lso has established dispensaries
for the treatment of drug addicts.

XV

HISTORY OF THE OPIUM TRADE IN CHINA

In a vague way, we are familiar with the "opium evil" in China, and
some of us have hazy ideas as to how it came about. The China Year Book
for 1916 has this to say on the subject: "The poppy has been known in
China for 12 centuries, and its medicinal use for 9 centuries.... It
was not until the middle of the 17th century that the practice of
mixing opium with tobacco for smoking purposes was introduced into
China. This habit was indulged in by the Dutch in Java, and by them
taken to Formosa, whence it spread to Amoy and the mainland generally.
There is no record to show when opium was first smoked by itself, but
it is thought to have originated about the end of the 18th century.
Foreign opium was first introduced by the Portuguese from Goa at the
beginning of the 18th century. In 1729, when the foreign import was 200
chests, the Emperor Yung Ching issued the first anti-opium edict,
enacting severe penalties on the sale of opium and the opening of
opium-smoking divans. The importation, however, continued to increase,
and by 1790 it amounted to over 4,000 chests annually. In 1796 opium
smoking was again prohibited, and in 1800 the importation of foreign
opium was again declared illegal. Opium was now contraband, but the
fact had no effect on the quantity introduced into the country, which
rose to 5,000 chests in 1820; 16,000 chests in 1830; 20,000 chests in
1838, and 70,000 chests in 1858."

The China Year Book makes no mention of the traders who carried these
chests of opium into China. The opium came from India, however, and the
increase in importation corresponds with the British occupation of
India, and the golden days of the East India Company. "Opium was now
contraband, but that fact had no effect on the quantity introduced into
the country,"--smuggled in wholesale by the enterprising British
traders.

China was powerless to protect herself from this menace, either by
protests or prohibition. And as more and more of the drug was smuggled
in, and more and more of the people became victims of the habit, the
Chinese finally had a tea-party, very much like our Boston Tea Party,
but less successful in outcome. In 1839, in spite of the fact that
opium smoking is an easy habit to acquire and had been extensively
encouraged, the British traders found themselves with 20,000 chests of
unsold opium