When somebody talks about China and recreational antidote in the same sentence, they are mostly
referring either to the Opium Wars of the mid-19th century between China and Great Britain
or perhaps they are talking about KMT and Khun Sa’s opium empire of the modern times.
But Opium wasn’t always the preferred choice of narcotics among the Chinese population.
In fact, during the old days, China never saw opium as a recreational drug
at all! And if that makes you wonder what herbs were ancient Chinese smoking, welcome to Nutty
History, and in this video let’s find out what recreational drugs were popular in ancient China?
In the present world of Narcotics, China and Opium are two terms that pretty much go hand in hand.
The opium belt that stretches from Southern China to Turkey has produced many Narcos such as drug
lords like Khun Sa, who were never caught and lived their life like a king. But surprisingly,
opium wasn’t always a native plant to China. Before the 7th century, nobody even in China
knew what a poppy was. The credit of bringing milk of the poppy to the Chinese empire
goes to the Turkish and Middle Eastern traders. Originally introduced as a pain killer, the poppy
was considered nothing but a medicinal plant back then in China and the status quo remained the same
for over a thousand years. According to historical accounts, both the Tsang dynasty and the Song
dynasty classified it as a natural remedy. Poet and pharmacologist Su Dongpo mentioned
opium in his medicinal notes and recommended consuming poppy in a soup for medicinal purposes.
The closest China got to making the poppy a recreational drug in this period,
was to create an aphrodisiac medicine out of opium called Chunyao. During the Ming Dynasty, Xu Boling
described the poppy as a vitality enhancer in his fifteenth-century journal Yingjing Juan.
He accredited poppy for treating masculinity issues such as sperm strengthening, restoring
vigor and vitality. During the same time, the poppy was also considered a great cure for
diarrhea. Diarrhea and erectile dysfunction, quite a weird combination, isn’t it? During that
time,the Chinese must have had really disturbed stomachs because the demand for it was so high
that Opium was quite an expensive drug. Xu Boling described opium to be worth its weight in gold,
very much like coco was considered worth gold during the peak time of the Cali and Medellin
cartel in recent history. So how did China start using or shall we say abusing Opium?
Say hello to Portuguese traders. They taught Chinese people how to mix opium and alcohol
for some good times in the 16th century. And by 1729, Opium became such a headache for
Imperial China that Yongzheng Emperor had to criminalize the recreational use of the herb.
Thanks to perhaps the very first drug handlers in the history of mankind, known as the wandering
community called Yamnaya people, China got their hands on cannabis somewhere around 1000 BCE.
However, most experts believe that ‘dama’ or Cannabis Sativa has been growing in China since
the Neolithic times. Recently, archeologists found evidence of cannabis consumption in eight tombs at
the Jirzankal Cemetery. The cemetery site is in the Pamir Mountains in China’s Xinjiang region.
With the technology and science available to identify organic material preserved in
the braziers found in Jirzankal cemetery, archeologists were able to identify organic
material in these braziers and they detected marijuana’s chemical signature. Now skeptical
people may point out that the substance in the brazier may just be hemp. But the THC level
in braziers was much higher than what you may expect in a hemp rope. THC is cannabis’s main
psychoactive component proving the ancient Chinese were passing the brazier like a joint. Cannabis
may have been an important part of ancient China’s funeral rites and people may have used flames,
rhythmic music, and hallucinogen smoke to get into an altered state of mind. Perhaps to travel
with the dead or to the other world, just to be more liberal expressing their mourning.
On the other hand maybe they might have been into celebrating the death instead of mourning it and
what could be a better companion for celebration than the good old Mary Jane! Archeologists believe
that Ancient China had a long, intimate history with cannabis to the point that the psychoactive
plant may have been domesticated as well. Cannabis was also used in East Asia, as an
oilseed crop and to make hemp textiles and ropes. Moreover, the ancient texts have also provided us
evidence of the popularity of the 420 leaves in good old China. The cemetery findings get more
interesting when we take its geographical location into account. The cemetery site is situated near
the ancient Silk Road, indicating that the old trade route linking China and the Middle East
may have facilitated the spread of marijuana use as an antidote. And it all adds up as the Chinese
were using the hemp plant for rope, clothing, bowstrings, paper, and, of course, medicine.
Often titled Father of Chinese Medicine, Ancient Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung also studied Cannabis.
Shen Nung was a mythical legend, a farmer king who had a peculiar interest in herbal knowledge.
According to the legends, he wrote down an entire encyclopedia called Pen Ts’ao compiling poisons,
their antidotes, and other medicines. The earliest known record of Pen Ts’ao is from the 2nd century
BCE however, the legend of Shen-Nung makes the book another 2500 years old. And the book
talks about how ma, the Chinese name of cannabis helps to balance the yin and yang in a person.
A hundred years later, Chinese Surgeon Hua T’o was the first physician in the world to use cannabis
as an anesthetic agent in the 4th century AD. He would also prescribe cannabis as a painkiller.
It doesn’t matter if the story of Shen-Nung is true or not but
it is very hard to deny how integrated cannabis was in ancient Chinese Society.
Over two thousand years ago, China had its own version of Xanax. Popular as more of a
medicinal herb than recreational herb, lingzhi or reishi mushroom was considered to carry the
essence of immortality, potency, divinity, and longevity. This made it popular among
monarchs and religious clergy of Taoist temples. A concentrated decoction made from Lingzhi mushroom
was given to the followers and worshippers in the Taoist temple to give them “sight” so they
can see and communicate with spirits. Ancient Chinese believed Lingzhi to also have magical
powers of the immortal beings called Xian that could take your spirit to the realm of heaven.
In simple words, the mushroom would make you trip so bad,
that you will begin seeing all of your ancestors, even Uncle Earl. Similarly, Shanglu or pokeweed
was the preferred herb of the ancient Chinese sorcerers to commune with the spirits.
Red pokeweed can be extremely poisonous and cause unceasing bloody stool, but that was the risk if
you wanted to summon spirits. White pokeweed was used to make savories to consume with wine
and had psychoactive effects which the Chinese believed helped increase life span.
Most of the time when we talk of narcotics in the old world, we are talking about herbs and flowers
like henbane, hemp, opium, et Cetera. The idea of chemical narcotics is considered a fairly modern
concept but that isn’t the case. Ancient Chinese were actually quite fond of synthetic narcotics.
During the 3rd to 5th century AD, Chinese elites were getting high
on a substance called ‘wu shi san’. Wu Shi San or Five-stone powder wasn’t produced from any herb
but was a straight-up mineral mixture. The main ingredients were Stalactites, Fluorite, Quartz,
Sulfur, and halloysite clay or Kaolin, which had been pulverized and mixed in specific proportions.
An immediate effect of taking wu shi san was a sudden rise in body temperature
and hyperactivity. The effects were mitigated by eating cold foods, taking cold baths,
or engaging in strenuous physical activities, such as walking long distances, to cool down the body
through perspiration. There were records of users walking naked in winter or eating snow because
they were unbearably hot. Those who consumed five stone powders would also experience an
“opening of the spirit and mind”, which could be interpreted to mean hallucinations.
The composition was also reported to have an aphrodisiac effect on men. It was quite trendy
back then to consume five-stone powder as a friendly group activity where abusers would
find themselves getting amused at shocking and outrageous conduct of each other before
they would fall into a stupor. Naturally, such artificial substances had lasting and damaging
effects on the body of those who regularly abused five stone powder. Long-term users would exhibit
incoherent speech and thought processes. They were also found perpetually distracted. Physically,
they would suffer swellings and painful limbs, and some cases resulted in death. It won’t be wrong to
say that Wu shi san was like the ancient version of black rock and fortunately went out of fashion
by the 5th century. Would the history of the Chinese be different if the Portuguese had never
taught them how to use the drug recreationally? Tell us in the comments which other period of
narcotics would you like us to explore for you? And as always, thanks for watching Nutty History.