Frank Dikotter et al's recent book on opium in China-Narcotic Culture-
also an article they cite by Richard Newman will help you on this.
regards,
Virginia Berridge

Virginia Berridge
Professor of History
Centre for History in Public Health
Department of Public Health and Policy
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Keppel Street
London WC1E 7HT
Tel:  0207  927 - 2269
Fax: 0207  637 - 3238
http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/history


>>> [log in to unmask] 01/20/05 2:03 AM >>>
Recently I read that at the turn from the nineteenth to the twentieth
century China, with perhaps a quarter of the world's population,
consumed
about 95% of the world's opium production.  I am familiar with the Opium
Wars between Britain and China.  British imperialism explains supply.
What
puzzles me is the disproprrtionate demand in China.  My questions to
drugs
historians: is the statistic credible?  why did the Chinese develop
opium
habits more than other people?  was it a question of opium consumption
being illegal elsewhere, alcohol being preferred elsewhere, or what?