Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1895-09-14
CHINESE HISTORY OF OPIUM.
The Use of the Drug in China Ia Not
Modern Evil


n Modern Evil.
In work by DR.. Edkins, distin-
guished Chinese scholar, who was for
forty years a missionary in China, re-
Gently reprinted as an appendix TO the
report of the opium commission, the
responsibility for the introduction of
opium into China is traced ON the
basis of information from the Chi
nese side" 1t is the prevalent opin-
ion that British interference forced
China to import opium, and that if
British pressure We're removed China
would cease to use it. Promising that
it was not till 1887 that the British
East India company established rela-
tions with China, and not till 1881
that the company took the opium trade
into its own hands, DIR. Edkins pro-
ceeds to set forth the facts as stated
in Chinese historical documents The
poppy was brought into China, he
finds, by Arab traders between the
seventh and eighth centuries, A. u.
Its cultivation in China began in the
eighth century, and the Imperial Phar-
macopoeia of 973 mentions it. The
editor of the official Chinese Materia
Medica or the eleventh century re-
marks: The poppy is found every
where" In the fourteenth century,
says Barbosa, the Portuguese traded
in opium at the Chinese ports. Its
value is stated in the Chinese tariff
of 1888 at two mace of silver per ten
cotties." The Arabs, Portuguese and
Dutch preceded the British East India
company in the opium trade with
China. The Canton valuation book Of
1857 shows that the board of revenue
at Pekin sanctioned the importation
of the drug at duty of 6 per cent ad
yalOrem. A native work of that period
refers to opium coming from Java and
to the practice of opium smoking in
Formosa.
Opium smoking according to Chi
nese histories, had its origin from eff
forts of Ming emperor (162S-1644) to
suppress tobacco smoking. But the
practice of tobacco smoking was es-
tablished, and the only effect Of the
interdict was to cause opium to be
used along with tobacco, or Instead Of
it, to exc out a diminished supply.
Opium smoking became most common
in parts of the empire that had been
most given to tobacco smoking. In
1923 opium smoking fell under the inn
perial interdict, but the trade in opium
continued as before. the annual i'm
portation being 200 chests. BY 17G7
the quantity had grown to 1000 chests
under a tariff rate Of 3 taels per chest
1t was received at the custom houses
of Annoy and Canton, and the items
in the books show that the proceeds
of the tariff on opium were RENTED
to Pekin. When the East India com.
pany took the opium trade into its
hands in 1871 the drug had been a
legal import for from 200 to 300 wears.
The people demanded opium, the Off
Gals smoked it, and, although the i'm.
port was forbidden by law at the cap
ltal, It was permitted by the consti-
tuted authorities on the coast.
The net result of DR.. Edkins' read
ing of Chinese documents is the con-
clusion that opium was widely grown
and used in China before 1897. and
opium smoking was firmly established
before 1871, when the East India com
pany first engaged in the trade. After
1881 the trade was conducted, first
with the concurrence, then, from 1900
10 lS22, with the practical consent Of
the Chinese port authorities. After
1872 1t was conducted under a distinct
arrangement. 1t follows, If the Chi
nese records are correctly read, that
the Anglo-Chinese war of recent date
was not the beginning of the opium
evil in China, and did not force upon
the Chinese an unwonted and unde-
sired article OF traftic.-Baltimore Sun.