coobybook Chapter 580 China's No.1 Anti-Drug Person
Chapter 580 China's No.1 Anti-Drug Person
The fight against drugs in China began in the Tang Dynasty.
Around 650 AD
After witnessing firsthand the tragedy of countless families both inside and outside the court being consumed by the addictive drug Wushi San, Sun Simiao called upon all enlightened people in the land to destroy the formula for Wushi San.
Ultimately, this "Medicine King" successfully used his authority in the medical field to completely erase the most crucial and effective formula of Wushi Powder from history.
The reason why this medical giant, who lived for 142 years during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, so vehemently hated the drug Five-Stone Powder was because he deeply understood that the proliferation of addictive drugs would destroy the foundation of Chinese civilization.
The birth of Chinese culture originated from the management of the Yellow River. In order to resist natural disasters, people had to organize themselves and maintain social order, which is the core demand of Chinese civilization.
The rampant use of Wushisan (a type of drug) has precisely eroded and destroyed this cultural foundation of ours.
The Five-Stone Powder controls people's minds, which may seem beneficial for rule, but in reality, the Savage can also use it to destroy order.
To get a dose of drugs, drug addicts would even sell their own flesh and blood.
They lose their rationality and their behavior becomes unpredictable. Conventional moral constraints and legal sanctions are completely ineffective.
This contradicts the ethical principles in our culture that maintain organizational relationships through etiquette and rules.
The corrupt ruling class of the late Qing Dynasty attempted to control the people with drugs, but ultimately suffered a backlash, bringing profound disaster to the people of this land.
Therefore, drug prohibition is also a core part of the new Chinese ideology.
Anyone who wants to loosen the red line on drug prohibition is a wolf in sheep's clothing seeking to destroy this land and seize profits.
[From the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, my country's chemical pioneers—the alchemists—refined minerals such as metals and stones to create elixirs in response to the nobles' desire for immortality.]
The earliest record of Wushi Powder can be traced back to the early Western Han Dynasty.
The Records of the Grand Historian recounts a story about a physician serving the ruler of Qi who concocted a powder called "Five-Stone Powder" to treat an illness, but ended up developing a carbuncle and dying.
The medical sage Zhang Zhongjing of the late Eastern Han Dynasty recorded the "Purple Stone Cold Food Powder Formula" in his book "Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Chamber," specifying that this medicine is made with five minerals as its core: stalactite, amethyst, white quartz, red ochre, and sulfur, and with medicinal materials such as saposhnikovia root and cinnamon twig as auxiliary ingredients.
The original purpose of Hanshisan (Cold Food Powder) had nothing to do with achieving immortality. Users claimed it was for treating illnesses and strengthening the body, but in reality, they used it as an aphrodisiac to satisfy their sexual desires.
In the chaotic late Han Dynasty, war raged on, bones lay exposed in the wilderness, and for miles, not a rooster crowed.
The collapse of the old order and the dire state of society plunged the Wei-Jin aristocratic class into a spiritual dilemma of life and death.
When Confucian ethics collapsed and metaphysics rose, scholars urgently needed a way to soothe their souls and transcend reality.
Against this backdrop, the renowned scholar He Yan rewrote the fate of Wushi Powder.
This metaphysician, described as having "beautiful features and a fair complexion," was physically weak due to his lustful nature. He unexpectedly discovered the aphrodisiac and stimulating effects of Five-Mineral Powder. He left behind the assertion that "taking Five-Mineral Powder not only cures illness but also brings a sense of mental clarity and enlightenment."
Unfortunately, He Yan was later implicated in the Gaoping Mausoleum Incident and was executed along with his entire clan as a member of Cao Shuang's faction.
[He died before he could experience the negative effects of the drug, leading the gentry to mistakenly believe that the Five-Stone Powder only had positive effects of stimulating energy and enhancing male virility.]
When taking Wushi San (a traditional Chinese medicine) became fashionable, it gained traction among the aristocratic class. The physical heat caused by heavy metal poisoning, coupled with the painful process of "wearing cold clothes, eating cold food, and lying in cold sleep" and rapid walking to dissipate heat after taking the medicine, was interpreted as a refined and elegant pursuit of the literati.
The discomfort of wearing loose robes due to sensitive, easily ulcerated skin became a fitting description of his "debonair" appearance.
Even when the drug takes effect and the person becomes delirious and babbles incoherently, it is regarded as profound and mysterious sayings that transcend worldly concerns.
[From this point on, Wushi Powder gradually moved beyond the realm of medicine and became a social calling card for the elite. It was considered impolite to entertain guests without using Wushi Powder; and a scholar who refused to take it would find it difficult to maintain his social standing.]
[Amidst the mental stress of the uncertainty of life and death, this drug, which can temporarily numb the mind, became their psychological placebo and also transformed into a symbol of status within aristocratic circles.]
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the high price of Wushi Powder was due to two main reasons: the cost of refining and purifying it, and the fact that many people had to risk their lives to obtain the optimal formula in order to avoid being poisoned by the heavy metals in the medicine.
By the Tang Dynasty, with advancements in metal smelting and refining techniques, and the accumulation of experience in finding the optimal formula for Wushi San (Five-Stone Powder), once expensive mineral medicines were no longer limited to the upper classes.
The threshold for using Five-Stone Powder gradually lowered, and minor officials, merchants, and powerful figures all followed suit, regarding it as a shortcut to upward social mobility. After it entered the marketplace, tragedies of people scattering their family fortunes to obtain the powder became commonplace.
This nationwide frenzy has eroded the foundations of our civilization. Ordinary people are selling their possessions to buy drugs, and addicts are resorting to theft and banditry to obtain them.
When morality and law are abandoned when the effects of drugs take hold, the social foundation upon which Chinese civilization depends for survival is being quietly eroded by this seemingly elegant drug.
The underlying logic of uniting to overcome disasters is deeply ingrained in the genes of Chinese civilization. From managing the Yellow River to resisting war, organization and order have always been the core demands for the continuation of our Chinese civilization.
The rampant use of Wushisan (a type of Chinese herbal medicine) precisely hit this crucial point.
Those controlled by drugs may be exploited by rulers or manipulated by ambitious individuals.
They lose their rationality, their behavior becomes uncontrollable, and conventional moral theories and legal sanctions have no effect on them.
Therefore, Sun Simiao, the "Medicine King," stepped forward and, using his authority as a leader, joined forces with insightful individuals in the Tang Dynasty to systematically eliminate the most crucial formula proportions of the Five-Stone Powder.
During centuries of chaos, the formulas accumulated at the cost of countless lives disappeared, and the cost of reproducing them was terrifyingly high, thus essentially cutting off the possibility of this drug spreading on a large scale.
This anti-drug campaign is a process of self-purification for Chinese civilization.
Sun Simiao deeply understood that only by destroying this tool of mind control could the foundation of society be protected, allowing civilization to continue through reason and order.
The realization of Sun Simiao's long-cherished wish to ban drugs reflects the spirit of enlightened people in that era, and this rational attitude contributed to the prosperity of the Zhenguang and Kaiyuan eras of the Tang Dynasty.
A thousand years later, the corrupt and reactionary class at the end of the Qing Dynasty disregarded human ethics and natural law, attempting to numb and control the people with drugs, bringing bloodshed and darkness to the land of China.
[The People's Republic of China's adherence to the red line against drugs is a safeguard of the core aspirations of civilization. When drugs attempt to destroy trust between people and undermine the organizational foundation of society, the sons and daughters of China must resolutely sever the root of drugs.]
This fight against drugs, which took place a thousand years ago, continues to serve as a warning to the world today.
Drugs have never changed their nature; they lure people with fleeting pleasure, ultimately destroying individual lives and the foundations of civilization.
"After Sun Simiao's death, his own disciples spent a very long time destroying the artifacts before they were completely destroyed."
"It seems the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove all loved this [look]."
"I remember reading a very short physical comic book when I was a kid, it was about Wushi San (a traditional Chinese medicine), but I've forgotten the details [crying][crying][crying]"
"Sun Simiao is the patriarch of Chinese medicine, his status is unshakeable [a sudden inspiration]"
"The fight against drugs is a mission ingrained in the bones of every Chinese person."
People who had just bought Wushi Powder to follow the trend were so frightened by the clear warnings on the screen about the dangers of using it that they quickly threw it away.
Luckily, I just bought it and haven't started using it yet, otherwise I would have ended up like the person in the video, with my skin ulcerated and disfigured.
After thinking about it again, he was really unwilling to give up, so he picked up the harmful Five-Stone Powder again.
No way! I usually just buy food, drinks, and toys, and that's fine, at least I have fun. But to spend a fortune on this awful thing is unacceptable! I need to find that damned swindler and make him pay me back!
Under the sky, an addict who had become addicted to Wushi Powder said: "I only knew that Wushi Powder could make me feel comfortable and healthy, and make me feel like an immortal. I never thought it would be so harmful to my body!"
What am I going to do? I can't change it anymore. Now I crave it as soon as I don't take a single puff!
Family members standing nearby: What can we do? We absolutely have to correct this habit of yours, otherwise do you really want to become a drug addict who does nothing but take drugs all day like the one on the sky?
Look at you now, so delirious, neither human nor ghost. All your friends and relatives are keeping their distance from you now. In your eyes, is the pleasure of taking this poison more important, or is your family and career more important?!
Looking at the listless, listless figures on the sky, all consumed by the Five-Stone Powder, Sun Simiao felt that the situation was now extremely urgent.
Fortunately, before Tianmu carried out this action, he had already explained the harm of Wushisan to the human body and given people a heads-up. Now, his colleagues and friends are also advising people to stop using Wushisan, which is gradually getting on the right track and becoming easier.
Those who hadn't even had a chance to take Wushi Powder or had only ingested a small amount, before I could even go to their homes to advise them, had already hurriedly thrown away this harmful drug.
Looking at the sky, he was emaciated, decadent, and still lying in bed, indulging in the ecstasy of consuming Wushi Powder. He even sold his wife and children to consume this harmful substance.
This society is not at all prosperous; it's more like a hell on earth that tempts people to depravity.
This is no medicine for curing diseases; it is clearly termites that are robbing the country dry. Any emperor who is not stupid would feel grief, indignation, and fear upon seeing this scene.
With their entire nation in such a state, what's the point of fighting wars or revitalizing the country? Clan officials, soldiers, and commoners have all collapsed, all indulging in this mind-numbing drug, Five Stone Powder, and they might even be affected themselves... They dared not think further, for the consequences were too terrible.
Now, before this harmful drug becomes widespread, an order was quickly issued to prohibit it: whether it is royalty or commoners, anyone found using it will be punished the same as the emperor, and all will be punished for the same crime. If a family member or friend is found to be hiding a drug user without reporting it, they will also be punished.
If any merchant selling this drug is found within this territory, they shall be immediately arrested and severely punished.