Changes In The Concepts Of Opium Of Western Missionaries’ Group In Late Qing Dynasty(1807-1911)

The import of opium and the arrival of protestant missionaries in China changed the course of modern Chinese history,and had a profound influence on China’s modern history.The Opium War caused by the opium trade opened the prelude to the modern history of our country full of humiliation.Since then,"the European countries and China signed treaties,traders and missionaries’ exchanges freely," opened "thousands of years not changed." At the same time,a large number of missionaries came to China to preach and live,which ushered in the golden age of missionaries.The combination of "trade and missionary" has become a common aspiration of the West towards China,and it is also the reason why it has been criticized so far.Under the paradigm of revolutionary history,early studies often formed the stereotype that missionaries were "opium accomplices" and "opium traffickers".In fact,missionaries’ cognition of opium is not static,but a dynamic and gradual process.Before the first Opium War,early missionaries,represented by R.Morrison and K.F.Gutzlaff,often relied on opium firms or diplomats in exchange for their support for missionary work because of their legal residence rights and economic problems.After the second Opium War,with the increasing number of missionaries coming to China,the understanding of opium became more and more profound,and the missionaries represented by J.H.Dudgeon,G.John and J.H.Taylor,were the middle missionaries.They began to expose opium poison from physiology,morality,social crisis,missionary prospect and spiritual view,criticized opium trade,and reached consensus on negative evaluation of opium.In the second half of the 19 th century,the late missionaries represented by H.C.Dubose no longer condemned the opium trade,but took an active part in the anti-smoking movement: the establishment of smoking cessation centers throughout the country;Publishing anti-opium works;proposing anti-opium resolutions at national missionary congresses;establishing a nationwide anti-opium coalition,the China Anti-opium Society,which is cross-sectarian,cross-national,and cross-identity;and promoting official antismoking and international cooperation in anti-drug control.In the end,the International Opium Commission Conference against smoking was successfully held in Shanghai,and the Qing and British governments signed the "Anti-smoking Treaty," which prompted opium to be basically banned at the end of the Qing Dynasty.From 1807,the first Protestant missionary Morrison entered China,to 1909 the International Opium Commission Conference held in Shanghai,just across a whole century.The attitude of the missionaries to opium in China experienced four stages: ambiguous acquiescence,verbal condemnation,action suppression,official prohibition of smoking.The missionaries also realized the transformation from the negative image of opium peddlers to the positive anti-opium fighters.This paper attempts to analyze the evolution of Protestant missionaries’ concept of opium in the history of the late Qing Dynasty,and to explore the causes and effects.