Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms, Volume 78

General Discussion on Maritime Defense II

A knife is used to score the skin of the poppy about a tenth of an inch deep, and the milky sap flows out. It is collected in the morning and soaked in water; shortly after, it is removed and stored in vessels. Leaves are dried in the sun and ground into a powder, which is mixed into the sap. The quality of the final product is determined by the ratio of leaf powder: if the powder accounts for half, the paste is half-strength. It is then kneaded into balls and wrapped in leaves. See the Records of the Seas There are varieties known as Patna original: "Gongban" (公斑), referring to the British East India Company's opium from Patna, India, Malwa original: "Baipi" (白皮), or 'White Skin' opium from Western India, and Red Skin original: "Hongpi" (紅皮). Patna is considered the highest grade, Malwa is secondary, and Red Skin is the lowest quality. This substance did not exist in China during previous dynasties; it first entered the country during the Ming Dynasty.

Gong Yunlin’s Mirror of Medicine mentions using opium original: "apian" (阿片), a phonetic transliteration paste mixed with glutinous rice to form pills to treat "a hundred illnesses," calling it the Single Golden Pill. Li Shizhen’s Compendium of Materia Medica The most influential pharmaceutical encyclopedia in pre-modern China, published in 1596 notes that common people use it in "bedroom arts" A reference to its use as an aphrodisiac or for sexual stamina.

In the middle of the Yongzheng reign circa 1730s, Nian Xiyao published his Effective Collected Formulas, in which opium original: "yapian" (鴉片) appears frequently, though at first, there was no mention of smoking it for consumption. To smoke it, bamboo is inlaid to make pipes, sometimes using porcelain or silver. One picks the opium from a box, shaping it into a grain or a pill, then holds it to a lamp and inhales while leaning on a pillow and lying on one's side. This practice likely began at the end of the Qianlong reign Late 18th century. By the early Jiaqing reign Early 19th century, the number of users gradually increased, and special imperial decrees were issued...