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Gendering and Sexualising Opium Consumption in Manchukuo, 1932–1945

Bibliographic Data

ID12349241
AuthorsMan Gao (0000-0002-9990-0249, Australian Catholic University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume48
Issue4
Pages689-706
Publication date2023-11-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAsian Studies Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1035-7823 • E-ISSN: 1467-8403
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10357823.2023.2279526
OpenAlexW4389037862
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited5

This article explores the sociocultural history of opium consumption and its popularisation through the beauty of female attendants in Manchukuo, which was a crucial part of the Japanese Empire and an important 'contact zone' of diverse cultures.It offers a glimpse into the opium-prostitution nexus by exploring the legal, commercial, social, and cultural dimensions of the gendered and sexualised practice of opium consumption, which reinforced a highly entangled triangulation of imperial consultants from Japan and Korea, Chinese opium shopowners, and consumers of multiple nationalities.As such, the article highlights how this subculture developed at a time of increasingly pervasive surveillance of sex workers as well as deeply asymmetrical power relations between imperial subjects and the Chinese locals, and along class and gender lines.In examining how female attendants promoted opium within illegal establishments, I argue that the gendered and sexualised consumption of opium reshaped the culture and economy of the substance's use and that this culture, its regulation, and imperialism damaged Manchukuo society.By doing so, the article reveals the subculture of gendered and sexualised opium consumption in Manchukuo and the Japanese Empire more broadly

Biology · China · Consumption (sociology · Empire · Nexus (standard · Opium · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Subculture (biology · Chinese history and philosophy · Gender Studies · Japanese History and Culture · Law

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Unique citing works1
Citations per year1
Citation span2026 - 2026 (1)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo

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