the West (especially the beastly British) willfully debilitated the Chinese empire by turning its denizens into emaciated opium addicts, stripping it of huge quantities of hoarded silver in the process. When the Chinese objected, the British responded with a show of brute imperialist force.
Skillfully deploying historical and medical evidence, Narcotic Culture stands all this on its head. The British and their mercantile allies may actually have done the Chinese a favour. In an age when modern medicines were unavailable, opium became a near-universal, inexpensive panacea against the symptoms of dysentery, cholera, malaria and other endemic diseases. . . . Narcotic Culture teases out the complex relationship between tolerance and suppression. It needs to be read far outside the community of Sinologists whence it has emanated."--Justin Wintle, Independent (UK)
Skillfully deploying historical and medical evidence, Narcotic Culture stands all this on its head. The British and their mercantile allies may actually have done the Chinese a favour. In an age when modern medicines were unavailable, opium became a near-universal, inexpensive panacea against the symptoms of dysentery, cholera, malaria and other endemic diseases. . . . Narcotic Culture teases out the complex relationship between tolerance and suppression. It needs to be read far outside the community of Sinologists whence it has emanated."--Justin Wintle, Independent (UK)
"Instead of the dreadful evil pictured by missionary zealots and successive Chinese governments, the preferred pastime of Coleridge and DeQuincey is viewed as a harmless, recreational vice initially for the upper class. . . . As with all unwelcome interruptions, the cure of opium smoking is worse than the disease."—Michael Hsu, Asian Review of Books
"This is a brave and powerful book, not least because it questions readings of China's history that up to now have gained almost universal acceptance. . . . A ground-breaking, and indeed astonishing, book. It may not represent a final analysis, but there is more than enough within its pages to support the author's belief . . . that the best way to win the modern 'war on drugs' may well be to stop fighting it forthwith."--Tapei Times
“Narcotic Culture makes its mark as part of an expanding field in Chinese history. . . . [The authors] have provided essential reading for those concerned with modern Chinese history, for anyone interested in knowing how drugs can challenge as well as shape a society—and for those who need to distinguish between ‘horseshit’ (oddly enough the name for top-class opium) and ‘bricks’ (the lowest-quality variety).
"[The authors] have produced a well researched, nicely written and provocatively argued book that should attract a wide readership and stimulate scholarly discussion for some time. The volume features an exhaustive bibliography of archival, primary and secondary sources that will be indispensable for other scholars of narcotics in China. It is an important book, and the innovative perspective righhtfully calls on those scholars . . . who have not explored the negative consequences of opiate prohibition to radically rethink this issue."--Joyce A. Madancy, China Quarterly
"The book is remarkably well-organized, systematic in the coverage of the topic, and it does present, convincingly and successfully, a string of arguments for a reinterpretation of drug use in Chinese society. . . . . This book definitely stands as a solid scholarly contribution to the history of drugs"--Christian Henriot, American Historical Review
"This is a terrific book. It is an important correction to the China field's, and almost everyone else's, interpretation of opium's impact on Chinese society. . . . [The authors] have given us an important correction to the standard explanation that opium had a generally negative impact on Chinese society. The book is clearly written as well as insightful, and it offers a profound conclusion. It is highly recommended."
"Densely written and voluminously documented, [the book] demolishes many shibboleths that should not have stood the test of time. The authors present, with good reason, ideas that will startle many readers. . . . These ideas come together in a devastating critique of old views, and do so on a bed of rich documentation. The topic will never be the same."
Contents
Acknowledgments
Conventions
1. Introduction
2. The Global Spread of Psychoactive Substances (c. 1600-1900)
3. Opium before the 'Opium War' (c. 1600-1840)
4. Opium for the People: Status, Space and Consumption (c. 1840-1940)
5. 'The Best Possible and Sure Shield': Opium, Disease and Epidemics (c. 1840-1940)
6. War on Drugs: Prohibition and the Rise of Narcophobia (c. 1880-1940)
7. Curing the Addict: Prohibition and Detoxification
8. Pills and Powders: The Spread of Semi-Synthetic Opiates (c. 1900-1940)
9. Needle Lore: The Syringe in China (c. 1890-1950)
10. China's Other Drugs (c. 1900-1950)
11. Conclusion
Bibliography
Character List
Index
Conventions
1. Introduction
2. The Global Spread of Psychoactive Substances (c. 1600-1900)
3. Opium before the 'Opium War' (c. 1600-1840)
4. Opium for the People: Status, Space and Consumption (c. 1840-1940)
5. 'The Best Possible and Sure Shield': Opium, Disease and Epidemics (c. 1840-1940)
6. War on Drugs: Prohibition and the Rise of Narcophobia (c. 1880-1940)
7. Curing the Addict: Prohibition and Detoxification
8. Pills and Powders: The Spread of Semi-Synthetic Opiates (c. 1900-1940)
9. Needle Lore: The Syringe in China (c. 1890-1950)
10. China's Other Drugs (c. 1900-1950)
11. Conclusion
Bibliography
Character List
Index
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Anthropology: Cultural and Social Anthropology | General Anthropology
Asian Studies: East Asia | General Asian Studies
History: Asian History | General History
Sociology: General Sociology | Social History
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