Opium, State, and Society : : China's Narco-Economy and the Guomindang, 1924-1937 / / Edward R. Slack.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Backlist (2000-2014) eBook Package
• VerfasserIn: Slack, Edward R.,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [2000]; ©2000
• Year of Publication: 2000
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (256 p.)

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 the symbiotic relationship that evolved between opium and the Guomindang's rise to power in the years 1924-1937. Despite attempts to find other sources of revenue, the Guomindang became increasingly addicted to the tax monies derived from the drug trade prior to the war with Japan. Based solidly on a previously untapped reservoir of archival sources from the People's Republic and Taiwan, this work critically analyzes the complex realities of a government policy that vacillated between prohibition and legalization, and ultimately sought to curtail the cultivation, sale, and consumption of opium through a government monopoly.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Romanization -- Weights and Measures -- Introduction -- 1. China's Narco-Economy in the 1920s and 1930s -- 2. The Effects of Opium on Chinese Society -- 3. Guomindang Opium Policy during the Height of Warlordism, 1924-1928 -- 4. Nanjing's Response to Attacks on Opium Policy, 1924-1937 -- 5. Practical Determinants of Guomindang Opium Policy -- Conclusion -- Appendix -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- INDEX -- About the Author