Public Indignation of the Hunan People at
Zhangjingyao’s Smuggling of Opium Seeds
(December 31,1919)204
The case was recounted in our earlier report that Zhang Jingyao, the military governor of Hunan, in collusion with Zhang Zongchang,205 had illegally shipped from
Fengtian a large quantity of poppy seeds, which were discovered and detained at the
Zhanyutao station near Wuchang. It is known that the Hunanese residing in Beijing are
enraged by this matter, and the Association of Hunan Students Residing in Beijing206
has already dispatched three telegrams, one to Wang Zhanyuan, one to the inspector
of the Jianghan Tax Office, and one to the Hunan Anti-Opium Society.207 The Hunan
petition delegates who went to Beijing have also sent three telegrams: (1) To Hubei
Military Governor Wang: Hunan Governor Zhang Jingyao’s smuggling of opium seeds,
fortunately, has been uncovered. You are earnestly requested to pursue this rigorously
and not to allow him to get away with it. Otherwise, if evildoing is indulged and the law
subverted, Your Excellency cannot but be held responsible. Respectfully, the Hunan
Petition Delegation. (2) To the Wuhan Student Association, care of Mr. Yi Lirong,208
Mingde University, Dazhi Gate, Hankou: Fortunately, you gentlemen have discovered
the poppy seeds shipped secretly by Zhang Jingyao. Please guard them with your lives
and do not let him get away with this. As your fellow Hunanese, we pledge to back you
up. Respectfully, the Hunan Petition Delegation. (3) To the Changsha Anti-Opium
Society: There are forty-five sacks of
opium seeds at the Zhanyutao station in Wuchang, which were about to be shipped
into Hunan but have been detained. Please send an investigation team to Hubei to
examine them and administer justice. Respectfully, the Hunan Petition Delegation. Mr.
Yi, representative from Hankou, arrived in Beijing on the thirtieth and immediately
204 For background information regarding the Shuikoushan lead and zinc mines, and more generally
on the economic and political foundations of Zhang Jingyao’s rule, see Angus McDonald, The Urban
Origins of Rural Revolution (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978), especially pp. 34–35 and
188–89.
205 In the Mao Zedong ji, this document is dated January 6, 1920, the day it was published in the
Shenbao (Shanghai Daily News). According to the Wengao, the correct date of composition is as shown
here, and the dispatch was distributed on January 2, 1920.
206 Zhang Zongchang (1881–1932), zi Xiaokun, from Shandong Province, was at this time a commander in the Beiyang Army. He and members of his forces escorted Zhang Jingyao’s opium shipments
from Fengtian to Wuchang.
207 This was an association in support of ousting Zhang Jingyao formed in November 1919 by Hunan
students resident in Beijing.
208 This Society was formed on November 18, 1919, in Changsha by the Hunan Christian Association
(Hunan jidujiao gegonghui) and aimed to “assist the government in the prohibition of opium.”

reported this to the International Anti-Opium Society.209 On the thirty-first, he went
to call on Premier Jin,210 and was received by his secretary, Wang.211 He related the
story of the discovery of the poppy seeds, and asked if the government had received the
telegrams from Governor Wang and from the Wuhan Student Association. Secretary
Wang replied: The telegrams may possibly have arrived, but I have not yet seen them.
I would be glad to let the premier know the purpose of your visit. Because the premier
is very busy at the turn of the year, he is unable to receive you in person. In the
meantime, representatives of the students residing in Beijing, Yi Xiangyang, Li Shi,
and Miss Yang Rongzhen, also came to see Mr. Jin. In addition, Hunan citizens residing
in Beijing Peng Huang and Zhang Boling also went to the Cabinet on the same matter.
In short, Hunanese residing in Beijing are greatly concerned at this incident.
There follows a copy of the statement submitted by the Hunanese residing in Beijing:
We sincerely request that the military governor, who is violating the prohibition
and is smuggling opium, be removed from office and punished, so that the nation’s
laws may be observed fully and the lives of the people may be saved. Ever since his
arrival in Hunan, Hunan Governor Zhang Jingyao has ignored the will of the people,
and his evil actions of all kinds are too numerous to relate. The one that will have
the most pernicious effects is opium. From the day of his arrival in Hunan, the ban
on opium has been widely ignored. The number of opium-smokers, among both the
gentry and the common people, has increased greatly. No one knows what quantity of
opium and poppy seeds has been shipped into Hunan from other parts of the country.
Governor Zhang has encouraged the people to grow opium. He summoned the xian
military commanders, distributed the seeds to them, and ordered that they be planted.
In the single xian of Changsha, as many as 40,000 packets of seeds were handed out.
The people of Hunan have been puzzled as to the means by which such large quantities
of seeds have been smuggled in under so strict a ban on opium, but had long sought
in vain to obtain evidence of this traffic. On December 24, a large amount of poppy
seeds was discovered at the Zhanyutao station in Wuchang. There were 45 gunny sacks
weighing about 200 jin each. The sacks were marked: Dis
patched from Fengtian to the general command headquarters of the Second Route
Army of Hunan for inspection and receipt. The station attendant You Yong212 reported
this information. He wrote an emotional letter of accusation; the Wuhan Student Association and Hunan students residing in Hubei took photographs and kept some of
the seeds as evidence, and also informed the Cabinet and notified the whole nation of
209 At this time Yi Lirong was living in Hankou at Mingde University and was working as liaison
officer in Hubei for the Hunan Petition Delegation. For more details on Yi Lirong, see the note to Mao’s
response to a letter from him dated November 1920.
210 This organization was formed in Shanghai on January 17, 1919.
211 Jin Yunpeng (1876–1951), zi Yiqing, from Shandong Province, graduate of the Beiyang Military
College, former Beiyang Army commander and governor of Shandong, was at this time premier of the
Beijing Government.
212 I.e., Wang Lei.

the case. For many days in succession, the Beijing and Wuhan newspapers have given
it full coverage. This is a case of openly defying the national prohibition and flying in
the face of world condemnation, smuggling the poisonous stuff and bringing disaster
to the whole of Hunan. Having learned of this, the Hunan people are filled with rage.
In a matter that affects international relations as well as a major national prohibition,
we respectfully urge the Cabinet to petition the president without delay to announce
publicly that Hunan Governor Zhang Jingyao is to be dismissed from office and handed
over to the courts to be punished according to law, so that the nation’s laws are fully
observed and the people of Hunan may be saved. We urgently await your instructions.
Respectfully submitted to the premier.
Lou Shaokai, Peng Huang, Xiao Ba, Mao Zedong, Chen Shaoxiu
Hunan citizens residing in Beijing:
Ouyang Jiaoru, Luo Zonghan, Xiong Guangchu, Wu Junchen, Chen Wen’ne, Zhang
Boling, Wang Renda,213 Peng Xianze, Liu Mingyan214
December 31,1919
(People’s News Agency dispatch no. 10, January 2,1920)
213 On You Yong, see the note to the text dated January 4, 1920.
214 Wang Renda, a Hunanese, was one of the youths who went to France on the work-study program.
He joined the Socialist Youth Corps in 1922, and the Chinese Communist Party in 1924.