Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Avoiding The Subject: The Opium War, Opium-Markets, And The Exclusion Of Chinese Laborers In The United States, Canada, And Mexico, Olivia L. Blessing

Olivia L Blessing

The 19th century saw significant increases in the number of Chinese immigrants entering North America, most significantly on the west coast of the United States. Already facing increasing divide amongst the American population over the issue of the Opium Wars and the resulting Opium-addiction amongst the Chinese, the United States found itself now confronting the problem in the form of immigrant workers. Although the Opium Wars and the issue of the Chinese Opium Dens were highly disputed outside the courts, the State and Federal courts surprisingly avoided discussing the topic in their legislative discussions surrounding the Chinese Exclusion Act of …

China, Japan And Korea: Hegemonic Stability And International Society In Northeast Asia During Ming And Qing, Lukas Danner

Lukas K. Danner

No abstract provided.

The Early Modern Chinese Tribute System: Civilization As Source Of Soft Power, Lukas Danner

Lukas K. Danner

No abstract provided.

Medieval International Relations Of East Asia: The Tribute System Reconsidered, Lukas Danner

Lukas K. Danner

No abstract provided.

Remaking The World Of Chinese Labour: A 30-Year Retrospective, Eli D. Friedman, Ching Kwan Lee

Eli D Friedman

Over the past 30 years, labour relations, and, indeed, the entirety of working class politics in China, have been dramatically altered by economic reforms. In this review, we focus on the two key processes of commodification and casualization and their implications for workers. On the one hand, these processes have resulted in the destruction of the old social contract and the emergence of marketized employment relations. This has implied a loss of the job security and generous benefits enjoyed by workers in the planned economy. On the other hand, commodification and casualization have produced significant but localized resistance from the …

The Opium Problem: A Review Essay, David Courtwright

David T. Courtwright

Opium is one of the most useful and complex drugs in medical history. Made from the juice of the unripe seed capsule of the opium poppy, it contains several valuable alkaloids. Three of these, morphine, codeine, and thebaine—the last when processed into semisynthetic opioids like oxycodone—have potent analgesic effects. The rub is that opium-based drugs present as many risks as benefits. Overdose and addiction threaten individual lives. Widespread abuse and trafficking can threaten society itself.

Examples of personal and social ruin fill the pages of Thomas Dormandy's and Hans Derks's ambitious histories of opium. Dormandy begins his narrative in antiquity, …

The Re-Emerging Dragon, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

Remarks prepared for the CEFAM China Conference, 22 January 2013.

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