Poppies and Politics in China

Book excerpt: During the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, China was the most important opium-producing and opium-consuming country in the world. Within China, Sichuan Province was the largest opium-producing region. It not only produced about 40 percent of the country's entire supply during the late 1890s and early 1900s, but was home to millions of people who deeply indulged in the drug. This work studies the opium situation in Sichuan during those years and shows how Sichuan's economic, social and psychological milieu influenced opium production and consumption. It illuminates how the changing political climate led to the opium prohibition campaigns, with varying results. The story of opium reflects the province's ever-changing political reality, economic conditoions and social circumstance.