Opium Regulated

March 26, 1884, Ordinance No. 1 of 1884, "The Opium Ordinance". Under the 9th governor George Ferguson Bowen, the government of Hong Kong legalized opium; granting license for the preparations and sale of opium. The monopoly for the exclusive right - generally known as the 'opium farmer' went to the highest bidder, that can go as much as 205,000 silver dollars per year.

Several names surfaced during my research:
- Man Fook Company, was the opium farmer in 1897; the name came up in the minutes of the Legislative Council meeting om May 3rd of the same year.
- Fook Hing Company, exported opium to U.S. and Canada, in about the same time.
- Loo Aqui (盧亞貴), for a time he held the opium monopoly, operated gambling establishment and brothels; built a theatre in 1845; fund the building of Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road in 1847 and became a founder of the temple; the management of temple was placed under the Tung Wah Hospital in 1908.