Intoxicating Manchuria

In China, both opium and alcohol were used for centuries in thepursuit of health and leisure while simultaneously linked to personaland social decline. The impact of these substances is undeniable, andthe role they have played in Chinese social, cultural, and economichistory is extremely complex. In "Intoxicating Manchuria, " Norman Smith reveals how hugeintoxicant industries were altered by warlord rule, Japaneseoccupation, and war. Powering the spread of alcohol andopium - initially heralded as markers of class or modernityand whose use was well documented - these industriesflourished throughout the early twentieth century even as a vigorousanti-intoxicant movement raged. This book provides a detailed analysis of the media's positiveand negative portrayals of alcohol in the 1930s and 40s, which includesthe advertising industry's promotion of alcohol and itssubsequent calls for prohibition. While tracing the history of opiumand alcohol consumption in China and the business of intoxicantproduction in Manchuria, Smith highlights the efforts ofanti-intoxicant activists, scientists, bureaucrats, and writers toraise awareness of the dangers of intoxicants. This is the firstEnglish-language book-length study to focus on alcohol use in modernChina and the first dealing with intoxicant restriction in the region.Norman Smith is an associate professor in theHistory Department of the University of Guelph. He is the author of"Resisting Manchukuo: Chinese Women Writers and the JapaneseOccupation" and co-editor of "Beyond Suffering: Recounting Warin Modern China."