why China produced its own domestic opiums? one of Sun Tze 36 art of war strategies

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

In the Chinese opium trade, 1800s-1900s, how much opium did the Chinese grow compared to the British?

By 1880s, Sichuan alone was harvesting 10,000 tons of opium alone out of the 13,000 odds tons the Chinese where growing. Twice the amount of what the British exported into the country at there peak (6,700 tons) time.

By 1906 China was harvesting like 35,000 tons of opium. I just want to know what was total estimates of Chinese produced opium compared to British grown opium through out the Chinese opium trade

Best Answer: The website below will answer your question I think. It shows the explosion of opium production within China during the period of 1836 - 1936 when the amount of opium produced within China multiplied by about 12 fold.
When we compare the amount produced within China at its peak( 35300 tonnes in 1906) to the amount now being produced in Afghanistan today ( the exporter of 95% of the worlds illegal opium at 9000 tonnes) we see that the actual amounts produced were the biggest ever known in the history of the world and stood at about 4 times the amount produced by Afghans in 2007.
I believe that this and other facts prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the ravages of opium addiction that led to up to 25% of Chinese men becoming addicted was a direct result of the Chinese themselves. It was NOT the result of "foreign" interference or force.It was a CHINESE trade and It was CHINESE greed and lack of care for their fellow countrymen that led to this position.
I'm sure this will upset many Chinese people and their sycophants but the facts are inescapable as these figures were supplied by the CHINESE delegation to the International Opium Commission of Shanghai in1909.


The reason why China produced its own domestic opium

Fighting Fire With Fire
China reluctantly decided to destroy the Western opium trade by flooding the market with domestic opium. It was a painful decision, for Chinese rulers held that production of opium, for any reason, would “provoke the judgment of Heaven and the condemnation of men.”
It certainly provoked Britain’s condemnation, which resented China’s infringement upon her private opium monopoly. By 1876, China was earning over 1.5 million annually from opium, but Sir R. Alcock told the House of Commons that China would gladly abandon the trade if Britain stopped her own trafficking.

Five years later, Sir R. Alcock, the stalwart anti-opium crusader, sold out.

http://www.amoymagic.com/OpiumWar.htm


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