At first, opium was rampant in Qing dynasty, and the emperor didn't want to take care of it. Although there was constant controversy over whether smoking was banned in the imperial court, the emperor felt it was unnecessary. Even some important officials explicitly proposed that they smoked opium, but the emperor did not reprimand them. Until then, the problem became more serious. In this way, Daoguang suddenly changed his arrogant attitude and banned smoking.
There are too many people smoking opium. At that time, many people smoked opium because of the proliferation of opium in Qing Dynasty. Lin Zexu is very concerned about smoking ban. Because at that time, about 1% people in China smoked opium, which was huge and shocking. If children and old people are excluded, the ratio will be terrible.
Moreover, opium is more expensive. Generally, those who can smoke opium are slightly richer at home, and some are poor people engaged in manual labor. These people have a hard time doing manual labor during the day, and smoking opium after work is a pleasure. However, heavy smoking is very harmful to people's spiritual essence and body. Long-term heavy smoking will lead to a decline in health. Besides, it is very difficult to quit smoking. Therefore, heavy smoking is everywhere.
During the Daoguang period, opium smoking by court officials was very popular until the late Qing Dynasty. Imperial families in the Qing dynasty liked to smoke opium everywhere, and their own children of the Qing dynasty lived the daily life of a dude because of the knighthood of their ancestors. However, more than half of the courtiers in the DPRK were "drug addicts" who were addicted to opium as early as the early dynasty.
At that time, above the imperial court, after the emperor shouted to stand up, half of the etiquette of kneeling on the ground did not stand up. At that time, the emperor himself was a little puzzled. Today, he did not severely reprimand such a senior official. Why are everyone kneeling over there and shaking? The emperor once again told everyone not to stand up on their knees, and several people stood up. Naturally, some people still can't stand it. It is absurd that these people are weak because of smoking opium.
Smoking ban and opium destruction in Humen occurred as early as the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Britain wanted to open its sales market in China, but at first China people were not interested in British products. On the contrary, China's silk, satin, tea and pottery sell well in Britain, which is not what the British government wants. In order to better meet the requirements of British bourgeois expansion, Britain sold opium to China.
Since then, Britain has made great profits in China. Due to the high price of opium and the large demand of the Qing court, the outflow of platinum from the Qing court was very serious, which not only did great harm to economic development. Opium itself is a kind of ice poison, and smoking opium is very harmful to the body. Daoguang is brave after knowing shame, and Lin Zexu is rewarded for smoking ban.
Opium did great harm to the Qing Dynasty, which accelerated the national subjugation of the Qing Dynasty to a great extent. However, it was disgraceful for Britain to call for bourgeois expansion under the guise of free and democratic trade at the expense of the physical and mental health of China people. The destruction of opium by Lin Zexu and Humen cut off Britain's road to wealth and started the Opium War.