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Auction: 21042 - The Opium Wars Collection
Lot: 13

First Opium War
The Opium Trade
Outlaw of Opium Smoking
1818 a printed official communication (memorial) to the Emperor Jiaqing from the Viceroy of Liangguang, Ruan Yuan. In this memorial he gives details of the illegal opium trade and the handling of illicit money by some Chinese naval officers stationed in Lung-Moon. This submission has been endorsed by the Emperor in cinnabar (bright red ink).


It is extremely rare to have such forerunner opium related official document remaining in the private market. We have only seen one or two such memorials of pre First Opium War period in public auctions in the past couple of decades. An extraordinarily rare and highly important document of which very few survive. There is a small repair to two characters, otherwise this example is in superb condition.

The smoking of opium was outlawed by the emperor in 1796, however, it continued to be used and was smuggled into the country via Lintin Island.

Ryan Yuan was appointed as the Viceroy of Liangguang from October 1817 to June 1826 across the periods of Emperor Jiaqing and Emperor Daoguang. In 1821, Ruan Yuan reported to Emperor Daoguang seeking the Emperor's permission to officially prohibit the opium trade county wide in China, and ban the Chinese people from taking opium. The submission of this Memorial was made before the above motion. This Memorial reported to the Emperor of an incident in which during the recent opium sweeping actions, the Captain at Lung-Moon and some underlying soldiers together corrupted to take away the opium seizures and illegally sell for their own pockets. He opined to detain all of them and send to the high enforcement office at Kwangtung Province for trial. This one illustrates the resolve of Chinese government at the time to ban opium trade and the smoking of opium in society.


1818年两廣總督阮元上奏嘉慶皇帝奏摺, 内為匯報關於清廷官兵參與非法走私販賣鴉片煙的事宜. 私人市場上還留有這份早期鴉片相關的官方文件, 實屬罕見. 在過去的幾十年裡, 我們只在公開拍賣中看到過一兩份這樣的第一次鴉片戰爭前期的文獻. 一份傳世極為罕見, 且對於鴉片戰争史研究之非常重要文件.

Sold for
HK$140,000

Starting price
HK$44000