This chapter is devoted to the cult and culture of opium consumption in the late Qing and Republican eras. The reign of the Empress Dowager Cixi, from 1861 to 1908, was a time of great contrast. China slipped further into a semi-colonial era of foreign domination and internal disintegration, yet it also underwent restoration and modernisation. The story of opium at this time has parallels with the above. Whilst it continued to humiliate and sicken China, it also helped to crush rebellions and finance ‘self-strengthening’. Wars and legalisation brought out a sense of moral resignation and ushered in a golden age of opium smoking. Opium was so chic and à la mode that not only individuals but also households identified themselves with it. Indeed, opium identified China on the international stage, as the 1904 St Louis Exposition showed. This example will be discussed later in the chapter.

By the turn of the century opium had become a refined material and a popular culture, a well-established social institution. Humiliation by the West did not diminish the smoking power of Chinese consumers. Instead, they turned opium smoking into a most sophisticated culture of consumption, one which helped regenerate the Chinese economy, Chinese culture and Chinese society. Humiliation and regeneration, like disintegration, restoration and even revolution, lived side by side. This was the paradox of opium and of China itself at the time.