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Article: Frank Dikotter, Lars Laamann, and Zhou Xun. Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China.
- Article from:
- China Review International
- Article date:
- March 22, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 University of Hawaii Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Frank Dikotter, Lars Laamann, and Zhou Xun. Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004 (co-published with C. Hurst & Co.). 256 pp. Hardcover 135100, ISBN 0-226-14905-6.
This book is an interesting but uneven account of narcotics in China. The authors' main thesis is that China did not have a problem with opium until attempts to suppress that drug's use resulted in addiction to the supposed cures. While probably everyone would agree that the so-called cures were frequently as bad as, if not worse than, the addiction to opium, it is hard to accept the idea that China had no problem with opium addiction given the ...