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?