HIST HL
Felix Gürtler 24/09/10
The impact of Opium on the Chinese Society
Background1
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Chinese legalization of opium in 1858 with a tariff of about 8%
Legalization didn’t increase exports or decreased price
India was a major opium producer during the 19th century
In 1729, rising opium use prompted an imperial edict from Yung Ching that forbade the sale
of opium for smoking purposes
the East India Company stopped exporting opium directly to China in 1796 and began selling
in Calcutta to private English merchants
Since data on Chinese opium consumption are not available, we use data on the quantity and
price of opium exports from India to China
Impact of Opium on the Chinese Society2
The court feared the government was rotten with addiction, it was also alarmed by the economic
consequences of the increasing export bulk silver. The silver drain caused inflation, farmers therefore
had to pay increasingly higher taxes without any growth of income for the state.
Furthermore, traffic in the drug brought officials into contact with gangsters, and debased public
office. Opium was viewed as an agent of barbarian aggression, a ‘moral poison’ which debased
people’s minds. It dissolved the proper social relationships (lun-li) which distinguished man from the
beasts, and Chinese from the barbarians.
Obviously the opium had consequences in the health of people as well. Even though there are no
concrete details about the health, we can see that the population dropped after 1850 (Figure 3).
Figures 1 and 2 as well as Table 1 show how the import of Opium in China increased, while the price
decreased.
1
2
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH Working Paper 11355 Jeffrey A. Miron & Chris Feige
The Cambridge History of China page 178 to 181
HIST HL
Felix Gürtler 24/09/10
Numbers of smokers, import and price
Number of smokers, according to historians3:
1836 – 12.5 million smokers (Foreigner estimation)
1880s – 10% of the Population was smokers (Jonathan Spence)
1881 – 2 million smokers (Robert Hart) [considered to be an underestimation]
1890 – 15 million smokers
Figure 1: Opium Exports per Capita from India to China (in number of chests)4
Figure 1 presents data on exports of
opium from India to China for the period
1801-1902. The data are measured in
number of chests per Capita. Overall
there is a strong upward trend, beginning
around 1820. This trend potentially
reflects increasing population, higher
income, or an expanding taste for opium.
There is substantial volatility during
certain periods, especially the war years
(1839-1842 and 1855-1866).
Figure 2: Price of Opium Exports in India (rupees per chest)5
Figure 2 shows the price of opium at
the scales in India. The price is
volatile early in the 19th century.
Prices appears to have increased
(slightly) rather than decreased after
legalization, which is the opposite of
what should have occurred due to a
substitution from imported to
domestic opium. Table 2 examines
the impact of legalization on the
price of opium exports. The
coefficient on legalization is negative
without controls for pre-existing
trends but insignificantly positive
with controls for pre-existing trends. There is no evidence, therefore, that legalization changed the
path of export prices.
3
The Cambridge History of China p.178
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH Working Paper 11355 page 13
5
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH Working Paper 11355 page 14
4
HIST HL
Felix Gürtler 24/09/10
Table 1: British Sales of Opium to China6
Year
1729
1750
1773
1790
1800
1810
1816
1823
1828
1832
Number of Chests
200
600
1000
4054
4570
4968
5106
7082
13131
23570
Figure 3: Change in Population from 1800-19007
Sources:
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH Working Paper 11355 Jeffrey A. Miron & Chris Feige
The Cambridge History of China page 178 to 181
Spence, Jonathan D. - The Search for Modern China (1990) page 129
Wolfram Alpha (http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=china+population+1800-1900)
Resarch Notes:
The National Bureau of Statistics of China doesn’t like to reply to emails
A lot of statistics begin at 1950
6
Spence, Jonathan D. - The Search for Modern China (1990) page 129
WolframAlpha (http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=china+population+1800-1900)
7