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{{for|places in Iran|Madak, Iran (disambiguation){{!}}Madak, Iran}}
'''Madak''' was a blend of [[opium]] and [[tobacco]] used as a [[recreational drug]] in 16th- and 17th-century [[China]]. It emerged in southern coastal areas in the first half of the 17th century. In the last quarter of the 18th century madak was phased out by raw [[opium]]. The prohibition of madak in 1729 may have been a contributing factor to the increase in popularity of smoking pure opium. 

Raw opium was introduced in China by Arab merchants.<ref name=D32/> Rather than taking bitter raw opium orally, the Chinese attempted smoking opium mixed with other substances.<ref name=D32/> According to Dikotter et al., smoking opium blended with tobacco was introduced in China by the [[Dutch East India Company|Dutch traders]] between 1624 and 1660.<ref name=D32/> Madak was prepared by blending opium from [[Java]] with domestic Chinese [[hemp]] and herbs, boiling the mix in pans and, finally, mixing with tobacco.<ref name=D33/> It was smoked in [[bamboo]] pipes with [[coir]] fibre filter.<ref name=D33>Dikotter et al., p. 33.</ref> The new addiction was limited to coastal territories around [[Taiwan Strait]]; further spread was hampered by the civil war that accompanied the [[fall of the Ming Dynasty]].<ref name=D32/> The new [[Qing Dynasty]] government was not aware of madak until 1683.<ref name=D32>Dikotter et al., p. 32.</ref> The lucrative opium business continued spreading along the coast of Southern China, although exact chronology of this spread remains unknown.<ref name=D33/> 

By 1720 the government saw madak smoking as a social evil that has corrupted not just the lowest classes, but the "good families" too.<ref name=D34>Dikotter et al., p. 34.</ref> Smoking dens, where people congregated ''at night'', were deemed as dangerous as [[heresy|heretical]] [[Cult|cults]] and political conspiracies.<ref name=D34/> In 1729 the [[Yongzheng Emperor]] banned recreational smoking of madak. Medicinal use remained permitted.<ref name=D36>Dikotter et al., p. 36.</ref> According to Dikotter et al., the prohibition targeted madak smoking not as such, but as a dangerous form of unacceptable social life feared by the [[Forbidden City]] (and thus was akin to ''[[A Counterblaste to Tobacco]]'' written a century earlier by [[James I of England]]).<ref name=D35>Dikotter et al., p. 35.</ref> Madak had a "very narrow consumer base" confined to [[Fujian]], [[Guangdong]] and [[Taiwan]].<ref name=D34/> Peak consumption, according to Dutch records, was under 12 tonnes of opium per annum.<ref name=D34/> 

The British [[East India Company]] (EIC) complied with the ban until 1780; Portuguese [[merchant ship]]s continued small-scale deliveries of "[[Medication|medicinal]]" opium.<ref name=D36/> In 1780 the East India Company faced a dire financial crisis and resorted to opium smuggling .<ref name=D37>Dikotter et al., p. 37.</ref> Their opium did not sell at all: only 15% of the English shipment found customers within China.<ref name=D37/> However, in the next two decades consumption of opium rapidly grew.<ref name=D37/> The Chinese replaced madak with raw opium; madak remained in limited use by the [[Malaysia|Malay]] people.<ref name=D37/> In 1793 the EIC assumed a [[monopoly]] on now profitable opium trade into China.<ref name=D38>Dikotter et al., p. 38.</ref> The Chinese government banned opium in 1796, temporarily driving the market underground.<ref name=D38/> Historian [[Xiao Yishan]] reasoned that the surge in opium consumption was directly influenced by the 1729 prohibition. According to  Dikotter et al., exact causes of the change remain unknown.<ref name=D38>Dikotter et al., p. 38.</ref>

==See also==
* [[History of opium in China]]

== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* Dikötter, F., Laaman, L. & Xun, Z. (2004). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=mS9vZgpIiRYC&pg=PA32&dq=madak&hl=en&ei=mZGfTMCUN46ZOJHt7ZcL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=madak&f=false Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China]''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. {{ISBN|1-85065-725-4}}.


{{Opioidergics}}

[[Category:Opium in China]]
[[Category:Tobacco]]
[[Category:Drug culture]]
[[Category:History of Imperial China]]
[[Category:Drugs in China]]
[[Category:Smoking in China]]