title: Lessons in ambivalence: The Shanghai Municipal Council's opium policies, 1906-1917.
abstract: Shanghai was considered to be a "capital of opium" in modern China, hence the history of opium in the city has received significant attention. In the Shanghai International Settlement, where Chinese and foreigners lived as neighbours, drugs were considered by the administration as both "trouble maker", and important financial resource. This paper explores how the Shanghai Municipal Council (SMC), the most senior governing body in the settlement, used its position to maximize political and economic profit from the trade and consumption of opium.
  
  
  
  The paper is based on documentary analysis of records of the SMC board meetings and other related material stored at Shanghai Municipal Archives. Interpretive approaches were used to analyze the shifting SMC strategies on opium consumption, the competing power relations and the way they were negotiated between actors with a stake in the region, including semi-colonialism and world systems analysis.
  
  
  
  With the dual purpose of preventing damage and enhancing municipal management, the SMC introduced a licensing system permitting the consumption and trade of drugs. However, the anti-opium policies of the late Qing government and the Anglo-Chinese 10 Year Agreement meant SMC had to shut down opium "houses" (opium dens) and "shops" (for the sale of opium to be consumed off the premises).
  
  
  
  Over almost a decade, the SMC shifted emphasis from political regulation of a social, recreational practice to maximizing financial benefit. In the process, SMC made full use of the opportunities it gained from a period of ambivalent Chinese and British power relations and local community rule.
authors: David F. Musto Center for Drug Policy Studies, Shanghai University, China. Electronic address: zhangyongan@shu.edu.cn.
authors: Yong-An
authors: YA
authors: Zhang
authors: David F. Musto Center for Drug Policy Studies, Shanghai University, China.
authors: Yilun
authors: Y
authors: Du
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D064423:Drug Trafficking / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D004335:Drug and Narcotic Control / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D033161:Government Regulation; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000266:history / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009892:Opium / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000266:history; D011050:Policy Making
chemical_list: D009892:Opium
keywords: China; Opium; Shanghai International Settlement; Shanghai Municipal Council