Joseph,
I don't know how many addicts there were in China, but the first Opium war was touched off, because the Chinese seized and destroyed 20,000 chests opium (from European owned warehouses in China). This is is between 2 and 3 million pounds of opium.
I have read, that by the 1880's over 90,000 (between 6,000 and 7,000 tons) chests of opium were being exported yearly from India by the British. By the 1860's, China started cultivating their own opium, so that by the early 20th century, China itself was growing and manufacturing 20,000 tons of opium. |
