So here's something I learned. Everyone smoked opium at that time. Everyone who could have it, would smoke it. China's own struggles with it actually baffled everyone else. But the ChiComs in particular latched on to the narrative that it was some deliberate plot by the West to try to undermine inherent Chinese superiority.
Don't forget, in living memory China was, and in many ways is, a backwards and cruel nation that needs foreign aid, pity, and propaganda to even struggle to sustain itself.
Don't forget, in living memory China was, and in many ways is, a backwards and cruel nation that needs foreign aid, pity, and propaganda to even struggle to sustain itself.