After the revolution of 1911, China's new Republican government had proved corrupt and its opium suppression campaign had faltered.

Between 1911 and 1915, Japanese traders had smuggled major supplies of morphine and heroin into China.

China's poppy cultivation had revived, morphine and heroin pills appeared as substitutes for smoking opium, and the new Republic's cabinet had been discovered taking a bribe from an opium syndicate.

Nonetheless, in January 1919, the Republic burns the last chest of Indian opium at a public ritual before invited guests at Shanghai.

After more than 300 years, the India-China opium trade has ended.