From my understanding probably the most significant piece of history for someone wanting to understand relations between China and the west is that of the British experience here. When Britain originally came in contact with China there were plenty of things that Europeans wanted from the east (silk, tea, porcelain) but the Qing dynasty wasn't too interested in what the west had to offer. To be frank if both were completely foreign to me a pocket watch sounds a lot cooler than a tea pot, but that's just me. Either way the result was something similar to what we see today with the US trade deficit, in that the British treasury was being drained of it's precious metals. All of it was going to China to pay for tea and cups to drink it out of. Finally they hit upon the notion of being drug dealers. Britain's imperial prowess gradually forced the aging Qing dynasty to open to free trade and started shipping in opium grown on the cheap in India. In Chinese eyes free trade went hand in hand with the shame of society being forced into a drug habit.
When the commies came to power the issue was dealt with harshly. Even in today's China Marijuana can garner a death penalty. Someone once told me that Koreans come to China to buy good drugs, but for what it's worth drug use is at the very least not something that's bandied about in China.
For the longest time I've had terrible issues getting to sleep. For most people the idea of laying in bed for eight hours without sleeping is foreign but it can be a regular thing for me. The problem developed in earnest in Tallahassee, a town where doctors a loathe to write prescriptions. So for the longest time my existence was generally bleary eyed. Eventually someone prescribed me Ambien. Don't let the marketing fool you, Ambien is a potent drug. Unfortunately that's what I need. “Sleep aids” just don't do the trick. Once you've experienced going for over 70 hours without any significant sleep getting your hands on something that will FORCE you into a drooling slumber is reassuring like nothing else. And therein squats the toad. In this land of weed death penalties what are my odds of finding such a thing?
There are a few ways it could play out. A) totally illegal B) requires prescription C) requires easily attainable prescription D) there's something comparable or even better here which is not available at home. For some reason the information isn't readily available online so it's up to me to figure it out firsthand. Hopefully it's a success and my blog gets a zillion hits from similarly minded expatriate insomniacs. My first venture was disappointing. Search “pharmacy” on my phone, walk in and show them the translation of “sleeping medication” and the translation of a few different brand names. Here's what they gave me:
When the commies came to power the issue was dealt with harshly. Even in today's China Marijuana can garner a death penalty. Someone once told me that Koreans come to China to buy good drugs, but for what it's worth drug use is at the very least not something that's bandied about in China.
For the longest time I've had terrible issues getting to sleep. For most people the idea of laying in bed for eight hours without sleeping is foreign but it can be a regular thing for me. The problem developed in earnest in Tallahassee, a town where doctors a loathe to write prescriptions. So for the longest time my existence was generally bleary eyed. Eventually someone prescribed me Ambien. Don't let the marketing fool you, Ambien is a potent drug. Unfortunately that's what I need. “Sleep aids” just don't do the trick. Once you've experienced going for over 70 hours without any significant sleep getting your hands on something that will FORCE you into a drooling slumber is reassuring like nothing else. And therein squats the toad. In this land of weed death penalties what are my odds of finding such a thing?
There are a few ways it could play out. A) totally illegal B) requires prescription C) requires easily attainable prescription D) there's something comparable or even better here which is not available at home. For some reason the information isn't readily available online so it's up to me to figure it out firsthand. Hopefully it's a success and my blog gets a zillion hits from similarly minded expatriate insomniacs. My first venture was disappointing. Search “pharmacy” on my phone, walk in and show them the translation of “sleeping medication” and the translation of a few different brand names. Here's what they gave me:
My current routine is ambien+unisom+melatonin+valerian extract all in varying dosages to avoid getting used to any of them. At least I'm helping to balance the deficit (though something tells me opium is more profitable than melatonin).
RSS Feed