The dramaturgy is relentless. A slim booklet that reads like a garish spotlight from the 19th century: The Chinese Opium Smoker
does not unfold in chapters, but in twelve stark plates that trace the “career” of an addiction—from the first “harmless” puff to social, physical, and familial ruin. Originally circulated as Chinese moral cartoons in public spaces, these scenes are presented here translated and annotated for a British audience: a visual indictment of a vice—and, at the same time, of those who profit from it.
