1820s~1830s清国的社会大动荡，民众普遍焦虑和对前景悲观，借吸毒释压逃避，也可能是鸦片消费量猛增的原因之一。出自

”China as ‘Victim’?  The Opium War That Wasn’t“

by Harry G. Gelber， Visiting Scholar,  Center for European Studies， Harvard University

The 1820s and 1830s were a time of social unrest and disturbance in the Chinese empire, with various rebellious groups appearing from time to time, not least in the South. It would be normal at such times for some people to use opium to relieve stress, much as the modern world has used Valium. Such a process could help to account for the startling rate of increase in opium sales at Canton at the end of the 1820s. Furthermore, opium and general trading, or smuggling, was by no means confined to Canton (modern Guangzhou) but was happening in dozens of inlets and small places along the coast.

It is beyond belief that the central Chinese authorities, who to this day do not have reliable statistics on most aspects of the Chinese economy, had more than a hazy idea of what was going on, let alone accurate statistics about the opium trade and its effects on the silver supply.

What may be slightly more reliable are the numbers for opium shipments to China from India and, maybe, Turkey, and they tell an interesting tale. The available estimates suggest that, in 1800-1801, some 4570 chests of opium1 were shipped from these sources to China. Twenty years later, in 1820- 1821, the total was much the same: 4244 chests. Yet by 1830-1831 that had suddenly more than quadrupled, to 18,956 chests and, by 1838-1839, on the eve of the Sino-British conflict, even that had more than doubled to 40,200 chests.

It goes without saying that if such a drug is available, some people will experiment with it and a few will become addicted, but the most likely explanation for such soaring demand may well be opium’s use to relieve personal and social stress of various kinds. It seems difficult otherwise to explain consumption multiplying by no less than ten in a mere twenty years.