Living on borrowed time

Description

This comprehensive microhistory of opium in Canton from the late Qing to Republican period examines the infamous drug from the perspective of material, political, economic, and social history. Paulès traces the transformation of the drug from elite habit to national shame, arguing that the marginalization of opium occurred well before 1949. This monograph covers the drug's material history and practices, the contradictory politics and economics of opium revenue, the spaces of consumption, and anti-opium propanganda that created the image of the degenerate opium smoker. Translated from the original French, Histoire d'une drogue en sursis: L'opium à Canton, 1906 1936 (EHESS, 2010).