Opium and the Limits of Empire - Drug Prohibition in the Chinese Interior, 17291850

Informationen zum Autor David Anthony Bello is Assistant Professor of History at Washington & Lee University. Klappentext The British opium trade along China's seacoast has come to symbolize China's century-long descent into political and social chaos. In the standard historical narrative! opium is the primary medium through which China encountered the economic! social! and political institutions of the West. Opium! however! was not a Sino-British problem confined to southeastern China. It was! rather! an empire-wide crisis! and its spread among an ethnically diverse populace created regionally and culturally distinct problems of control for the Qing state. This book examines the crisis from the perspective of Qing prohibition efforts. The author argues that opium prohibition! and not the opium wars! was genuinely imperial in scale and is hence much more representative of the actual drug problem faced by Qing administrators. The study of prohibition also permits a more comprehensive and accurate observation of the economics and criminology of opium. The Qing drug traffic involved the domestic production! distribution! and consumption of opium. A balanced examination of the opium market and state anti-drug policy in terms of prohibition reveals the importance of the empire's landlocked western frontier regions! which were the domestic production centers! in what has previously been considered an essentially coastal problem. Zusammenfassung This book examines the Chinese opium crisis from the perspective of Qing prohibition efforts. The author argues that opium prohibition! and not the opium wars! was genuinely imperial in scale and is hence much more representative of the actual drug problem faced by Qing administrators.

Product details

• Authors: David Anthony Bello, Bello David Anthony
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.04.2005
• EAN: 9780674016491
• ISBN: 978-0-674-01649-1
• No. of pages: 376
• Dimensions: 165 mm x 241 mm x 38 mm
• Series: Harvard East Asian Monographs; Harvard East Asian Monographs; Harvard East Asian Monographs (HUP)
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Business > General, dictionaries; China, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / International / General, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Economic history, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, International Trade, C 1700 To C 1800, International trade and commerce