Sea of Poppies
by Amitav Ghosh
John Murray, HK$192
It is 1838, the Gangetic Plain of northern India is covered with a sea of poppies, the Chinese emperor has passed a decree banning opium and the British East India Company is contriving the first opium war.
Author Amitav Ghosh trained as an anthropologist, began a career as a reporter and made his mark as a writer of historical sagas. In his eighth novel, Sea of Poppies, he has artfully fused all those skills to produce a masterwork - the first in a planned trilogy - that provides a backdrop to the Anglo-Chinese opium conflicts.
The English rulers of India have managed, through coercion of farmers and persuasion of traders, to convert the Indian plains to expansive fields of poppy. The resultant opium is sent to Canton where it is traded for Chinese silk and ceramics. The trade has led to the destruction of the rural economy in India and the emergence of opium addicts in China - events casually dismissed by the English.
In the words of Benjamin Burnham, an English trader: 'Jesus Christ is Free Trade and Free Trade is Jesus Christ. If it is God's will that opium be used as an instrument to open China to his teachings, then so be it. For myself, I confess I can see no reason why any Englishman should abet the Manchu tyrant in depriving the people of China of this miraculous substance.'