70

V. SOWING THE WIND IN CHINA--SHANGHAI 101

VI. SOWING THE WIND IN CHINA--TIENTSIN AND HONGKONG 129

VII. HOW BRITISH CHICKENS CAME HOME TO ROOST 154

VIII. THE POSITION OF GREAT BRITAIN 178

APPENDIX 204

ILLUSTRATIONS

_Facing page_

H. E. TONG SHAO-I _Title_

KNEADING CRUDE OPIUM WITH OIL TO MAKE ROUND OR FLAT CAKES 27

MAKING ROUND CAKES OF OPIUM 27

THE OPIUM HULKS OF SHANGHAI 50

AN OPIUM RECEIVING SHIP OR "GODOWN" AT SHANGHAI 50

THE VILLAGES WERE LITTLE MORE THAN HEAPS OF RUINS 54

AT LAST HE CRAWLS OUT ON THE HIGHWAY, WHINING, CHATTERING AND
PRAYING THAT A FEW COPPER CASH BE THROWN HIM 54

WRECK AND RUIN IN CHINA 68

ENFORCING THE EDICT AT SHANGHAI 88

IN AN OPIUM DEN, SHANGHAI 114

OPIUM-SMOKING 114

WEIGHING OPIUM IN A GOVERNMENT FACTORY IN INDIA 154

WHERE THE CHINAMAN TRAVELS, OPIUM TRAVELS TOO 172

Drugging a Nation

I

CHINA'S PREDICAMENT

In September, 1906, an edict was issued from the Imperial Court at Peking
which states China's predicament with naivete and vigour.

"The cultivation of the poppy," runs the edict, in the authorized
translation, "is the greatest iniquity in agriculture, and the provinces
of Szechuen, Shensi, Kansu, Yunnan, Kweichow, Shansi, and Kanghuai abound
in its product, which, in fact, is found everywhere. Now that it is
decided to abandon opium smoking within ten years, the limiting of this
cultivation should be taken as a fundamental step ... opium has been in
use so long by the people that nearly three-tenths or four-tenths of them
are smokers."

"Three-tenths or four-tenths" of the Chinese people,--one hundred and
fifty million opium-smokers--mean three or four times the population of
Great Britain, a good many more than the population of the United States!

The Chinese are notori