The Social Life of Opium in China

The history of Opium in China begins in the mid-Ming dynasty when as a tribute from vassal states it was initially used as an aphrodisiac in the Ming court. The Chinese then began to collectively redefine the foreign recreational resource''s usage and created a complex culture around its comsumption. This book traces the transformation over a period of five hundred years revealing the nature of Opium''s introduction and development in China as a universal cultural institution.