아편전쟁 이전 罌粟과 鴉片의 이해 ― 약재에서 금지품으로 ―

Abstract

This study analyzes Chinese understanding of opium by examining the inflow, distribution of opium, and its prohibition in China before the Opium War. Through the examination of the selected materials from the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, this paper focuses on how opium was perceived by the Chinese society and how the perception changed throughout the time. During the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, opium-poppy(罌粟) had been used as a medicinal ingredient and its utilization with medicinal purposes had expanded. However, during this time, Chinese had not recognized its danger or the possibility of addiction based on the analysis of Zhenglei Bencao(證 類本草) and Bencao Gangmu/Compendium of Materia Medica(本草綱 目). However, in Qing Dynasty, even before the Opium War, Su Mingliang(蘇明良), a military officer of Guangzhou, already sensed the harmful effects of opium. Through the analysis of Su’s Memorial to the Yougzheng Emperor(1727), this paper traces his observation of the route of opium into China, inhalation methods, the fate of smokers, and the social consequences caused by opium. Also, with the Opium Prohibition Act in Jiaqing-Daoguang period(嘉慶道光年間), opium was no longer a medicinal product. During this period, the Qing government discussed countermeasures against the silver leakage invoked by the opium trade. Although public welfare and health issue was not a main focus, the scope of punishment imposed on opium smokers expanded in Jiaquing period and, even in Daoguang period, the limit of punishment furthered to death. Also, the imperial commissioner, Lin Zexu(林則徐), and the famous doctor, He Qiwei(何其偉), initiated the treatment for opium poisoning during this time.