Talk:Opium den

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Shouldn't we be told about who ran the opium trade and the Opium War with China. The Sassoon family "Rothschilds of the East"and all? 75.33.41.89 (talk) 04:10, 23 January 2012 (UTC)Just Curious

missing info more recent history of opium dens

There needs to more info on the demise of opium dens and any info on current existence of any opium dens in the modern era. Do they still exists anywhere these days? --Cab88 (talk) 03:28, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

This seems rather backwards. Are you asking for the article to discuss the question of whether they exist in the absence of any sources? The article cannot say one way or the other without a source to back up the claim. ---RepublicanJacobite_{The'FortyFive'} 03:44, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

Here you go.   — C M B J   03:48, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

London section

I personally think this section of the article should be re-written in a formal, more objective way. Note: "although whether they themselves took up the "pipe" has remained undisclosed" could be said differently. In addition, both Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle are mentioned. Means Oscar Wilde could be mentioned too as he references Opium Den's in The Picture of Dorian Gray. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.156.161.200 (talk) 21:59, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

California opium den photography

This article features two photos from an era of stylized opium den photography without including much context. One of the external links [1] says the following: The photographer obviously had built some rapport with his subjects. Opium dens were dimly lit and so the photographer would have had to use flashpowder — newly invented in the late 1880s — to illuminate the scene. Some photographers of this period took photos of opium dens by barging in and taking a single flash photo before running back out. The result of such photos can be imagined… This series on the other hand gives us an idea of the socializing atmosphere that could be found in these places if the visitor was on good terms with the opium smokers.

However, in 'Contagious Divides: Epidemics and Race in San Francisco's Chinatown' , there is a more damning account: The techniques of observation and documentation of the illicit activity in the opium dens shifted from the textual to the visual with the use of new photographic technology to depict the dens during police raids. Isaiah West Taber and Company, famous for pictorial tourist photographs of San Francisco and the scenic West Coast, produced a series of images of the Chinatown opium dens in the early 1890s. In style and captions, they were more comparable to twentieth-century journalistic photographs than either tourist shots or the pictorialist art photographs of the period. Taber and other photographers used a magnesium flash and a dramatic viewpoint shot that provided the “you-are-there” quality of the images. Practical photographic flash was invented in the 1880s, and Taber quickly adapted the use of a flashlight or magnesium flash gun to produce dramatic interior shots. The caption writer concocted the dramatic, surprise entrance into the opium den and emphasized the heroic flashlight photographer who shot the pictures while a detective guarded the door. The textual cues demanded that the viewer ignore the substantial time needed to set up the camera, focus in semidarkness, and light the flash powder. Technically, the photographer’s overexposure of the foreground objects and the surprised expressions of the Chinese subjects emphasized the drama and speed of the shot.

The second photo [2] is actually titled 'Underground Opium Den' by T. E. Hecht, and is featured in that book (page 93 of my copy). It may be totally fine to use these photos, but I thought I'd share this trivia. Any thoughts? Wrycode (talk) 20:58, 21 October 2021 (UTC)

References