The modern history of China is a period marked by humiliation. The isolationist policy of the Qing Dynasty, under the assault of Western warships and cannons, forced the government to open its ports. Opium became a horrific and painful memory for the Chinese people.
According to historical records, opium was introduced to China during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng. By 1773, the amount of opium in China had reached 6,000 chests, each valued at approximately 350 taels of silver.
At that time, opium was a luxury item circulated only among the nobility. However, by the late 19th century, the British East India Company expanded its opium cultivation, flooding China with large quantities of the drug.
The Qing Dynasty transitioned from a trade surplus of 26 million taels in the early 19th century to a deficit of 38 million taels by 1836. This situation ultimately led to the anti-opium movement that followed, and the Opium Wars erupted as a result.
Despite this, the opium trade continued to thrive. According to statistics from the Republic of China, by 1932, the population of China was approximately 474 million, with about 80 million people addicted to opium, primarily from the poorer and lower classes.
This figure is indeed astonishing and raises questions about its authenticity, as opium was still considered a luxury item with exorbitant prices. How could the poor during the Qing Dynasty afford to consume it?
Despite being a luxury item, the poor during the late Qing period still managed to consume opium.
The Approach of Empress Dowager Cixi – A Strategy Condemned by Posterity
In the early days of opium’s introduction to China, the Qing court was well aware of its harmful effects.
By 1823, Emperor Daoguang ordered his subordinates to seriously address the “Negligence in Opium Inspection”, stating: “In the eastern and western regions of the Dian Province (Yunnan), the distillation of poppies into opium must be strictly prohibited. The governor of Dian must instruct local officials to inform the populace that they are not allowed to cultivate poppies; this must be dealt with at its root.”
However, when Lin Zexu took office in Guangzhou, he discovered that it was impossible to completely ban opium. In his memorial “Analysis of Currency Increase, Excluding Fraud, and Benefiting the People”, he proposed: “If we compare the two harms, although there are still people secretly cultivating opium domestically, the money from the sales will remain within the country, unlike sending money to the West.”
He argued that, if comparing imported opium and domestically produced opium, at least if it was produced locally, the profits would not end up in Western pockets.
Other ministers, such as Guo Songtao, shared similar views, but despite this, poppy cultivation remained limited to marginal lands.
However, by 1858, when the Second Opium War broke out, alongside the Taiping Rebellion, Empress Dowager Cixi, focused only on immediate issues, failed to consider the long-term consequences.
She officially announced the imposition of taxes on imported opium. This decision indicated that the previously prohibited cultivation of opium in marginal areas was now legally permitted. Along with this announcement, opium cultivation officially became widespread across China.
Opium cultivation officially became widespread across China.
This is because the immense profits from opium led farmers everywhere to abandon traditional crops in favor of poppy cultivation. Historical records from Yunnan noted: “Exiting the southern gate, passing through the Jinma Bicheng district, around the banks of the Ying’en River, in late spring, poppies bloom profusely, covering the landscape as far as the eye can see.” Poppies could be seen everywhere.
In Sichuan, “over 140 counties, except for a few border areas, hardly any place was free from opium cultivation.”
Even Guizhou became a province with a significant opium cultivation area. By 1879, the amount of opium cultivated was 500,000 kg, which increased to 20,000,000 kg by 1896, accounting for half of the total opium cultivated in the country.
Taxes on opium cultivation became one of the main sources of revenue for the Qing government.
In 1908, the Qing court collected 270 million taels of silver, of which 33,020,000 taels came from this Western-origin crop. This figure indeed shocked many, and Cixi’s “band-aid solution” (focusing on immediate gains without considering future consequences) led to China’s increasing backwardness, causing her to be criticized by later generations.