Chinatown Library - Programme Zone (Level 4)
05:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Free Admission
Important Notice
Please note that photos and/or videos of this programme and its participants may be taken. By attending this programme, you agree that NLB may take photographs and/or videos of you (or your child as applicable) and use the images and/or videos including to archive, exhibit and publish them for publicity or any other NLB purposes.
About the Programme
As Singapore continues its war on vaping, a strikingly similar battle from more than 180 years ago comes into focus. In the Qing Dynasty, opium addiction spread rapidly, draining China’s economy, fracturing families, and weakening state authority. What began as a trade dispute soon spiralled into a public health crisis, and ultimately erupted into the Opium War, a conflict that marked a turning point in Chinese history and the start of modern China. This talk brings the opium crisis to life, exploring how opium became entangled with global trade, imperial power, and sovereignty, and why crackdowns failed to stop its spread. Drawing parallels with Singapore’s modern fight against vaping, the session hopes to uncover what can a 19th-century crisis teach us today.
Speaker: Heng Kang Wei (Committee member, Qing History Society)
This session is conducted in English.
Free admission. Programme registration is not required.