... in China in the fourth decade of the nineteenth century and of the Opium War that they brought onan account that begins with opium, of course, and never lets opium go, but allows other interests ... because opium leads directly to the book's subject, which isI draw upon the original prefacewesterners in China in the early decades of the nineteenth century and the war, the Opium War, ... skillful editing of Gwen Duffey of the University of North Carolina Press. I owe the index to Carol B. Pearson, the Chinese characters (which translate " ;opium war& quot;) to Mingshui Hung of Brooklyn...