4
Thus China may be said to have required for her own consumption, 1906 :-
Native opium Foreign opium Total
Piculs. 325,270 54,225 379,495
or 50,599,333 lbs. weight, or 22,588 tons, of which about one-seventh comes from India. It is said that, during the pourparlers which preceded the Anglo-Chinese Commercial Treaty of 1902, a suggestion was made by the Chinese negotiators that the Chinese Government should annually purchase the Indian export of opium with a view to controlling the sale of the drug in China, but that the question went no farther. Indian opium is stronger than that grown in China, and, moreover, the latter is frequently adulterated, which adds to its inferiority. It may be said that a smoker who requires to take 3 mace of Indian opium to produce a certain effect would, on the average, require 4 to 4¼ mace of the native drug to obtain the same result.
The Imperial Anti-opium Edict of the 20th September, 1906, is as follows:--- "Since the restrictions against the use of opium were removed, the poison of this drug has practically permeated the whole of China. The opium smoker wastes time and neglects his work, ruins his health, and impoverishes his family, and the poverty and weakness which for the past few decades have been daily increasing among us are undoubtedly attributable to this cause. To speak of this arouses our indignation; and at a moment when we are striving to strengthen the Empire it behoves us to admonish the people, that all may realize the necessity of freeing themselves from these coils, and thus pass from sickness into health.
It is hereby commanded that within a period of ten years the evils arising from foreign and native opium be equally and completely eradicated. Let the Government Council (Cheng-wu Chu) frame such measures as may be suitable and necessary for strictly forbidding the consumption of the drug and the cultivation of the poppy; and let them submit their proposals for our approval."
and was supplemented by the eleven Regulations (Annex (A)) issued two months later for the enforcement thereof, and the Imperial Edict of the 26th June last (Annex (B)) in the form of a reminder.
Considerable latitude is not infrequently taken in China by the provincial authorities both in the interpretation of the spirit of an Imperial Decree, and in the steps they decide to take to enforce its provisions; but the Imperial wishes have undoubtedly been brought to the notice of most of the inhabitants of the Empire, and in every province special Rules and Regulations of some kind have been drawn up with a view to carrying out the desire of the Throne.
The average price per picul of raw native opium in the district in which it is produced, and before taxation of any kind, is 250 taels. In certain districts the price is as high as 500 taels, while in Szechuan Province, where, roughly speaking, as much as two-thirds of the native drug is both grown, prepared, and smoked, the average price is from 150 to 200 taels per picul.
Native raw opium when prepared (that is, boiled) is reduced to about 65 per cent. of what it was before that process. Indian opium after a similar process works out at about 75 per cent. These figures, however, are only approximate, and it is quite impossible under present conditions to reach anything more trustworthy.
The important point in this Report being to show what really effective steps have been taken by the provincial authorities to carry out the Decree, it will, in regard to good intentions, be sufficient to say that the special Rules and Regulations they have issued in their districts have generally been in the right direction, though of great variety. In some instances they have been quite inadequate, and in others either not enforced or disobeyed.
In taking each province by itself, therefore, mention will rarely be made of the different local enactments, and the account will be restricted to a statement of what has actually been done to obey the Decree.
These accounts are chiefly based on reports supplied by His Majesty's Consular officers, who have been kindly and ably aided by the British Protestant missionaries in their Consular districts, many of whom, from their long residence in China and intimate knowledge of the country and people, have afforded both reliable and valuable information, often from remote spots where they are perhaps the only European inhabitants.
5
519
Many of the replies which have been received from the missionaries to the questions put to them on the subject have been negative, and show that in numerous districts little or nothing has been done or even attempted to carry out the Regulations; but wherever the local authorities are sincere, energetic, and enlightened a beginning has been made and the fire of enthusiasm lit; still, as one Consul has remarked, it is necessary that some one should continue to apply the bellows.
In any case the information from which this Report is composed is undoubtedly the most far-searching, reliable, and accurate which exists on the subject at the present time.
Fengtien Province may be classified as a portion of Manchuria for the purposes of this Report, and the annual production of opium in Manchuria is estimated at 150,000 piculs.
In Mukden and other towns the opium dens have all been closed and their business has ceased. Opium shops still remain open, where the raw drug can be purchased, and its preparation at home presents no difficulty.
In Newchwang two refuges have been opened by the Taotai to assist people to cure themselves of the opium habit.
In Manchuria the poppy is grown as usual.
Mongolia. More land is this year being given over to poppy cultivation, and although the Mongolians are reported to have obeyed the Proclamation, the Chinese inhabitants now sell and smoke as usual.
Chinese Turkestan.--From Kashgar it is reported that the Imperial Edict and Regulations are a dead letter, most people being ignorant of their existence.
Chihli Province.--Production 10,000 piculs. In Peking itself, although some obscure dens may have eluded the vigilance of the police, it may be said that they have been closed. Shops are inspected and registered, but so far smokers do not register themselves. Orders have been issued for the abandonment of smoking among the officials and retainers of the Palace, but there is no means of ascertaining how far they have been carried out.
Tien-tsin. ---The dens are all closed in the city, while two proprietors who disobeyed were fined 100 and 300 dollars respectively, and each received 100 blows. The shops for the sale of raw or prepared opium are open, but under official supervision. The poppy area has decreased as a direct or indirect result of the measures introduced by his Excellency Yuan Shih K'ai, the former Viceroy.
In the country districts a certain number of dens were closed, but by the month of June general slackness and indifference were shown in regard to the whole matter.
In the mouth of April the Consolidated Opium Tax Bureau, which is a branch of the head office in Hupei, and unquestionably an official institution, issued a Proclamation urging the cultivation of the poppy for the sake of revenue, which can only be looked upon as an extraordinary proceeding in face of the Decree.
Jehol. The dens have all been closed officially, but smoking still goes on in other houses, and the officials have not the courage to take any steps.
Shansi Province.--Production, 5,000 piculs. As a result of the Decree, the duty on opium has been raised. The Provincial Treasurer has opened free dispensaries for the cure of the opium habit, and set aside 3,000 taels for the preparation of medicine for sale or free distribution by the officials. Between 300 and 400 applicants were reported to present themselves daily, and there is apparently a real desire among the people to overcome the vice. Some forty-one shops in the capital (Tai Yuan Fu) sell anti-opium medicines.
In one district in the north of the province quite a number of the poor are giving up the habit, and the poppy area is being considerably reduced, while half the dens are closed. In another, although nothing is done to restrict the continually increasing cultivation of the poppy, establishments for distributing anti-opium medicines are fairly generally started; the officials and gentry are favourable to the movement, have held meetings, and by exhortation some have been induced to relinquish the habit.
In Southern Shansi very few dens exist. Some people smoke in the opium shops, which are all registered and licensed, and, in addition to a licence fee, a tax of 100 cash (0.8 tael) per ounce is levied on all raw opium purchased by the shop. The sale of anti-opium medicines has increased, and smoking is prohibited in Government schools.
At Ping-yang, one of the chief towns in the south of the province, both dens and shops pay a monthly tax. Although none of them have been closed, no new ones are allowed to be opened.
[2813 -5]
1.
4
Thus China may be said to have required for her own consumption, 1906 :-
Native opium Foreign opium
Total
Piculs. 325,270
54,225
379,495
or 50,599,333 lbs. weight, or 22,588 tons, of which about one-seventh comes from India. It is said that, during the pourparlers which preceded the Anglo-Chinese Com- mercial Treaty of 1902, a suggestion was made by the Chinese negotiators that the Chinese Government should annually purchase the Indian export of opium with a view to controlling the sale of the drug in China, but that the question went no farther. Indian opium is stronger than that grown in China, and, moreover, the latter is frequently adulterated, which adds to its inferiority. It may be said that a smoker who requires to take 3 mace of Indian opium to produce a certain effect would, on the average, require 4 to 44 mace of the native drug to obtain the same result.
The Imperial Anti-opiumi Edict of the 20th September, 1906, is as follows:--- "Since the restrictions against the use of opium were removed, the poison of this drug has practically permeated the whole of China. The opium smoker wastes time and neglects his work, ruins his health, aud impoverishes his family, and the poverty and weakness which for the past few decades have been daily increasing among us are undoubtedly attributable to this cause. To speak of this arouses our indignation; and at a moment when we are striving to strengthen the Empire it behoves us to admonish the people, that all may realize the necessity of freeing themselves from these coils, and thus pass from sickness into health.
It is hereby commanded that within a period of ten years the evils arising from foreign and native opium be equally and completely eradicated. Let the Government Council (Cheng-wu Chu) frame such measures as may be suitable and necessary for strictly forbidding the consumption of the drug and the cultivation of the poppy; and let them submit their proposals for our approval."
and was supplemented by the eleven Regulations (Annex (A)) issued two months later for the enforcement thereof, and the Imperial Edict of the 26th June last (Annex (B)) in the form of a reminder.
Considerable latitude is not infrequently taken in China by the provincial authorities both in the interpretation of the spirit of an Imperial Decree, and in the steps they decide to take to enforce its provisions; but the Imperial wishes have undoubtedly been brought to the notice of most of the inhabitants of the Empire, and in every province special Rules and Regulations of some kind have been drawn up with a view to carrying out the desire of the Throne.
The average price per picul of raw native opium in the district in which it is produced, and before taxation of any kind, is 250 taels. In certain districts the price is as high as 500 taels, while in Szechuan Province, where, roughly speaking, as much as two-thirds of the native drug is both grown, prepared, and smoked, the average price is from 150 to 200 taels per picul.
Native raw opium when prepared (that is, boiled) is reduced to about 65 per cent. of what it was before that process. Indian opium after a similar process works out at about 75 per cent. These figures, however, are only approximate, and it is quite impossible under present conditions to reach anything more trustworthy.
The important point in this Report being to show what really effective steps have been taken by the provincial authorities to carry out the Decree, it will, in regard to good intentions, be sufficient to say that the special Rules and Regulations they have issued in their districts have generally been in the right direction, though of great variety. In some instances they have been quite inadequate, and in others either not enforced or disobeyed.
In taking each province by itself, therefore, mention will rarely be made of the different local enactments, and the account will be restricted to a statement of what bas actually been done to obey the Decree.
These accounts are chiefly based on reports supplied by His Majesty's Consular officers, who have been kindly and ably aided by the British Protestant missionaries in their Consular districts, many of whom, from their long residence in China and intimate knowledge of the country and people, have afforded both reliable and valuable information, often from remote spots where they are perhaps the only European inhabitants.
5
519
Many of the replies which have been received from the missionaries to the que tions put to them on the subject have been negative, and show that in numerous districts little or nothing has been done or even attempted to carry out the Regulations; but wherever the local authorities are sincere, energetic, and enlightened a beginning has been made and the fire of enthusiasm lit; still, as one Consul has remarked, it is necessary that some one should continue to apply the bellows.
In any case the information from which this Report is composed is undoubtedly the most far-searching, reliable, and accurate which exists on the subject at the present time.
Fengtien Province may be classified as a portion of Manchuria for the purposes of this Report, and the annual production of opium in Manchuria is estimated at 150,000 piculs.
In Mukden and other towns the opium dens have all been closed and their business has ceased. Opium shops still remain open, where the raw drug can be purchased, and its preparation at home presents no difficulty.
In Newchwang two refuges have been opened by the Taotai to assist people to cure themselves of the opium habit.
In Manchuria the poppy is grown as usual.
Mongolia. More land is this year being given over to poppy cultivation, and although the Mongolians are reported to have obeyed the Proclamation, the Chinese inhabitants now sell and smoke as usual.
Chinese Turkestan.--From Kashgar it is reported that the Imperial Edict and Regulations are a dead letter, most people being ignorant of their existence.
Chihli Province.--Production 10,000 piculs. lu Teking itself, although some obscure dens may have eluded the vigilance of the police, it may be said that they have been closed. Shops are inspected and registered, but so far smokers do not register themselves. Orders have been issued for the abandonment of smoking among the officials and retainers of the Palace, but there is no meaus of ascertaining how far they have been carried out.
Tien-isin. ---The ders are all closed in the city, while two proprietors who disobeyed were fined 100 and 300 dollars respectively, and each received 100 blows. The shops for the sale of raw or prepared opium are open, but under official supervision. The poppy area has decreased as a direct or indirect result of the measures introduced by his Excellency Yuan Shih K'ai, the former Viceroy.
In the country districts a certain number of dens were closed, but by the month of June general slackness and indifference were shown in regard to the whole
matter.
In the mouth of April the Consolidated Opium Tax Burean, which is a branch of the head office in Hupei, and unquestionably an official institution, issued a Proclamation urging the cultivation of the poppy for the sake of revenue, which can only be looked upon as an extraordinary proceeding in face of the Decree.
Jehol. The deus have all been closed officially, but smoking still goes on in other houses, and the officials have not the courage to take any steps.
Shansi Province.--Production, 5,000 piculs. As a result of the Decree, the duty on opium has been raised. The Provincial Treasurer has opened free dispensaries for the cure of the opium babit, and set aside 3,000 taels for the preparation of medicine for sale or free distribution by the officials. Between 300 and 400 applicants were reported to present themselves daily, and there is apparently a real desire among the people to overcome the rice. Some forty-one shops in the capital (Tai Yuan Fu) sell anti-opium
medicines.
In one district in the north of the province quite a number of the poor are giving up the habit, and the poppy area is being considerably reduced, while half the dens are closed. In another, although nothing is done to restrict the continually increasing cultiva- tion of the poppy, establishments for distributing anti-opium medicines are fairly generally started; the officials and gentry are favourable to the movement, have held meetings, and by exhortation some have been induced to relinquish the habit.
In Southern Shansi very few dens exist. Some people smoke in the opium shops,. which are all registered and licensed, and, in addition to a licence fee, a tax of 100 cash (08 tael) per ounce is levied on all raw opium purchased by the shop. The sale of anti- opium medicines has increased, and smoking is prohibited in Government schools.
At Ping-yang, one of the chief towns in the south of the province, both dens and shops pay a monthly tax. Although none of them have been closed, no new ones are allowed to be opened.
[2813 -5]
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