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Informationen zum Autor Zheng Yangwen is Professor of Chinese History at the University of Manchester Klappentext This is the first book to consider the social and cultural implications of opium consumption. Collectively, the Chinese people redefined a foreign way of recreation and developed a complex culture of consumption around its use. The book traces this transformation over a period of five hundred years, asking who introduced opium to China and how it spread across all sections of society. Accompanied by a fascinating collection of illustrations, this study will appeal to students and scholars of history, anthropology, sociology, economics, and all those with an interest in China. Zusammenfassung Tracing the transformation of opium from medicine to narcotic over a period of five hundred years! asking who introduced opium to China! how it spread across all sections of society. Accompanied by a fascinating collection of illustrations! this study offers a vivid and alternative perspective on life in China. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. 'The art of alchemists, sex and court ladies'; 2. As the Empire changed hands; 3. 'The age of calicos and tea and opium'; 4. 'A hobby among the high and the low and the officialdom'; 5. Taste-making and trend-setting; 6. The political redefinition of opium consumption; 7. Outward and downward 'liquidation'; 8. 'The volume of smoke and powder'; 9. 'The unofficial history of the poppy'; 10. The opiate of the people; 11. The road to St. Louis; 12. 'Shanghai vice'.
