Anti-Drug Crusades in Twentieth-Century China [Paperback]

Zhou Yongming (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0847695980 | ISBN-13: 978-0847695980 | Publication Date: December 1999

Central to ChinaOs identity, drugs have been inextricably linked to every aspect of the countryOs economy, polity, society, and culture since the early nineteenth century. This book is the first comprehensive study of anti-drug crusades in twentieth-century China. Zhou Yongming addresses the complexity of anti-drug campaigns by examining how modern Chinese nationalism and the needs of state building have shaped the ways in which these campaigns have been carried out. The author traces the important role that nationalism has played in all of ChinaOs anti-drug crusades by providing the motivation, legitimacy, and emotional charge needed for Chinese authorities to take an anti-drug stance. Nationalism has provided a forum for fashioning mainstream anti-drug discourse, interpreting the history of the Opium Wars, and mobilizing the social elite and general public in the cause of drug suppression. Yet to avoid adopting nationalism as a universal concept, the author argues that its complexity and mutability can only be fully appreciated if its multiple forms and meanings in modern China are explored. At the same time, the author contends that anti-drug campaigns also are closely related to internal politics. He shows that both the Nationalists and the Communists used these campaigns to build state hegemony through mass crusades, nationwide mobilization, and the use of state violence. To achieve its goal, the state often adopted multiple interpretations of the nationalist anti-drug debate and then incorporated them into the stateOs hidden agenda of conducting anti-drug campaigns. Drawing on previously unavailable archival sources and personal interviews, the author tells a rich story that will be valuable to Asia scholars and narcotics researchers alike.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The first book-length study of opium suppression in twentieth century China. . . . The book presents much useful information on the topic. (Journal Of Asian Studies )

Zhou is practically effective at showing how the circumstances leading to the Opium Wars and China's humiliating defeat have provided a leitmotif for all subsequent discourse concerning narcotics. Zhou does a convincing job of illustrating his main contention--that anti-drug disclosure and anti-drug activity are most fruitfully examined in their social, cultural, and political contexts. Many of his points are so well made that they beg for comparative studies that would allow scholars to see whether the explanatory tools that work so well for China apply in other settings. Drug researchers as well as anthropologists and students of China will find this book worth reading. (American Ethnologist )

This is a handy and informative book on an important aspect of 20th-century China. (China Quarterly )

This is a useful and readable book. Succinctly and lucidly written, Anti-Drug Crusades in Twentieth-Century China tells an interesting story that will be welcomed by China scholars and all those interested in narcotics research. (China Journal )

About the Author

Zhou Yongming is associate professor of anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847695980
• ISBN-13: 978-0847695980
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,127,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars drug crackdowns as nationalism on display, June 6, 2011

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suburban dissident - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anti-Drug Crusades in Twentieth-Century China (Paperback)

Zhou Yongming's book on anti-drug campaigns in modern China provides interesting insights on a curious component of Chinese past and present. As primary a place as opium played in China's history during the 19th and 20th centuries, it is intriguing to see here how China dealt with the scourge and who was involved in the process. Zhou finds that, as much as an act for social welfare, anti-drug campaigns did, and continue to, play a dual role as nationalist drama.

Zhou's book is a great read for any China enthusiast. Well written and researched, it is also an accessible and quick read. As someone particularly interested in China's history during the Republican Era, it was enlightening to see the cast of characters and social institutions Zhou found playing a part in the early efforts to clean up the opium business. A similarly interesting story is true when turning to crackdowns on modern drug trafficking in contemporary China.