Reflections | Smoking in China: from ‘herb that makes you forget your worries’ to ‘poisonous weed’ in the span of a few decades, and the 300 million still lighting up there over 300 years later
- Tobacco was so prized in 17th century China that history records people bartering a horse for 600 grams of the weed, which was touted for its health benefits
- However, a Chinese emperor banned smoking in 1639, and books began warning of its harmful effects. Yet today, a fifth of people in China still smoke
Tobacco arrived in China during the Ming dynasty’s Jiajing era (1522-1566) from the Philippines, then a colony of the Spaniards, who were the first Europeans to ship and cultivate tobacco outside the Americas. Within a few decades, the scale of China’s tobacco cultivation had surpassed the Philippines and Chinese tobacco were exported back to the Spanish colony.
Smoking soon enjoyed enormous popularity in China, in part due to its perceived health benefits. Even women and children were lighting up. Apart from its effects as both a stimulant and relaxant, many erroneously believed that it could heal certain ailments, such as chills and fevers. A medical text completed in the mid-17th century even calls it “the herb that makes you forget your worries”.
Naturally, the tobacco trade became very lucrative. At almost the same time as tobacco cultivation began in Europe, a region of Shandong province was planting and processing the cash crop in a big way, employing 400 workers and raking in two million taels (75 tonnes) of silver in annual sales revenue.
Books from the Qing dynasty’s Kangxi era (1662-1722) record that people on the remote northern frontiers bartered a horse for one catty (about 600 grams) of processed tobacco, and Russian border guards paid for three to four catties of Chinese tobacco with an ox.