Opium, State, and Society
Slack, Edward R
Surprisingly little has been written about the complicated relationship between opium and China and its people. Opium, State, and Society goes a long way toward illuminating this relationship in the Republican period, when all levels of Chinese society -- from peasants to school teachers, merchants, warlords, and ministers of finance -- were physically or economically dependent on the drug.The centerpiece of this study is an investigation of t...