Showing Cutting Balls & Scooping Out Piths 1915

Black and white photograph showing men processing opium balls in an opium factory overseen by a British marine, Hong Kong, China. This picture is part of a series on opium production in Hong Kong This photograph shows men separating the piths and skins of opium balls at a government monopoly factory. This photograph was taken in 1915, towards the end of the opium trade. The opium trade between Britain and China with was the result of two wars (1839-42 and 1856-60), and had a detrimental impact on the people of China where the drug was sold, and the people of India, where the drug was farmed.