A painting of Lin Zexu, a Qing official who led an anti-opium drive in 1839. [Photo by Liang Fengxin/For China Daily] The imperial decree to allow foreign merchants to only trade through Canton ...

In 'Smoke and Ashes,' Amitav Ghosh draws comparisons between America's modern opioid crisis and the West's flooding of China with opium in the 18th century.

China was soundly defeated. Among other outcomes, it ceded the vast port city of Hong Kong to Britain at the end of the First Opium War. Hong Kong returned to China's dominion in 1997.

In the late 1830's, the Chinese decided to do something about it and ordered the destruction of all the opium held in British workhouses. There would be tragic consequences for China in the First ...

A key feature of China’s opium epidemic is that it was state-sponsored. In the early 19th century , British merchants wanted to sell Indian-grown opium in China, while Chinese officials ...

Consumption of opium in China skyrocketed, as did profits. The Daoguang Emperor became alarmed by the millions of drug addicts — and the flow of silver leaving China.