Opiová kultura – Lee Peter (2008)

Opium. The very sound of this word evokes images of hidden spaces in exotic lands, where languid smokers lie faintly in the bluish mist of fragrant opium smoke, leaning over the crimson flame of a jade lamp, inhaling smoke from long bamboo pipes. Today, however, there is little truly accurate information about the practice that has been crucial to the lives of millions of people around the world for 300 years. In Peter Lee's Opium Culture, we encounter a fascinating narrative that touches on every aspect of Chinese art and the craft of opium smoking. It begins with a brief overview of the long and colorful history of opium and the story of how it began to be smoked for pleasure in China, providing detailed descriptions of the cultivation and harvesting of opium; we learn about all the exotic tools and accessories needed for the Chinese way of smoking opium, about the transition of opium from one of the most important medicinal herbs to the status of a banned substance that the current pharmaceutical industry suppresses, about the connections of opium with I Ching, Taoism, and Chinese medicine, about the art, culture, philosophy, pharmacology, and psychology of this traditional Asian practice. The text is interspersed with interesting quotes from the works of literary and artistic figures who were also...