Opium, state, and society : China's narco-economy and the Guomindang, 1924-1937 / Edward R. Slack, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Slack, Edward R., 1963-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Opium trade--Government policy--China.

Opium trade.

Opium abuse--China.

Opium abuse.

China--Politics and government--1928-1937.

China.

Zhongguo guo min dang.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (255 p.)

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, 2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Surprisingly little has been written about the complicated relationship between opium and China and its people. Opium, State, and Society goes a long way toward illuminating this relationship in the Republican period, when all levels of Chinese society--from peasants to school teachers, merchants, warlords, and ministers of finance--were physically or economically dependent on the drug.The centerpiece of this study is an investigation of the symbiotic relationship that evolved between opium and the Guomindang's rise to power in the years 1924-1937. Despite attempts to find other sources of revenue, the Guomindang became increasingly addicted to the tax monies derived from the drug trade prior to the war with Japan. Based solidly on a previously untapped reservoir of archival sources from the People's Republic and Taiwan, this work critically analyzes the complex realities of a government policy that vacillated between prohibition and legalization, and ultimately sought to curtail the cultivation, sale, and consumption of opium through a government monopoly.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Note on Romanization

Weights and Measures

Introduction

1. China's Narco-Economy in the 1920s and 1930s

2. The Effects of Opium on Chinese Society

3. Guomindang Opium Policy during the Height of Warlordism, 1924-1928

4. Nanjing's Response to Attacks on Opium Policy, 1924-1937

5. Practical Determinants of Guomindang Opium Policy

Conclusion

Appendix

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

INDEX

About the Author

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Aug 2019)

Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-230) and index.

ISBN:

9780824863791

0824863798

OCLC:

70765590