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SHANSI.
I journeyed by rail from Peking to Tai-yian Fn, the capital of Shansi, on the 4th and 5th May, and on the 6th and 7th I had interviews with his Excellency Ting Pao-chian, the governor of the province, who assured me that the measures taken by him over a period of several years had successfully eradicated the opium poppy from Shansi; and this assurance was corroborated by the provincial assembly, which, although not in session at the time of my visit, requested, through its president and standing committee, and in accordance with the expressed wish of the governor, that I would give them an opportunity of exchanging views on the subject of opium. His Excellency had assured me during our first interview that poppy cultivation in Shansi had ceased in 1909, and this was confirmed by Mr. J. F. Brenan, of His Majesty's Consular Service in China, who visited part of the province in the summer of that year and failed to find a single plant. An attempt had been made-so his Excellency and others informed me--to recommence poppy cultivation during the present year (1910) in the district of Wen-shui Hsien, a two days' overland journey to the south of T'ai-yan Fu; but repressive measures were taken, resulting in the death by shooting of over twenty persons, the wounding of over thirty, and the uprooting by troops of the young plants.
I may say here that a commission was appointed by the Chinese Government to enquire into the affray, and that, as a result the governor was mulcted in one-third of his nominal annual salary. This nominal annual salary is 8,000 taels, whereas the actual income amounts to about 30,000 taels, a fact well known to the central Government. Not only did the provincial assembly corroborate his Excellency's assurance, but the president and members expressed their determination to maintain suppression. They seemed to think, however, that because opium production had ceased in Shansi they were entitled to some further concession by the British Govern- ment in regard to the export of opium from India, but I took the opportunity of reminding them that Shansi is only one of many provinces, that no foreign opium is consumed therein, and that China's curtailment of production must be judged, not by individual provinces, but by the Empire as a whole. I also told them what seemed to take them by surprise-that, according to the memorandum on opium presented by the Chinese delegates to the Shanghai International Opium Commission in 1909, to which I had the honour to be a delegate, the production of opium in China in 1908 was, according to Customs reports, estimated at about eight times the quantity of foreign opium imported into China in that year, and even as much as ten times that quantity in 1906, so that the menace to China in the matter of opium was not India, but the product of China herself. Not only did the governor and provincial assembly assure me of absolute suppression, but all British subjects with whom I came in contact informed me that, to the best of their knowledge and belief, opium was no longer a product of Shansi, and the fact that his Excellency invited personal inspection of his province by a British official would appear to show that he was perfectly convinced that eradication was complete.
It is difficult to form any reliable estimate of the quantity of opium produced in the province of Shansi during the year 1908, but in China's memorandum presented to the Shanghai Commission in February 1909 the estimate, said to be based on Customs reports, is given as 20,000 piculs. It is a curious thing, however, that the Governor of Shansi in April 1910 gives the production in 1908 as The document in which the 14,052,143-16 Chinese ounces, or 8,782-59 piculs.
governor's estimate is set forth is a letter addressed by his Excellency to the American consul-general at Tien-tsin, who had written on the 31st March requesting to be supplied with information regarding the cultivation of the poppy in Shansi, and propounding a number of questions as to acreage and opium output in different years. This letter is not a private document, as a copy of it was forwarded at his Excellency's request to the British Legation for the information, no doubt, of the British Government. A of this letter will be found below, and, although I place little
copy faith in the minute details into which his Excellency enters, and which China bas hitherto been unable to supply in the case of other provinces, it shows what measures have been taken and the time required to make them effective. During a final inter- view which I had with his Excellency on the 2nd September, after my return from Shensi and Kansu, he expressed the belief that these provinces could easily eradicate the poppy in five or six years did the authorities there adopt the measures he had taken in Shansi.
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The statistical table appended to the governor's reply to the American consul- general is of value as showing the wide area over which the poppy was cultivated in Shansi in former years; but the explanatory note to this table in reference to acreage and production detracts considerably from the value of the figures given, as no valid reason is assigned for increasing the acreage and consequent opinin production by 40 per cent. beyond the statement that his Excellency had found them to be inaccurate, while there is nothing to show that fresh returns had been called for or received. As will be seen when I come to deal with the provinces of Shensi and Kansu, the statements of the local authorities, whether from ignorance or for other reasons, are frequently inexact, not to say untrue, and these statements are as a rule blindly accepted and acted upon by the higher authorities.
On my journey south-west from Tai-yüan Fu to the Yellow River, the boundary of Shansi and Shensi in that direction, I did not see a single poppy plant; and on my return journey forthwards through the southern half of Shansi from the Yellow River to Tai-yian Fu the season was over, even had the poppy been cultivated in the province which I have no reason to believe was the case, for enquiries made all along the road failed, except in the Wen-shui district, to elicit any evidence of its existence during the year.
Whether the production of opium in Shansi in 1908 amounted to 20,000 or 8,783 piculs, there is reason to believe that the poppy has ceased to be cultivated in that province for the last two years, and that opium smokers there are now dependent on unexhausted stocks and on supplies sinuggled from neighbouring provinces.
When I passed through T'ai-yan Fu on my return from Kansu and Shensi his Excellency the Governor of Shansi informed me that the Wai-wu Pu had recently addressed a circular telegram to the Viceroys and governors of the various provinces calling for telegraphic reports regarding opium. It was in the following terms: The various Powers have arranged to hold a conference on the subject of opium at The Hague in September, and the Government of the Netherlands have invited China to send delegates to the conference. As this is a matter which closely concerns China's policy of opium suppression, the various provinces should investigate what has been accomplished in the way of opium suppression during the present year for the information of the conference. This information should embrace the amount of land formerly under poppy, whether or not the cultivation has been totally suppressed or the amount of reduction, the former and present number of opium shops, the number of opiam refuges, the number of smokers cured and the present number of smokers, and the number of licensed shops still open and paying fees. The telegram adds that, although perfect accuracy is unattainable, it will still be possible to arrive at an approximation, and requests that, as the time for the conference is close at hand, the information called for should be forthwith collected and telegraphed to the Wai-wu Pu. His Excellency replied that in 1904 the acreage under poppy in Shansi amounted to 1,000,000 mou ; that he came to the province in 1905 and took steps to reduce the acreage till in 1908 it amounted to only 330,000 to 340,000 mou, In 1909 and 1910 cultivation and prohibition of import were suppressed and enforced, with the result that there is not now a single mou under poppy. This, be says, differs from the conditions in other provinces, which report suppression while cultivation of the poppy still continues. In Shansi large wholesale opium establishments numbered fifty-six with a capital of about 900,000 taels, while raw and prepared opium shops were scattered all over the province. These were all closed in the beginning of 1910, so that there is now not a single opium establishment or shop. There have been no licence fees since the autumn of last year, because there was nothing to license. There are ten official refuges in different parts of the province through which over 100,000 smokers have passed and been cured, and this number is exclusive of persons treated in over 400 unofficial refuges. He estimates that from 50 to 60 per cent. of smokers in the province have been completely cured, and there still remain the old and the infirm who are being advised to give up the habit, and will in the end be successfully dealt with. He adds that foreign officials have from time to time come to Shansi to examine for themselves the conditions prevailing in the province.
The "Peking Daily News," in its issues of the 5th, 7th, and 10th September, contains a summary of the replies received from all the provinces, and the first place is assigned to Shansi. 1 reproduce here its report in that province to show that this summary may be taken as a trustworthy statement of the reports that have been communicated to the Wai-wu Pu for presentation to the conference to be held at The Hague. In one and only oue-particular does it differ from the communication made
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