aspired to break all the
chains, such as extra-territoriality, which stamped the country as not
the equal of the other great nations.[65]

The anti-opium agitation.

In the steps taken to suppress opium smoking evidence was forthcoming of
the earnestness with which the governing body in China sought to better
the condition of the people. Opium smoking followed, in China, the
introduction of tobacco smoking, and is stated to have been introduced
from Java and Formosa in the early part of the 17th century. The first
edict against the habit was issued in 1729. At that time the only
foreign opium introduced was by the Portuguese from Goa, who exported
about 200 chests[66] a year. In 1773 English merchants in India entered
into the trade, which in 1781 was taken over by the East India
Company--the import in 1790 being over 4000 chests. In 1796 the
importation of foreign opium was declared contraband, and between 1839
and 1860 the central government attempted, without success, to suppress
the trade. It was legalized in 1858 after the second "opium war" with
Great Britain. At that time the poppy was extensively grown in China,
and the bulk of the opium smoked was, and continued to be, of home
manufacture. But after 1860 the importation of opium from India greatly
increased. Opium was also imported from Persia (chiefly to Formosa,
which in 1895 passed into the possession of Japan). The total foreign
import in 1863 was some 70,000 piculs,[67] in 1879 it was 102,000
piculs, but in 1905 had fallen to 56,000 piculs. The number of opium
smokers in China in the early years of the 20th century was estimated at
from 25 to 30 millions. The evil effects of opium smoking were fully
recognized, and Chang Chih-tung, one of the most powerful of the
opponents of the habit, was high in the councils of the dowager-empress.
On the 20th of September 1906 an edict was issued directing that the
growth, sale and consumption of opium should cease in China within ten
years, and ordering the officials to take measures to execute the
imperial will. The measures promulgated, in November following, made the
following provisions:--

(1) The cultivation of the poppy to be restricted annually by
one-tenth of its existing area; (2) all persons using opium to be
registered; (3) all shops selling opium to be gradually closed, and
all places where opium is smoked to discontinue the practice within
six months; (4) anti-opium societies to be offic