"White Merchandise" 3

     Japan's short lived control of opium trade in China and Manchuria ended with the conclusion of WWII.  However, although Japan did control much of the drug trade in Manchuria, they were not the only ones involved in opium trade.  The various Chinese criminal gangs and the bandits, the "hoonhoozy" were always involved in drugs.  The Chinese war lords were also very much involved.  In Manchuria, Chiang Tso Lin controlled the opium trade by and large.  He struck up a deal with the Japanese, mainly to keep the "hoonhoozy" in line.  But the Japanese double crossed him and had him assassinated.  His son Chiang Su Lin took over where his dad left off.  He had a somewhat uneven relationship with the Japanese, but still managed to control a big part of the opium trade in Manchuria before he too was killed.
     In the rest of China, opium growing and opium trade in general was controlled by various criminal gangs as well as war lords.  The powerful Green Gang had a big chunk of the opium trade, as did the Red Gang.  These criminal gangs were what are known today as Triads.  The Koumintang, the Chinese Nationalist Party, allied itself with the Green and Red Gangs and received financial support from them.  Of course, the Koumintang, led by Chiang Kai Shek, also received millions in currency as well as weapons from the United States!  The Chinese Communist Party, led by Mao Tse Tung, cultivated its own opium and sold it to support its revolutionary effort against the Nationalists!  So, both the Nationalists and the communists were involved in opium trade and their treasury was maintained by the profits from opium sales!
     After the end of WWII, when the Chinese Civil War escalated the corrupt and inept Nationalists were getting chased off China by Mao's communist forces.  As the Nationalists were getting chased off mainland China, Chiang Kai Shek and about two million Nationalists, both civilians and military, fled south and ended up on Taiwan.  Another element, mostly made up of fleeing Nationalist troops led by General Li Ma, fled in a southwesterly direction and crossed the border into Burma/Thailand region.  After regrouping, with U.S. support, the plan was to launch a two pronged invasion of mainland China from southwest with General Li's forces and from southeast (Taiwan) with Chiang Kai Shek's forces.  CIA managed to get General Li to launch a couple of half-hearted, very unsuccessful invasion attempts, while in Taiwan, Chiang Kai Shek was embroiled in a political battle and no invasion was ever launched.
     When it became obvious that no "two pronged" invasion was ever going to take place, CIA and the U.S. government gave up on the plan of re-conquest of China by Nationalist.  General Li, on the other hand, apparently never seriously had any plans of retaking China.  He was more interested in establishing himself in an isolated eastern part of Burma known as the Shan State and develop an opium empire.  And so he did.  The infamous "Golden Triangle" region that to this day grows huge amounts of opium and is controlled by an "Opium Army," got its start as the Chinese Nationalist Army members who retreated into that region to escape from Mao's communists! 
     In mainland China, despite extreme measures, opium trade still exists.  The punishment dealt by PRC to growers, dealers and users may seem extreme by our standards.  Anyone connected with the drug trade are simply shot after a quick trial and the family of the executed is presented with a bill from the government for the price of the bullet!  With such extreme measures, you would think there wouldn't be a drug problem in China.  But it exists, despite extreme measures that the government takes.  Money, obviously, trumps everything!
     The "white merchandise" or "bely tovar" is still cultivated and sold in Manchuria and Primorye.  It may not be grown in as large quantity as before nor sold with such impunity as it was sold in the old   days in Harbin, but it is still there.  If you mention "bely tovar" in Manchuria today, perhaps no one will understand what it means.  Just like the name uhl mao zeh for Russian Koreans, it is a name from the past, a name from another time, another world.