Visiting the Chinese smoking room and what is «Chandu»?
More and more opium was spreading in the East as well. The French naturalist Pierre Belon, who traveled the eastern Mediterranean in the forties of the 16th century, was struck by the extent of opium consumption in the Ottoman Empire. In describing his travels, he noted that «there is not a Turk who has not spent his last coin to buy opium».
At the end of the 16th century, the Dutch merchant Jan Huygen van Linschoten gave such information about the properties of opium, which was used by the inhabitants of East India:
More and more opium was spreading in the East as well. The French naturalist Pierre Belon, who traveled the eastern Mediterranean in the forties of the 16th century, was struck by the extent of opium consumption in the Ottoman Empire. In describing his travels, he noted that «there is not a Turk who has not spent his last coin to buy opium».
At the end of the 16th century, the Dutch merchant Jan Huygen van Linschoten gave such information about the properties of opium, which was used by the inhabitants of East India:
«He who is accustomed to it must take it daily, otherwise he is doomed to death or self-destruction. He who has never used it, however, should he have an opportunity to take a dose that is customary for the user, he will certainly die».
Such abuse of opium in Europe until the 19th century was considered a special characteristic of Muslims and, in general, of the inhabitants of the «barbaric» East.
By the end of the 14th century, opium under the name «black incense» was already well known in the Middle Kingdom as a cure for diarrhea and painkiller. However, only the imperial court had access to it, because opium was supplied from Siam and Bengal, as well as from Java as a tribute - the rulers of these lands were considered vassals of the goddesses.
The poppy was used a hundred years later, at the court of the Ming dynasty emperors, as an effective «spring potion» - an aphrodisiac that induced sexual desire and increased potency. At the same time, it was believed that poppy helped to avoid wasting the «male essence» - sperm, i.e. to prevent ejaculation, which was very much appreciated in traditional Chinese medicine. It was considered as a center of life energy and was believed that its preservation helped to prolong human days.
After the capture of Malacca by the Portuguese in 1511, they controlled all of China's maritime trade with India and Java. In 1516 they went to Beijing for the first time with an embassy, taking with them, among other things, the «black incense».
The poppy was used a hundred years later, at the court of the Ming dynasty emperors, as an effective «spring potion» - an aphrodisiac that induced sexual desire and increased potency. At the same time, it was believed that poppy helped to avoid wasting the «male essence» - sperm, i.e. to prevent ejaculation, which was very much appreciated in traditional Chinese medicine. It was considered as a center of life energy and was believed that its preservation helped to prolong human days.
After the capture of Malacca by the Portuguese in 1511, they controlled all of China's maritime trade with India and Java. In 1516 they went to Beijing for the first time with an embassy, taking with them, among other things, the «black incense».
Poppy consumption at the Minsk court rather quickly evolved from fashion and entertainment into a real addiction. According to the results of an exhumation carried out in 1958, Emperor Wanli (1563-1620) was a heavy drug addict. Being in conflict with his entourage, he did not leave his chambers for years, finding solace in opium and alcohol.
His unwillingness and inability to manage the empire was one of the prerequisites for its collapse and the coming to power of the Manchu Qing dynasty in 1644.
Around 1620, tobacco entered the Middle Kingdom from the Philippine Islands and quickly became very popular with the people. Soon Dutch marquishers imported from Java the custom of mixing opium with tobacco. This was an attempt to fight malaria.
By this time in China, the fashion for poppies and the potions made from them had already left court circles and spread among the wealthy classes of the empire. But opiates were consumed in the form of infusions or dishes, as in other countries where they were also popular, such as the Ottoman Empire, Persia or India.
His unwillingness and inability to manage the empire was one of the prerequisites for its collapse and the coming to power of the Manchu Qing dynasty in 1644.
Around 1620, tobacco entered the Middle Kingdom from the Philippine Islands and quickly became very popular with the people. Soon Dutch marquishers imported from Java the custom of mixing opium with tobacco. This was an attempt to fight malaria.
By this time in China, the fashion for poppies and the potions made from them had already left court circles and spread among the wealthy classes of the empire. But opiates were consumed in the form of infusions or dishes, as in other countries where they were also popular, such as the Ottoman Empire, Persia or India.
It was thanks to tobacco that opium smoking became widespread among the Chinese. Unlike the Europeans, the subjects of the Son of Heaven began to practice smoking not for medical but for purely recreational purposes, and soon enough it superseded opiophagy. By the middle of the seventeenth century the smoking of the pure drug had become widespread due to the ban on tobacco imposed by Emperor Zhu Yujian.
It became a ritual in China. It began with the processing of opium, which took several months. Raw opium, like tea, was kept in dark rooms for fermentation. The resulting mass was called «chandu». It was molded into balls which were used for smoking by putting them into special long wooden pipes. The lighting, the specially trimmed wick, and the distance and angle of the pipe over the lamp fire were all important.
Smoking opium was unlike smoking tobacco and was reminiscent of the now fashionable vaping. Opium does not smolder or smoke. It forms a vapor, which the opium addict inhales and, after a few puffs, plunges into a state of serene contemplation and apathy. All the problems and desires that were there before taking the drug - pain, hunger, thirst - are gone.
It became a ritual in China. It began with the processing of opium, which took several months. Raw opium, like tea, was kept in dark rooms for fermentation. The resulting mass was called «chandu». It was molded into balls which were used for smoking by putting them into special long wooden pipes. The lighting, the specially trimmed wick, and the distance and angle of the pipe over the lamp fire were all important.
Smoking opium was unlike smoking tobacco and was reminiscent of the now fashionable vaping. Opium does not smolder or smoke. It forms a vapor, which the opium addict inhales and, after a few puffs, plunges into a state of serene contemplation and apathy. All the problems and desires that were there before taking the drug - pain, hunger, thirst - are gone.
By the beginning of the 18th century, opium's fame as an excellent compound for curing all kinds of ailments - bodily and mental and, most importantly, as a first-class aid in love affairs - had spread to all walks of life in the Middle Kingdom.
The poppy began to be cultivated domestically, and, accordingly, the price of the potions produced from it went down. It was also imported from European colonies in Southeast Asia. Therefore, opium became particularly popular in the coastal provinces of Fujian and Guangdong, where it was smoked by everyone who could afford it.
And in 1729 the potion suffered the fate of tobacco: Emperor Yongzheng issued the first ever decree banning the sale of opium for smoking and the keeping of smoking rooms. Those who violated the Son of Heaven's will were to be strangled.
Petty middlemen were threatened with a hundred strokes with a bamboo stick. However, as in the case with tobacco, which after the ban a century earlier not only did not stop using, but also began to cultivate in China itself, it did not help.
The poppy began to be cultivated domestically, and, accordingly, the price of the potions produced from it went down. It was also imported from European colonies in Southeast Asia. Therefore, opium became particularly popular in the coastal provinces of Fujian and Guangdong, where it was smoked by everyone who could afford it.
And in 1729 the potion suffered the fate of tobacco: Emperor Yongzheng issued the first ever decree banning the sale of opium for smoking and the keeping of smoking rooms. Those who violated the Son of Heaven's will were to be strangled.
Petty middlemen were threatened with a hundred strokes with a bamboo stick. However, as in the case with tobacco, which after the ban a century earlier not only did not stop using, but also began to cultivate in China itself, it did not help.
By this time the most dangerous predator had settled in the Celestial Empire - the British East India Company. In 1711 it received the right to open an office in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, which Europeans called Canton. In China, the British were primarily interested in tea, which was rapidly gaining popularity in the metropolis, as well as silk, porcelain and other goods.
However, the rulers of the Middle Kingdom were willing to trade it only in exchange for silver. The export of the beverage was growing rapidly, and China began to suck the metal from Europe, as the Qing authorities strictly controlled imports, which could restore the balance of trade.
The Celestial Empire was only interested in «Western barbarians» in metals such as lead and tin, cotton and certain luxury goods like Russian furs and Italian glass. Meanwhile, the price of silver in Europe was rising as fast as its scarcity.
However, the rulers of the Middle Kingdom were willing to trade it only in exchange for silver. The export of the beverage was growing rapidly, and China began to suck the metal from Europe, as the Qing authorities strictly controlled imports, which could restore the balance of trade.
The Celestial Empire was only interested in «Western barbarians» in metals such as lead and tin, cotton and certain luxury goods like Russian furs and Italian glass. Meanwhile, the price of silver in Europe was rising as fast as its scarcity.
The situation was saved by opium. Poppy grew beautifully in Bengal, the richest part of the Indian Mughal Empire, over which the British gained control after defeating the army of Shah Alam II at Buxar in 1764. As early as the 17th century, opium was widely used in India for the treatment of malaria and as a narcotic.
The Indians adopted opiophagy from the Persians and also learned how to «brew» opium in rose water or milk, making a drink they called «kusamba». With the spread of tobacco, poppy was mixed with tobacco leaves: this mixture was called «madak».
By this time the first scientific evidence of the harmful effects of the drug appeared in Europe.
In 1701, in his treatise «Unveiled Secrets of Opium», the British physician John Jones described the effect of sudden cessation of opium use after a long period of use, i.e., withdrawal syndrome.
The Indians adopted opiophagy from the Persians and also learned how to «brew» opium in rose water or milk, making a drink they called «kusamba». With the spread of tobacco, poppy was mixed with tobacco leaves: this mixture was called «madak».
By this time the first scientific evidence of the harmful effects of the drug appeared in Europe.
In 1701, in his treatise «Unveiled Secrets of Opium», the British physician John Jones described the effect of sudden cessation of opium use after a long period of use, i.e., withdrawal syndrome.
He spoke of severe, at times unbearable physical pain, anxiety, and a general state of depression that could end in days of agony and death.
But as a staunch advocate of the use of opiates he considered poppy preparations the best medicine - Jones failed to appreciate the dangers of addiction to them. The medical man mistook the negative signs of long-term opium use not for the properties of the drug itself, but for manifestations of human nature, weak and intemperate. «The evil is not in the drug itself, but in the man» - he wrote.
The Scottish physician George Young, in his «Treatise on Opium» (1753), also extolled the therapeutic properties of opiates. Nevertheless, he remarked:
But as a staunch advocate of the use of opiates he considered poppy preparations the best medicine - Jones failed to appreciate the dangers of addiction to them. The medical man mistook the negative signs of long-term opium use not for the properties of the drug itself, but for manifestations of human nature, weak and intemperate. «The evil is not in the drug itself, but in the man» - he wrote.
The Scottish physician George Young, in his «Treatise on Opium» (1753), also extolled the therapeutic properties of opiates. Nevertheless, he remarked:
«Familiarity with small doses of laudanum is equivalent to familiarity with weak doses of poison».
Around the same time, the British began exporting opium from Bengal further east - to the Malayan island of Pinang, to Java and to China. The first experience of selling opium in the Middle Kingdom was in 1775, when the East India Company, which had obtained a monopoly on the Bengal opium trade two years before, sold 24 crates (about 1.4 tons) of the drug at a considerable profit, bypassing the imperial ban. The smuggling of opium into China began. The potion was sold, of course, for silver.
The economics of this smuggling were very simple. A clipper would arrive from England to Calcutta, India, with a cargo of manufactured goods. There he would take the opium, with which he would go to Canton. One crate (60 kilograms) of opium cost about £150 in Bengal. In Canton the price was as high as £500. It was even as high as 880! A tea clipper could take on board up to 300 crates. So on a single voyage the owners earned between £150,000 and £260,000.
In today's money it's from 16 to 28.5 million. And a high-speed clipper could make up to three voyages a year. 50 million on opium alone! And yet in Canton he would load up on the silver he earned from opium and rush to Britain to enjoy the fresh and fragrant beverage in the fashionable drawing rooms of London. As long as the scheme worked without failure, it was a gold mine.
When in 1796 the Emperor Jiaqing, frightened by the scale of the outflow of silver from the country and the scale of drug addiction, banned not only the domestic trade in opium but also its importation into the empire, this decree remained on paper. In 1799 the prohibition was confirmed with the same success. And formally, the East India Company had nothing to do with drug smuggling. Because it did not sell opium in China.
It sold it to independent merchants in Calcutta, who delivered it to the Chinese at their own risk. However, they preferred to exchange the cash silver they received from them in Canton for promissory notes of the same East India Company, so as not to carry the precious metal through the pirate-infested seas of Southeast Asia.
By 1820, China accounted for over 90% of the East India Company's opium exports - over 5,000 cases (300 tons) a year. By 1833, when shipments reached 1,500 tons, the monstrous imbalance in trade with China in the preceding century had finally been closed.
Now Britain, as well as the Dutch and even the Americans, who had joined the super-profitable business, were sucking the silver on which the empire's financial system was based out of the Chinese economy. Since the Celestial Empire had almost no sources of the metal, its outflow caused enormous damage to the country's economy. The crisis was exacerbated by an epidemic of opium addiction, which became a national disaster.
It sold it to independent merchants in Calcutta, who delivered it to the Chinese at their own risk. However, they preferred to exchange the cash silver they received from them in Canton for promissory notes of the same East India Company, so as not to carry the precious metal through the pirate-infested seas of Southeast Asia.
By 1820, China accounted for over 90% of the East India Company's opium exports - over 5,000 cases (300 tons) a year. By 1833, when shipments reached 1,500 tons, the monstrous imbalance in trade with China in the preceding century had finally been closed.
Now Britain, as well as the Dutch and even the Americans, who had joined the super-profitable business, were sucking the silver on which the empire's financial system was based out of the Chinese economy. Since the Celestial Empire had almost no sources of the metal, its outflow caused enormous damage to the country's economy. The crisis was exacerbated by an epidemic of opium addiction, which became a national disaster.
Smoke of the Opium Wars
By this time, opium was being smoked by millions of people of all classes and estates. In Beijing, up to 20% of officials were addicts, in the provinces - up to a third. In some institutions up to 60% of all employees used the drug. Opium smokers were found even in the inner circle of the Son of Heaven.
In the imperial army, drug addiction became rampant. The Chinese state and society were demoralized and virtually incapacitated.
The lords of the Qing Empire were aware of the threat hanging over it. Throughout the first third of the nineteenth century, opium repeatedly strained relations between the Chinese authorities and the «English barbarians».
In 1817 the East India Company was required to inspect the cargoes on its ships and to give a written undertaking not to smuggle opium. The company ignored these demands and introduced a warship into the mouth of the Sijiang River to intimidate the Canton authorities.
By this time, opium was being smoked by millions of people of all classes and estates. In Beijing, up to 20% of officials were addicts, in the provinces - up to a third. In some institutions up to 60% of all employees used the drug. Opium smokers were found even in the inner circle of the Son of Heaven.
In the imperial army, drug addiction became rampant. The Chinese state and society were demoralized and virtually incapacitated.
The lords of the Qing Empire were aware of the threat hanging over it. Throughout the first third of the nineteenth century, opium repeatedly strained relations between the Chinese authorities and the «English barbarians».
In 1817 the East India Company was required to inspect the cargoes on its ships and to give a written undertaking not to smuggle opium. The company ignored these demands and introduced a warship into the mouth of the Sijiang River to intimidate the Canton authorities.
By the end of the 1830s, the British were keeping their ships permanently in Chinese coastal waters. The tension between Beijing and London was growing. The denouement came in 1839.
The energetic official Lin Zexu, appointed the year before to fight opium smuggling, demanded that the British and Americans in Canton surrender all the potion, and when they refused, he ordered the army to blockade the foreign factories and recall the Chinese personnel from them. The traffickers had to surrender their entire supply of the drug - more than 19,000 crates and two thousand bales - which were burned on Lin's orders.
The energetic official Lin Zexu, appointed the year before to fight opium smuggling, demanded that the British and Americans in Canton surrender all the potion, and when they refused, he ordered the army to blockade the foreign factories and recall the Chinese personnel from them. The traffickers had to surrender their entire supply of the drug - more than 19,000 crates and two thousand bales - which were burned on Lin's orders.
«We hear that opium is forbidden in your own country with all severity and seriousness»
- he wrote to Queen Victoria of Great Britain.
«This proves that you know very well how destructive it is to mankind. And if your authorities forbid the poisoning of your own people, they must not poison the people of other countries!»
- he wrote to Queen Victoria of Great Britain.
«This proves that you know very well how destructive it is to mankind. And if your authorities forbid the poisoning of your own people, they must not poison the people of other countries!»
Thanks to Lin's efforts, by the end of the year the opium trade had sharply declined. And Emperor Daoguang in December announced a total ban on merchants from England and India from trading in China. They were expelled from Canton. This was the immediate cause of the First Opium War.
In March 1840, a British squadron of 40 ships with 4,000 soldiers on board headed for China. In June it arrived at Canton and blockaded it. Against the British fleet and expeditionary corps, the Qing Empire could put a slow junk and almost 900 thousand soldiers, but armed on the model of the XVII century, with almost no firearms, scattered throughout the country.
Such a conflict could end in nothing but defeat. When, in the summer of 1842, the British approached the southern Chinese capital of Nanjing and entered the Imperial Canal, which opened a direct route to Beijing, the completely demoralized Son of Heaven asked for peace.
In March 1840, a British squadron of 40 ships with 4,000 soldiers on board headed for China. In June it arrived at Canton and blockaded it. Against the British fleet and expeditionary corps, the Qing Empire could put a slow junk and almost 900 thousand soldiers, but armed on the model of the XVII century, with almost no firearms, scattered throughout the country.
Such a conflict could end in nothing but defeat. When, in the summer of 1842, the British approached the southern Chinese capital of Nanjing and entered the Imperial Canal, which opened a direct route to Beijing, the completely demoralized Son of Heaven asked for peace.
The conflict, in which the French and Americans also took part, ended with the siege of Beijing and the Allied sacking of the summer imperial palace Yuanmingyuan in October 1860.
At the end of the war, the Celestial Empire government paid the victors 8 million yuan of contribution (2.3 million pounds), opened several more ports for foreign trade, allowed the use of the Chinese as laborers (coolies) in the colonies of the European powers and gave the southern part of the Juulong Peninsula opposite Hong Kong to Britain.
Most importantly, it legalized the opium trade. After that, the craze for the potion in China took a truly catastrophic scale - by the end of the 19th century, about a quarter of the country's population was smoking opium. The more so that poppy was cultivated in China itself.
In the next section of history, we will look at how opium came to Europe - and how the medicinal use of opiates and the struggle against their recreational use shaped the drug history of the early twentieth century.
At the end of the war, the Celestial Empire government paid the victors 8 million yuan of contribution (2.3 million pounds), opened several more ports for foreign trade, allowed the use of the Chinese as laborers (coolies) in the colonies of the European powers and gave the southern part of the Juulong Peninsula opposite Hong Kong to Britain.
Most importantly, it legalized the opium trade. After that, the craze for the potion in China took a truly catastrophic scale - by the end of the 19th century, about a quarter of the country's population was smoking opium. The more so that poppy was cultivated in China itself.
In the next section of history, we will look at how opium came to Europe - and how the medicinal use of opiates and the struggle against their recreational use shaped the drug history of the early twentieth century.
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