A Study Of Japan’s Opiums System In Guandong State(1906-1931)

The opium had devastated China since modern times. As the main country ofaggression against China during the modern times, Japan has implemented a series ofopium policy and this led to the spread of opium across Mainland China in a long time.The origin of Japan’s opium policy in Mainland China is the opium system practiced inGuandong State.After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan grabbed Liaodong Peninsula Leased Territoryfrom Russia and began their colonial rule. Liaodong Peninsula is Japan’s first colony inMainland China, and its regime is reformed constantly, experienced three periods ofMilitary Control, Political and Military Rule and Civil Administration Rule successively.With the changes of its regime form and the international situation, Japan’s opium systemin Guandong State also experienced a series of evolution; free business period, specialpermission period and government-run period have arisen. Free business period was atransitional stage that from late Russo-Japanese War period to the early postwar periodwhich was aimed to integrated the chaotic opium industry into the management system.The concession period is the mature stage of the opium system in Guandong State, thecharacteristics of this period was the special permission of opium’s imputing andtrafficking, with the colonial government manipulated behind to figure for enormousbenefits. The government-run period was the complete stage of the opium system and theopium monopoly system in Guandong State was established formally. Part of the reasonfor the formation of this period was the impact of public opinion on international opiumbanning, and Guandong State colonial government began to put the opium into thegovernment-run industry completely under the signboard of “gradually banning”.After opium monopoly system in Taiwan and before opium monopoly system inPuppet Manchu Government, the opium monopoly system in Guandong State had aninfluence on the entire opium system of Japan during Japan Aggressing Against China.The opium system in Guandong State borrowed some policies from Taiwan’s opiumsystem, but it was reformed on the basis of their own circumstances and formed theirown opium system. The attempt of this series also had a far-reaching influence on the opium policy in occupied areas at the time of Puppet Manchu Government and overallwar of invading China.