Have you ever been stuck in Saigon traffic and wished that you were on comfy couch in Cho Lon, chilling with some Chinese guys 'chasing the dragon' instead? Yeah, probably not (but for those who answered yes, stay awesome. Just kidding, drugs are bad).
Well, 100 years ago, this would have been a realistic option. By 1914, opium was one of, if not the largest source of income for French colonial coffers in Indochina, constituting 37% of all revenues.
Following the Anglo-Chinese Wars (A.K.A the Opium Wars), many Chinese, including those in Vietnam, were addicted to the narcotic and opium dens, like the one pictured above, could be found throughout Cho Lon as recently as 1954 (if not later).
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The Story of Saigon’s Opium Refinery
