Sir.
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Enclosure 1 in No. 21.
Mr. Teichman to Sir J. Jordan,
British Legation, Peking, September 30, 1915. I HAVE the honour to report that I have carried out a joint inspection of opium cultivation in Kansu in conjunction with Mr. Chang Wei, of the Wai-chiao Pu, andi that the result of our investigation shows that the cultivation of the poppy in that province has been successfully suppressed. During a journey extending over the whole summer, in the course of which we travelled some 1,700 miles by road within the borders of the province and visited many unfrequented districts, we did not see a single field of growing poppy.
The greater part of the province of Kansu suffers from insufficient rainfall, and the cultivation of the opium poppy on a large scale has always been confined to certain favoured regions where the rainfall is more abundant, or where the water supply is sufficient to permit of regular irrigation being practised. The chief of these regions are: the Yellow River and neighbouring valleys round Lanchow; the Yellow River valley round Ninghsia in the north; the valleys of the Sining River round Nienpo, and of the P'ingfan River south of Pingfan in the west; the T'ao River valley near Titao; the Wei River valley from Kungeh'ang to Ch'inchow; the districts of P'ingliang and Chingchow on the Shensi border; the southern slopes of the Tsinling mountains in the south-east; and the irrigated areas between the Nanshan mountains and the Alashan desert in the west of the province, notably the Liangchow plain.
The
I visited all these districts during the season with the exception of the Ninghsia plain through which we passed on our return journey in the early autumn, and am of the opinion that very little opium was harvested in any of them this summer. best opium in Kansu was formerly produced in the Liangchow plain and other irrigated regions in the north-west of the province, whence it was exported almost exclusively to Mukden, Tien-tsin and Taiyuanfu by the desert route. Poppy was planted in the Liangchow neighbourhood this spring, but the crop was, I believe, in every case destroyed by the officials while it was yet young. We made a careful inspection of this plain, which consists of a string of oases of great fertility running north into the desert beyond Chenfan, and saw no signs of opium cultivation. Poppy was also planted on a small scale and subsequently uprooted by the officials in the districts of Ningyuan and Fuchiang (Wei Valley), Chingchow (Shensi border) and Ninghsia (in the north). In a remote valley in the mountains south of Fuchiang, where I had information of secret cultivation, there was evidence of poppy having been uprooted a few hours before our arrival. This crop, a very small one, would have been barvested had the inspecting party not visited that particular valley, and it is probable that a certain amount of poppy has been grown in similar secluded localities to which neither our party nor the numerous Chinese inspectors found their way. The mountainous character of almost the whole of Kansu province, and the badness of the tracks which serve as roads, render all travel off the few main trade routes extraordinarily difficult and arduous. But the amount of opium produced secretly in this manner would be quite insignificant.
When travelling in the south of the province I heard rumours of the poppy being cultivated in the mountainous country west of Minchow and T'aochow inhabited by semi-independent Tibetan tribes. These reports applied more particularly to a lawless tribe living south of the Minshan mountains on the Szechuan border, whither it was impossible for me to penetrate without abandoning the inspection of more important poppy-growing centres in the west. It was, however, evident from our journey from T'acchow to Labrang and Hochow, when we travelled by an unfre- quented route through country inhabited solely by Tibetans, that the latter had not taken to growing the poppy. In spite of the elevation of most of this part of Kan-u we passed through many deep sheltered valleys, warm and fertile enough to grow good crops of corn, without finding a trace of poppy cultivation.
An enormous crop of opium, worth many millions of taels, was harvested in Kansu in the summer of 1913. It was heavily taxed, so that both the cultivators and the provincial revenues benefited. The people were at the same time given to understand that they would not be permitted to grow the poppy another season. This prohibition, though hindered by the unsettled state of affairs brought about by the presence of the White Wolf rebels in the south of the province, was largely carried into effect in 1914, and practically complete suppression arrived at this year,
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Any infraction of the prohibition of cultivation is now punishable by death. Successful suppression within so short a period as two years is due to the energetic and determined attitude of the present Governor, General Chang Kuang-chien, towards the opium question. He appears to have been on the whole well served by his district magistrates, with whom rests the responsibility of seeing that the prohibi- tion is really carried out. Unfortunately the suppression of poppy growing has not been unaccompanied by abuses and extortion on the part of small officials and Yamen underlings in outlying districts. The people complained in many districts of soldiers and Yamen runners searching the fields for solitary heads of poppy growing as weeds amongst the other crops, and in some cases even of planting poppies secretly on the land of innocent farmers for the purposes of extortion.
An acre of irrigated land in Kansu will produce a crop of opium worth ten times as much as a crop of wheat grown on the same plot; while owing to its high value and small bulk opium is a particularly suitable commodity to handle for purposes of trade and export in a province without proper means of communication, either within its own borders or with the rest of China.
The poppy is being replaced by cereals, hemp and tobacco; but enough vereals are already grown for local consumption, while their bulk renders them unsuitable for purposes of trade; and the cultivation and manufacture of the latter are confined to certain localities. Opium suppression entails therefore particular hardships for the purely agricultural population of Kansu, and in view of this, and of the large number of confirmed smokers in the province the greatest vigilance will be necessary to prevent recrudescence of cultiva- tion during the next few years, more especially while the lax conditions at present prevailing in the adjoining province of Shensi are permitted to continue. The people have doubtless kept stocks of seed which in that dry climate will remain fertile for
years.
Consumption of native opium in Kansu continues without any restrictions, and the number of confirmed smokers in the province is very large. I was informed by the provincial authorities at Lanchow that the matter would soon be taken in hand. and that they were at present engaged in enquiring into the number of smokers in each district with the idea of introducing some scheme of progressive reduction in the consumption of each individual smoker leading to complete cessation in a specified period according to age. Nothing, however, is likely to be done in the matter, as the people of Kansu, submissive and patient by nature, have been so bullied by the officials during the past two years over opium suppression and the collection of innumerable new and vexatious taxes, that the latter do not consider it safe to make a serious attempt to prohibit opium smoking. Further, local consumption is not likely to be effectively suppressed until the large stocks of native grown opium at present in the province are exhausted. In the meantime the high price of the drug-2,600 cash (about 2 dollars Mexican) per Chinese ounce in Lanchow-tends to discourage consumption except amongst the confirmed smokers. While the provincial authorities in Lanchow admit that no attempt is at present being made to interfere with consumption, the attitude of the local officials in some of the outlying districts is very vague on the subject. Thus, while at Chinchow, the seat of a Taovin (Superintendent of Circuit), the streets reeked of burning opium after nightfall and smokers could be seen through half-closed doors enjoying their ripes. in the district of Li Haien, forming part of the Ch'inchow Circuit, proclamations were posted announcing that anyone sowing, selling, or smoking opium would be shot. Such notices were, of course, meaningless and posted for our benefit. No definite scheme exists for regulating the trade in native opium which is still permitted to continue, in some places under taxation by licence, in others without any restrictions, according to the ideas of the local officials on the subject. Its transport through the province is taxed by means of special opium li-kin offices which reap a rich but declining harvest. The result of such legalised trade in native opium is that large quantities of the Kansu-grown drug are smuggled into the other provinces of China. This secret export follows three main routes; through Mongolia to North China and Manchuria; via Sianfu and Tungkuan into Honan (in which province, owing to strict suppressive measures, the profits on smuggled opium are enormous); and via the Han Valley to Hankow. Our arrival in Kansu gave rise to much talk about suppressing all traffic in native opium, and I was informed by the provincial authorities that they were about to bring the trade to an end. But in the meantime it furnishes a means of getting rid of the stocks in the province. These stocks are very large, and if left to be consumed locally would last for decades. Our itinerary was as follows: from Miench'ih (the railhead in Honan) to Sian,
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