On The Opium Problem Of Modern Guangxi (1840～1949)

The opium problem was a very serious problem of modern society of Guangxi(1840～1949). Opium was introduced to China as crude drugs in the Sui and Tang Dynasty to make, contributing a lot in the medical respect, and had just caused serious danger to the Chinese society in the Ming and Qing Dynasties after going through more than 1,000 years. Because people found that sucking the opium contributes to improving the sex function of the man, after the middle period of Ming Dynasty, sucking the opium became man of , bureaucrat of rich Jia indulged in sensual pleasures, enjoying a kind of atmosphere of life, and the opium prevailed in the upper class at that time as a kind of advanced luxury goods. After the middle period of Qing Dynasty, the hobby that Chinese liked sucking opium was utilized by some countries of the west, and it became one of the basic reasons of some western countries smuggling opium to China in a large amount to realize their set economic and political purpose. Under such great background, Guangxi, the next-door neighbour of Guangdong , was earlier influenced by the fact that the opium was input. Earlier stage of the 19th century, the opium was introduced to Guangxi through Guangdong . Because sucking the opium produced some special function to people's body and mind and dealing in the opium lucrativly, it attracted a lot of people in the hinterland of Guangxi to begin to plant the opium poppy and produced the opium in some areas. The Qing Government Acknowledged that opium trade was legalized after being defeated during the Second Opium War (1856-1860), and levied the opium cigarette tax in order to raise the funds. At the same time, The Qing Government encouraged to produce the opium in a large amount in the hope of capturing trade of opium against Western imperialist powers at home. This kind of policy of combatting poison against poison made the scourge of opium spread throughout all parts of the country rapidly, especially the three provinces in the Southwest Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. Guangxi province became one of the main districts of producing opium at home. Guangxi was between the Southwest , which produced the opium most and Guangdong , Hong Kong , Macao and Southeast Asia, which consumed the opium most, becoming one of the main passways of opium in transit, and the danger of the opium it received was very serious, too. The local executive administration of Guangxi during the past dynasties had obtained huge financial tax revenues from the opium passed by the province of the Guangxi , and it became an important capital source of economic development of Guangxi. However, with the number of sucking opium climbing day by day , opium caused more and more serious problems in variety of society concerned in Guangxi. The mass of people had various reasons to suck the opium, but most of people had a common home to return to finally, namely it was habit-forming to suck so that people formed a kind of reliance to opium, and the consequence was miserable . Because the number of people of sucking the opium was numerous, and people who were engaged in dealing in the opium were lucrative, more and more people were attracted to plant, produce and smuggle opium, which made opium overflow in Guangxi more and more serious. Opium had exerted an intricate influence on politics, economy, military, society life and many other different fields in modern Guangxi. A large amount of opium in transit had brought the generous tax revenue to government in Guangxi; The opium became an important media of non-governmental trade, economic association, and politics collusion between Guangxi province and some provinces in the perimeter of Guangxi ; The opium was the tool that all kinds of officials in Guangxi became corrupt and degenerated in order to seek profit; Meanwhile, in Guangxi, the overflowing of opium became the target that people denounced. The opium of modern Guangxi(1840～1949) had various reasons to remain incessant after repeated prohibition. The government ruled corruptly, and military-political officers of the size of Guangxi utilized privilege to participate in dealing in the opium business; National quality was low, and the masses of people participated in sucking the opium; Depending on military forces, the Western imperialist powers transported and sold opium to Chinese; The remote villages, which was controlled by landlords , despotic gentries , and the underworld, became the base, on which opium was planted ,etc. All of these were important reasons that opium was difficult to wipe out in Guangxi. Whereas, the opium played a certain special role in the modern social development of Guangxi, even under the specific historical condition at that time , there was very great facilitation to the politics , economy , military and development of various fields of society in Guangxi. Different consequences, to some extent, resulted from kinds of corresponding measures the executive authorities governing Guangxi in dynasties. As to this, we should analyse and appraise it in an all-round way , just with the dialectical eyes .