In 1883, the German Prime Minister Bismarck suffered from gout, indigestion, insomnia, migraine, and various diseases complicated by suspicion and delusion. For many years, he was addicted to smoking and alcohol, which had already hollowed out his body.
The doctor Ernst Schwenninger from Bavaria treated Bismarck. In order to improve Bismarck's physical condition, the doctor strictly regulated his diet and restricted only four pipes of cigarettes a day.
Bismarck was very cooperative at first, but couldn't hold on after a few days. He bought the largest pipe on the market at the time: the stem was 91 centimeters long, and the porcelain bucket was so huge that it played a doctor's order. If the doctor is not present, he will even secretly draw two more fights.
Bismarck, known as the iron-blooded prime minister, defeated Austria next to him and unified Germany through war. He believed in the truth all his life in the cannon. But in the face of smoking addiction, he is as childish as a 122 kg child.
Except for Bismarck, Churchill, Kennedy, Mao Zedong and other politicians are all heavy smokers. Even outstanding leaders with high-mindedness cannot resist the temptation of tobacco.
Bismarck
If we want to go back, this addictive tobacco originated in America.
At first, tobacco was only circulated in Indian tribes on a small scale, and it was eaten by chewing. The Indians believe that tobacco can drive away evil spirits and cure diseases, and has the meaning of "good luck". When there is a conflict between the tribes, they will invite the opposing patriarch to negotiate and hand over the "peace cigarette" to show friendship.
In 1542, Columbus went to India to look for the gold and spices he dreamed of, but he went to the American continent in a daze. As soon as they got ashore, the expedition was stunned by the local people's "clouds and fog", and then they found that they had run in the wrong place.
Although I can’t read it, I’m curious. Thinking about it, they couldn't go back empty-handed. They pulled the tobacco on the boat and brought it back to Europe for research.
There were many sailors in the expedition. They learned to chew like the Indians and were pleasantly surprised to find that tobacco could relieve the fatigue of long-distance voyages. For a while, tobacco spread among the working people.
In 1560, the French ambassador to Portugal dedicated tobacco to the King of France. Unknown to be accidental, or indeed miraculous, tobacco actually cured the queen’s headaches for many years, which caused the French nobility to consume tobacco. wave.
Since then, with the advent of the global expansion of capitalism, the tobacco that sailors chewed under the drive of curiosity at the beginning has been circulated across the ocean to all corners of the world.
烟入天朝
In 1582, 利玛窦, who came to China, was refreshed in three views. He found that the envoys from all directions were carrying some gadgets in exchange for a huge gift from the Ming Dynasty. The naive missionaries have gained insight, and there is such a good business!
The reigning emperor at this time is Emperor Wanli, the Ming Shenzong who has given himself 38 years of leave. With his profound knowledge, Ricci quickly impressed the Emperor Wanli, and even made an official job. The "old friends of the Chinese people" earn a lot of money and make friends with celebrities every day.
In 1610, Matteo Ricci died of an illness in Beijing. Emperor Wanli personally gave him to be buried in the fence of Tenggong in Erligou outside Pingze Gate. A few years later, another foreign missionary compiled and translated the diary that Matteo Ricci wrote during his stay in China into a book called "The History of the Christian Expedition in China". The book introduced the customs of China. It is said that Mendes When Dove saw it, he praised China as a paradise on earth.
But the paradise on earth is just its appearance. In fact, the rule of the Ming Dynasty is already like a castle in the sky, crumbling.
Just when Matteo Ricci entered China, the Ming Dynasty had a strict external blockade, and it was difficult to enter except for envoys. However, where the empire’s splendor could not shine, ocean-going trade ships were quietly approaching, hoping to weave China into the global trade network.
The era of great navigation has thus begun, and the two civilizations have ushered in a moment of crossover.
The Ming Dynasty once opened several ports briefly, and Zhangzhou, Fujian was one of them. The ocean-going ship carried sailors and slaves, and brought the tobacco discovered by Columbus in the Americas into China. Over the next 100 years, tobacco took Fujian, Liaodong, Xinjiang, and Yunnan as the main importers, and took root and sprouted in China.
Imported from the West, localization soon completed.
Tobacco is regarded as a flame of hell in Christianity and Islam, but in China it has some literary-sounding names: acacia, golden silk smoke, tambal rice.
Because of the narcotic effect after smoking, it also has a more vivid name: dry wine.
"Huiyan of Materia Medica" records: "This medicine is very pungent. It can be burned and smoked into the throat. It can protect against frost and dew from the cold of wind and rain. Killing malnutrition, women can eat this to eliminate the disease and ruffles."
According to the "Lushu" record, tobacco "can make people drunk, also relieve miasma, pound juice Poisonous head lice".
Tobacco has the effect of refreshing and relieving fatigue, which quickly drew traffickers, pawns, and wealthy merchants. Businessmen and immigrants, soldiers and sailors, poets and prostitutes all act as messengers of believers in the material use of tobacco and the spread of social meaning.
However, the spread of tobacco in China has experienced ups and downs.
During the reign of Chongzhen, the emperor issued a "smoking ban" twice, one of which was named the king of Yan when Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, was named the King of Yan when he was young.
In the era when the breeze was illiterate, a taboo was committed.
Tobacco encountered the fiercest resistance, mainly from the scholar-official class. Because tobacco provokes people from all walks of life to smoke, all differences in identity, etiquette, and gender have disappeared, making the Confucian scholars who believe in the three principles and five constants and respectful and orderly intolerable.
Tobacco was able to eliminate stereotypes and flow from homeless people to princes and nobles in the Qing Dynasty.
In 1644, the Manchu and Qing dynasties entered the customs.
The Liaodong Peninsula is the main entrance for tobacco transmission, and the Manchu and Qing dynasties once settled here. In addition, they often lived on nomadic hunting, so the nobles did not strictly observe the rules of etiquette like Confucian officials. Long before entering the customs, many nobles had a soft spot for tobacco.
The people smoked all day, and the emperor was also very upset. He even promulgated a harsh criminal law to prevent tobacco consumption. "In the Forbidden City and in the warehouses, temples and other places, the civil and military officials who smoked were dismissed from their posts, and the people under his banner called two people. A month, one hundred whips. The people blame forty boards and flow three thousand miles.”
is the most stringent tobacco control management regulation in history.
But with the gradual decline of the Manchu Empire, the "tobacco control order" eventually became a dead letter. Civilians began to plant them widely, and "seven out of ten tobacco growers and two out of ten rice growers" appeared in many places.
With the gradual expansion of consumer groups, tobacco has gradually developed into a mature trade, weaving NuoDa China into the sales network.
During the Qing Dynasty, most of the tobacco trade was controlled by the big business gangs, among which there were many smashing Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants. They firmly control the production and circulation of tobacco, and infiltrate different prices of tobacco into all sectors of society.
In the main places where the rich and banner people gather, there are specialty stores that provide high-quality tobacco; the poor smoke cheap tobacco in the market. Smart business people even provide cigarette rental services in the market so that consumers can smoke on the spot-the ancestors have been playing a retail, sharing, and sinking business hundreds of years ago.
Tobacco also constitutes an important source of government revenue.
Beixinguan, as a tobacco circulation hub in Fujian and Jiangxi, can circulate 180 tons of tobacco in the two provinces in a year, and tax revenue of more than 50,000 silver, accounting for nearly 30% of the annual tax. 1764, Because of the bad tobacco harvest in Fujian, the trade tax on Beixinguan has dropped significantly.
Under the impetus of merchants, tobacco flows through layers and enters various regions. Since then, Kyushu is full of fireworks, with great men and women, no one is not addicted.
In 1911, the 1911 Revolution broke out. Although thousands of years of feudal dynasty rule ended, China at this time was still oppressed by Western powers. The mission of national independence is still there. In order to find a new way to govern the world, generations of people have started a long exploration.
工业救国
In the early 20th century, China was in a treacherous situation.
Huge business opportunities are often born in chaos.
James Buchanan Duke is the helm of British American Tobacco. It is said that he is energetic and talented in business. He was crowned the king of tobacco manufacturing at the age of 30 and acquired more than 250 companies in his life. Home is a well-deserved business giant.
Duke took the lead in using machines to produce cigarettes, using advanced production methods to make a lot of money, and then using advertising wars to complete market education; in the face of competition, they used price wars The opponent was caught off guard.
In 1889, Duke shook hands with his opponents, established a joint venture British American Tobacco, and became the helm.
In 1902, British American Tobacco entered the Chinese Nuggets.
The giants came to China and chose Shanghai as their main position. At that time, Shanghai was an important hub connecting the east and the west.
Different social customs, lifestyles, and social cognitions penetrate and collide with each other here. Foreign capital, private enterprises, governments, concessions, gangs, and layers of power are intertwined, and every day is staged a tragicomedy intertwined with fantasy and reality.
Shili Yangchang is both a gold-selling cave and a gold-digging land.
Relying on the advantages of technology, capital, marketing, etc., British American Tobacco entered China smoothly and quickly took over 50% of the market.
However, at the time when Chinese national sentiment was fiercely high, Chinese-owned tobacco brands also sprung up like mushrooms. The outstanding one was the Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company established by the Jane Brothers.
When the country is in peril, saving the nation and setting up businesses is the same goal.
In 1905, Nanyang Brothers Tobacco was born in an old factory in Hong Kong. After ten years of dismal operation, it was on the verge of bankruptcy.
At that time, British American Tobacco had the absolute right to speak, and it made nearly 100 million yuan in profits every year in China. They agreed with many tobacco dealers that they could not sell other goods. In Nanjing, Zhenjiang, and Suzhou, British American Tobacco controls almost nine out of ten cigarette stalls.
The development of Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company was frustrated. British American Tobacco Company seized the opportunity. The two sides conducted three rounds of judgments, and British American Tobacco Company wanted to acquire it.
During that period, the Jane brothers were depressed every day, and in their correspondence with each other, they discussed several times about being acquired by "Empty Mountain". "Kongshan" is the cut of the Jane brothers, referring to "British American Tobacco." Kuangshan means no people, which means ghosts.
But the Jane brothers firmly believe that Chinese people should smoke Chinese cigarettes. If they are acquired by foreign capital, it is difficult for the nation to have any hope of revitalization. This was also the general mentality of the national capital industry and commerce at that time. They used their weak strength to deal with and contend with the giants.
In 1919, the Nanyang Brothers expanded the company through reorganization and launched a number of brands such as "Spaceship", "Earth", and "Sanxi", which opened up a stance with British American Tobacco.
British American Tobacco responded quickly and launched "White Knife" and "Dashan" brands to combat Nanyang Brothers Tobacco. Duke also used his usual methods to raise the banner of price wars and advertising wars.
Foreign giants do everything they want, even slandering Nanyang Brothers Tobacco as a Japanese-funded enterprise. At that time, Chinese people experienced the Sino-Japanese War of Jiawu, and the pain was still there. Under the fierce national sentiment, Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company is in danger. Although it is something out of nothing, Nanyang Brothers Tobacco has to pay attention to it. They personallyWrite an open letter to the Guangzhou Trade Union, reprimanding the foreign brands' wolf ambitions. Fortunately, the China National Products Maintenance Conference came forward to clarify, and many companies and schools supported it, and Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company was saved from catastrophe.
In addition, British American Tobacco also encourages distributors to stock up on Nanyang Brothers Tobacco's goods and sell them when they become moldy, so as to kill Nanyang Brothers Tobacco... There are so many acts to mention.
During the confrontation, the Jane brothers tried every means to fight back.
The country was killed and playing patriotic was the usual method of Chinese brands at that time. The Jane brothers slogans "Chinese smoke Chinese cigarettes" and even launched brands such as "Patriotic", "Great Wall", and "Dalianzhu" to fight back against British and American tobacco companies.
In addition, charity is another important strategy. In 1931, during the floods in Jiangsu and Anhui, Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company organized an independent rescue agency to go to Jiuyuan; in addition, for every box of cigarettes sold, it donated 3-8 yuan to build schools in the disaster areas.
Use charity activities to build brand influence, Nanyang Brothers' move is very "favorable". Today, there are many imitators.
In 1933, Mao Dun, a well-known literary world, published his novel "Midnight".
Four years after the publication of "Midnight", Nanyang Brothers finally fell into the hands of the four major families under the joint strangulation of Chinese and foreign capital and the government.
The 30-year history of struggle between Nanyang Brothers Tobacco and British American Tobacco has come to an end. And the dream of national capitalists to save the country through industry has also been completely annihilated in continuous artillery with the full-scale outbreak of the War of Resistance.
Chinese own smoke
In 1949, New China was born. The century-old history of humiliation was overturned, and the country ushered in a new moment of development.
However, in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the new Chinese regime still needed to be consolidated, and foreign capital, private enterprises, and private enterprises were in a historical transition period. The development of the cigarette industry is also not smooth.
Mao Zedong once complained to Yang Sanli, Minister of Food Industry, that the quality of Chinese cigarettes is not good enough. “The quality of cigarettes made now is worse than that of foreigners. You have to take some good cigarettes to entertain foreign guests, but there is no Chinese character on both sides of the cigarettes. They are all in foreign languages, which is very bad. If you want a better cigarette, you don’t need a foreign word."
Yang Sanli, who returned to Shanghai, asked Song Yu to give the chairman a few "East China Public Flying Horse". I asked the chairman to try a cigarette. The chairman was very satisfied. Chairman's instruction: All party members should not use foreign and foreign-owned cigarettes, and it is best not to smoke private cigarettes.
"The state-owned tobacco factory is the people's tobacco factory, and the people should smoke their own cigarettes." A transformation of foreign-funded and private cigarette factories kicked off.
In 1951, the "Regulations on Monopoly Business (Draft)" and the "Organization Regulations for Monopoly Companies at All Levels" were promulgated, and "cigarette paper" was also included in the scope of national monopoly products. So far, state-owned tobacco has become the mainstream trend.
Asking what the world is like
Tobacco is an invisible killer.
When tobacco was introduced to China, people once regarded it as a fairy medicine. At that time, the carriages and horses were very slow, and the brothel was not called brothel, it was called "Huayanjian". Dissolute writers often ran to the flower-smoke room and took out tobacco to share with the young ladies. Because of its special intoxicating effect, the simple ancients once thought it had some indescribable effect.
During the Qing Dynasty, a poet named Li E died in Hangzhou. The cause of death is unknown. However, he enthusiastically praised tobacco during his lifetime, and until a year before his death, he was still sad because of lung disease and unable to continue smoking.
At that time, although Chinese medicine inferred that smoking was related to disease, it was only a vague guess and it was difficult to prove it. Some "health preservation" manuals on the market tell people to control tobacco consumption.
The real harm of tobacco was only clearly recognized in the 1950s and 1960s.
At that time, there were medical literatures on tobacco and cancerConnect. Although tobacco has a refreshing effect, smoking can obtain a certain level of spiritual satisfaction, but the various substances produced during the burning process of tobacco are enough to cause cancer.
As of today, the number of smokers in the world has exceeded one billion, and the number of smokers in China accounts for one-third of them. There are more than one million deaths caused by smoking in China every year.
People do not hesitate to ignite a passionate fire, and then flood in like moths to the fire.
As crops introduced to China at the same time, corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes have all had a substantial impact on the population of China; but tobacco has become an exception. As an exception, tobacco has established influence no less than food crops.
In the development process, cigarettes have become an important culture.
In 1936, Xu Zhimo, who returned from studying abroad, wrote an article "Smoking and Culture" and published it in the newspaper. He recalled the salons surrounded by the smoke of Oxford and Cambridge, and believed that such an atmosphere had nurtured a large number of great politicians, artists, scholars and poets. He also advocated that Chinese universities should introduce a little "smoke doctrine".
At this time, ordinary citizens still mainly smoked cigarettes with pipes. There are not many people who smoke cigarettes like Xu Zhimo. The new smoking method represents the trendy thinking to some extent. Therefore, even if tobacco has completed the trespass, it can still separate different groups of people.
After cigarettes have been popularized, everyone can buy them and smoke them indiscriminately, a new set of consumerism logic has appeared in people's minds-"Mixed is not as good as people, smoked Hardman", It is a joking word, but also the separation of groups created by consumerism.
In addition, tobacco also acts as a social lubricant, which has been the case in all ages.
In daily life, exchanging cigarettes and smoking together has become an important way for men to maintain social relations. For a long time, cigarettes were a must-have for "going through the back door". To this day, in the thinking of some traditional Chinese people, there is still nothing that can't be solved by one cigarette. If there is, then two.
And the wave of female smoking also emerged from the Western world.
In the 1960s, the mighty women's liberation movement in the United States rose up, and women shouted for their rights. In order to reflect their equal status with men, they regard cigarettes as a symbol of the "torch of freedom".
Punk godmother Patty Smith used the photo of her cigarette in her hand as the album cover; Simon Beauvais, who wrote "Second Sex", swallows clouds and fog with Sartre all day; the founder of Chanel While holding a cigarette, tell people what fashion is.
However, the torch symbolizing freedom has been ignited and ignited, and the feminist movement has so far failed to completely break the gender barrier.
Cigarettes have now extended the meaning of class, gender, identity, and social interaction. In addition to their unique addiction, they have surpassed ordinary crops. So when tobacco was deconstructed by modern medicine and revealed the devil's face, people still flock to it.
Because of its wide audience, a brilliant business empire has formed behind the tobacco trade.
Currently, my country's tobacco profits and taxes have exceeded one trillion yuan. Looking at the performance list of China National Tobacco Corporation, its profits and taxes are equivalent to the total profits of the four major banks plus Ali, Tencent, and Baidu. In 2018, China's tobacco profits and taxes accounted for one-eighteenth of the national fiscal revenue.
Up to now, no country has compulsory comprehensive smoking control; in history, most of the laws to quit smoking have been cuts and water cuts, which are difficult to achieve.
Behind the flashing sparks, there is an intricate cake of interests.
The 500-year history of tobacco dissemination is a history of global trade and circulation, and tobacco is one of the most extensive and effective means of mining.
History ups and downs, people in different eras, what kind of fortune and misfortune have people in different eras, now it is mostly unknown, But what is certain is that tobacco once brought spiritual joy to some people, even for a moment.
Some people say that the drug trade prevailed in an era when hungry minds replaced hungry belly. But for five hundred years, snuff, hookah, pipes, cigarettes, and e-cigarettes have been constantly changing, and the total wealth of society has expanded dramatically. So far, people have not been able to break the shackles of nicotine on their bodies.
A little bit of sparks, clearly disappearing, this is the daily life of nearly 1 billion smokers around the world.
