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Opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the species of plant from which opium and poppy seeds are extracted. Opium is the source of many opiates, including morphine, thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine. The Latin botanical name means the 'sleep-bringing poppy', referring to the sedative properties of some of these opiates.
The earliest description of the use of opium as a recreational drug in China comes from Xu Boling, who wrote in 1483 that opium was ‘mainly used to aid masculinity, strengthen sperm and regain vigor’, and that it ‘enhances the art of alchemists, sex and court ladies’.<br/><br/> He described an expedition sent by the Chenghua Emperor in 1483 to procure opium for a price ‘equal to that of gold’ in Hainan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Sichuan and Shaanxi where it is close to Xiyu. A century later, Li Shizhen listed standard medical uses of opium in his renowned Compendium of Materia Medica (1578), but also wrote that ‘lay people use it for the art of sex’, in particular the ability to ‘arrest seminal emission’. This association of opium with sex continued in China until the twentieth century.<br/><br/> Opium smoking began as a privilege of the elite and remained a great luxury into the early 19th century, but by 1861, Wang Tao wrote that opium was used by rich peasants, and that even a small village without a rice store would have a shop where opium was sold.
Official Chinese resistance to opium was strengthened on September 20, 1906, with an anti-opium initiative intended to eliminate the drug problem within ten years. The program relied on the turning of public sentiment against opium, with mass meetings at which opium paraphernalia was publicly burned, as well as coercive legal action and the granting of police powers to organizations such as the Fujian Anti-Opium Society. Smokers were required to register for licenses for gradually reducing rations of the drug.<br/><br/> The program was counted as a substantial success, with a cessation of direct British opium exports to China (but not Hong Kong and most provinces declared free of opium production. Nonetheless, the success of the program was only temporary, with opium use rapidly increasing during the disorder following the death of Yuan Shikai in 1916
The earliest description of the use of opium as a recreational drug in China comes from Xu Boling, who wrote in 1483 that opium was ‘mainly used to aid masculinity, strengthen sperm and regain vigor’, and that it ‘enhances the art of alchemists, sex and court ladies’. He described an expedition sent by the Chenghua Emperor in 1483 to procure opium for a price ‘equal to that of gold’ in Hainan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Sichuan and Shaanxi where it is close to Xiyu. A century later, Li Shizhen listed standard medical uses of opium in his renowned Compendium of Materia Medica (1578), but also wrote that ‘lay people use it for the art of sex’, in particular the ability to ‘arrest seminal emission’. This association of opium with sex continued in China until the twentieth century. Opium smoking began as a privilege of the elite and remained a great luxury into the early 19th century, but by 1861, Wang Tao wrote that opium was used by rich peasants, and that even a small village without a rice store would have a shop where opium was sold.
Opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the species of plant from which opium and poppy seeds are extracted. Opium is the source of many opiates, including morphine, thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine. The Latin botanical name means 'sleep-bringing poppy', referring to the sedative properties of some of these opiates.
Engraved image titled: 'Opium Smoking-The Lascar's Room in Edwin Drood', from Harper's Weekly. A 'Lascar' was a sailor or militiaman from the Indian subcontinent or other countries east of the Cape of Good Hope, employed on European ships from the 16th century until the beginning of the 20th century. The word comes from the Persian Lashkar, meaning military camp or army, and al-askar, the Arabic word for a guard or soldier. The Portuguese adapted this term to lascarim, meaning an Asian militiaman or seaman, especially those from South Asia.