Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.1, 2013

 

The Dilemma of the Opium Prohibition during the Period between the Two Opium Wars: A Study Centering on 'Severe Punishment of Smokers'     

(Abstract)

 

Wang Hongbin

 

In the period between the two Opium Wars, the Qing government's prohibition of opium met with both internal and external resistance. On the one hand, the British government vigorously protected opium smuggling in China’s coastal areas and attempted to induce Chinese officials to recognize the legitimacy of the opium trade. On the other, stakeholders in the opium trade, corrupt officials, opium addicts, and all levels of administrative and judicial officials constituted four internal obstacles to prohibition. In this context, the provision in "Regulations on the Prohibition of Opium," according to which opium addicts would be sentenced to death, was hard to enforce. The movement for opium prohibition was thus relaxed in practice despite its outward severity. Given the actual effects of its implementation, the claim by advocates of the death penalty for opium users that "In executing the order for the prohibition of opium, the first priority must be severe penalties for users of opium" was ill-advised, whereas their opponents’ recommendation that punishment should be cautious and in accordance with existing practice had a degree of reasonableness.