OPIUM

347
only  25  piculs.  Native  opium  in  1863  came  chiefly  from
Shansi,  and  it  is  on  record  that  in  that  year  200  piculs
were  introduced  into  the  city  of  Moukden.  In  1879  the
production  of  Manchuria  was  estimated  at  3&gt; 000  piculs,
and  in  1887  at  8,000  piculs,  and  the  quality  was  reported
to  be  equal  if  not  superior  to  that  of  foreign  opium.  The
population  has  been  greatly  increased  by  immigration  in
the  past  thirty  years,  and,  apart  from  the  temporary  effects
of  war,  the  output  to-day  may  be  estimated  at  13,000
piculs.
For  the  Coast  Provinces  the  annual  production,  estimated
on  a  conservative  basis,  is  42,500  piculs.
Yangtze  Provinces
Hunan  opium  was  known  at  Hankow  in  1863  and
before,  and  in  1879  the  production  was  estimated  at  1,000
piculs.  Hunanese  have  filled  the  armies  of  China  for  fifty
years,  and  returned  soldiers  have  brought  back  the  habit
of  heavy  smoking.  But  little  foreign  opium  is  imported
(240  piculs  in  1905),  and  the  production  of  opium  in  Hunan
to-day  is  probably  at  least  3,000  piculs.
Hupeh  consumed  no  foreign  opium  prior  to  1861,  and
imported  4,242  piculs  in  1867,  and  (including  Hunan)  562
piculs  in  1905.  Native  opium  is,  and  has  always  been,
introduced  from  other  provinces,  but  there  has  also  been
a  home  production,  estimated  in  1879  at  2,000  to  3,000
piculs,  and  in  1887  at  3,000  :  the  output  to-day  is  probably
4,000  piculs.
Kiangsi  maintains  its  consumption  of  foreign  opium
of  forty  and  thirty  years  ago.  In  1863  the  local  production
was  estimated  at  200  piculs  ;  there  has  been  no  great
increase  in  poppy  growing,  and  to-day  the  output  probably
does  not  exceed  500  piculs.
Anhwei  imports  to-day  of  foreign  opium  but  half  the
import  of  1879  and  1888.  In  1887  the  local  production
was  estimated  at  2,000  piculs,  and  to-day  it  is  probably
over  3,000*piculs.