November 5,1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
361 
THE OPIUM TRADE OF CHINA. 
BY P. L. SMMONDS. 
Few are, perhaps, aware of the enormous trade 
still carried on in opium from India to China; and 
what is, probably, even less generally known, is that 
the poppy is largely cultivated in China itself, and 
that the native drug is beginning to replace much of 
the Mahva opium. Mr. It. Fortune saw the poppy 
extensively grown in China for the purpose of in¬ 
spissating the juice, but was able to form no esti¬ 
mate of the quantity actually grown. We have, 
however, confirmatory recent evidence of the exten¬ 
sion of the culture and production in China. More 
than thirty years ago it was stated in the Chinese 
Repository, on the testimony of the counsellor Choo 
Tsun, that in his native province, Yunnan, the poppy 
was cultivated all over the hills and open country, 
and that the quantity of opium annually produced 
there could not be less than several thousand chests. 
Indian opium now brings in an average annual 
gross revenue to the Indian Government of about 
£ 8 , 200 , 000 . 
The value of the opium shipped from India to 
China in the last ten years is thus given in the 
official statistics ; from which it will be seen that the 
average annual import has not varied very greatly in 
the two quinquennial periods, although there are 
alternate high and low years, and the price fluc¬ 
tuates much:— 
£ 
£ 
1860 . 
1865 . 
1861. 
... 10,181,713 
1866 . 
.. 11,122,746 
1862 . 
1867. 
.. 10,431,703 
1863 . 
1868 . 
.. 12,309,915 
1864 . 
... 10,756,093 
1869 . 
.. 10,695,654 
Total.... 
.. 53,043,240 
Total.... 
. 54,471,822 
Average. 
..£‘10,608,648 
Average. 
.£10,894,364 
In 1850 the consumption of Indian opium in 
China was about 82,000 chests of 110 lb. each, but 
this was exceptionally large. 
In his report upon the trade of Tien-tsin for 1866, 
our Consul drew attention to the fact that the in¬ 
crease in the importation of opium in that and the 
previous year had been immediately preceded by an 
Imperial edict, issued on the 28th April, 1865, which 
prohibited the cultivation of the poppy throughout 
the empire. He stated that though, at first, the ope¬ 
ration of this edict was beneficial to the trade in 
foreign opium, the poppy was still grown exten¬ 
sively, and the prohibition would prove, ineffectual. 
That such has hitherto been the result is proved by 
the fact of another edict having been issued on the 
31st January, 1869, redirecting all viceroys and go¬ 
vernors to cause proclamations to be issued, forbid¬ 
ding altogether the cultivation of the poppy, which 
is stated to have been introduced from Kan-suh into 
Shen-si and Shan-si, and afterwards grown in the 
provinces of Kiang-su, Honan and Shan-tung. The 
ground of objection to the poppy, and even to potato 
culture, stated in the edicts, is that they withdraw 
land from the cultivation of rice and grain. 
There is little doubt that the competition of na¬ 
tive-grown opium has had much to do with the 
declining price of the foreign-grown since 1866, and 
that at the same time the increased production of 
the native has lessened the importation of Indian 
opium. 
Third Series, No. 19 . 
At Tien-tsin, since 1866, it is certain that a yearly 
diminishing importation has accompanied a yearly' 
falling price, plainly indicating a decreasing demand 1 
for foreign opium. There is no evidence, however, 
according to Mr. Consul Mongan, of the decrease of 
opium smoking, but rather of its increase; and 
therefore it may fairly be inferred that the quantity 
of native opium has so much increased, or its-qua¬ 
lity so much improved of late, as to have shut out a 
considerable amount of the Indian drug. This infer¬ 
ence, too, is much strengthened by the reference 
which the late edict makes to the spread of poppy 
culture over northern China. 
In addition to the provinces enumerated in the 
edict, there is also ample evidence of extensive poppy 
cultivation in other parts of the Chinese empire. 
It seems to have been carried on for many years in 
the extreme south-west hi the province of Yunnan, 
the largest portion of which has thrown off its alle¬ 
giance, and is now a practically independent kingdom. 
Sze-chuen has also been for many years a great 
poppy province, and the drug produced there very 
perceptibly affects the market at Hankow. When 
Lord Elgin visited that city in 1858, he stated (Blue 
Book, 1859, page 443) that he saw there “ shops 
where native opium was openly advertised for sale.” 
Mr. T. T. Cooper, in some notes on his travels to¬ 
wards India through Central China, spealdng of 
Sze-chuen, says, “ In spring the country was white 
with the flower of the opium poppy, now one of the 
staple productions of the province;” and Mr. A. 
Wylie, the well-known Sinologue, who has travelled 
lately in the same province, says in a letter, “ One 
fact I can vouch for, and that is the widespread use 
of the drug, and consequent degradation of the 
people. It was pitiable to see the victims of this 
practice coming to us to ask for relief and desiring 
to be cured, and such were by no means confined to 
the lower classes. I believe the practice in Sze- 
chuen, as elsewhere, is very widespread among the 
literary and governing class. From all the informa¬ 
tion we could gather, it commenced in this province 
within twenty or thirty years past. Li the ‘ Statisti¬ 
cal Account of Sze-cliuen,’ published in 1817, which 
gives a detailed list of the productions of the pro¬ 
vince, the poppy is not named. I do not remember 
seeing any foreign, though it is sold there, but at 
eveiy market the farmers bringing in their little 
lumps of native production were always to be met 
with. As far as I could learn, the price ranged from 
140 to 250 cash the tael weight.” 
Another vast region, not mentioned in the edict of 
1869, in which poppy culture has been spreading 
rapidly within the last few years, is Eastern Mon¬ 
golia and Central and Northern Manchuria, the 
drug thence brought down to the coast competing 
with Indian opium in the Newchwang market. 
Thus, in the provinces of Yunnan, Sze-chuen, Shen-si, 
Kansuh, Shan-si, Honan,’ Shan-tung and Kiang-su, 
as well as in Manchuria and Mongolia, native 
opium is produced; and that its consumption by the 
Chinese is lessening the demand for the Indian 
drug, would seem to be indicated by the fact that 
in 1868 the total importation of the latter was less 
than it had been in 1867 by 4789 chests, represent¬ 
ing a value, at the average ruling rate, of nearly two 
millions sterling. 
These figures are given in a letter that was pub¬ 
lished in the North China Daily News of the 22nd 
February, 1869. 
