Editing Opium (section)

==== Recreational use in China ====
{{See also|History of opium in China|Opium den}}
[[File:中國人服食鴉片圖.PNG|thumb|An opium den in 18th-century China.]]
The earliest clear description of the use of opium as a [[recreational drug]] in China came from Xu Boling, who wrote in 1483 that opium was "mainly used to aid masculinity, strengthen sperm and regain vigor", and that it "enhances the art of alchemists, sex and court ladies". He also described an expedition sent by the [[Ming dynasty]] [[Chenghua Emperor]] in 1483 to procure opium for a price "equal to that of gold" in [[Hainan]], [[Fujian]], [[Zhejiang]], [[Sichuan]] and [[Shaanxi]], where it is close to the western lands of [[Western Regions|Xiyu]]. A century later, [[Li Shizhen]] listed standard medical uses of opium in his renowned ''[[Compendium of Materia Medica]]'' (1578), but also wrote that "lay people use it for the art of sex," in particular the ability to "arrest seminal emission". This association of opium with sex continued in China until the end of the 19th century.

Opium smoking began as a privilege of the elite and remained a great luxury into the early 19th century. However, by 1861, [[Wang Tao (19th century)|Wang Tao]] wrote that opium was used even by rich peasants, and even a small village without a rice store would have a shop where opium was sold.<ref name="Zheng">{{cite journal|author=Yangwen Zheng|title=The Social Life of Opium in China, 1483–1999|journal=Modern Asian Studies|volume=37|issue=1|pages=1–39|year=2003|doi=10.1017/S0026749X0300101X|s2cid=146582691}}</ref>

Recreational use of opium was part of a civilized and mannered ritual, akin to an [[East Asian tea ceremony]], prior to the extensive prohibitions that came later.<ref name=Dikotter/> In places of gathering, often tea shops, or a person's home servings of opium were offered as a form of greeting and politeness. Often served with tea (in China) and with specific and fine utensils and beautifully carved wooden pipes. The wealthier the smoker, the finer and more expensive material used in ceremony.<ref name=Dikotter /> The image of seedy underground, destitute smokers were often generated by anti-opium narratives and became a more accurate image of opium use following the effects of large scale opium prohibition in the 1880s.<ref name=Dikotter/>