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Book: Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China
| Title | Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Keywords | Drug addiction - China - History Opium abuse - China - History Narcotics, control of - China - History |
| Issue Date | 2004 |
| Publisher | Hong Kong University Press |
| Description | 'China was turned into a nation of opium addicts by the pernicious forces of imperialist trade.' This book systematically questions this assertion, showing that opium had few harmful effects on either health or longevity, that most smokers used it in moderate quantities without any fatal 'loss of control', and that it was prepared and appreciated in highly complex rituals with inbuilt constraints on excessive use. In a culture of restraint, opium was an ideal social lubricant helpful in maintaining decorum and composure. It was also a medical panacea before the availability of aspirin and penicillin. If opium was medicine as much as recreation, Narcotic Culture provides abundant evidence that the transition from a tolerated opium culture to a system of prohibition produced a cure which was far worse than the disease. Heroin and morphine were snorted, smoked, chewed or injected in the wake of the anti-opium movement, often in conditions far more harmful than opium smoking. Also discussed by the authors in this fascinating study are China's other drugs, from cocaine, nicotine, cannabis and synthetic opiates. |
| Persistent Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/44021 |
| ISBN | |
| HKU Library Item ID | b2697663 |
| DC Field | Value | Language |
|---|---|---|
| dc.contributor.author | Dikotter, F | - |
| dc.contributor.author | Laamann, Lars | - |
| dc.contributor.author | Xun, Zhou | - |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2007-05-14T01:32:29Z | - |
| dc.date.available | 2007-05-14T01:32:29Z | - |
| dc.date.issued | 2004 | - |
| dc.identifier.isbn | 9789622097001 | - |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/44021 | - |
| dc.description | 'China was turned into a nation of opium addicts by the pernicious forces of imperialist trade.' This book systematically questions this assertion, showing that opium had few harmful effects on either health or longevity, that most smokers used it in moderate quantities without any fatal 'loss of control', and that it was prepared and appreciated in highly complex rituals with inbuilt constraints on excessive use. In a culture of restraint, opium was an ideal social lubricant helpful in maintaining decorum and composure. It was also a medical panacea before the availability of aspirin and penicillin. If opium was medicine as much as recreation, Narcotic Culture provides abundant evidence that the transition from a tolerated opium culture to a system of prohibition produced a cure which was far worse than the disease. Heroin and morphine were snorted, smoked, chewed or injected in the wake of the anti-opium movement, often in conditions far more harmful than opium smoking. Also discussed by the authors in this fascinating study are China's other drugs, from cocaine, nicotine, cannabis and synthetic opiates. | en |
| dc.format.extent | 435 bytes | - |
| dc.format.mimetype | text/html | - |
| dc.publisher | Hong Kong University Press | en |
| dc.subject | Drug addiction - China - History | en |
| dc.subject | Opium abuse - China - History | en |
| dc.subject | Narcotics, control of - China - History | en |
| dc.title | Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China | en |
| dc.type | Book | en |
| dc.identifier.hkul | b2697663 | - |
| dc.description.nature | published_or_final_version | en_HK |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.4000/chinaperspectives.554 | - |