🌿 The First Hemp Kingdom: Ancient China and the Birth of Cannabis Culture

Cannabis and hemp didn’t start as villains. Long before prohibition, before “Reefer Madness,” before government propaganda, hemp was woven s— literally — into the fabric of civilization. And nowhere is this clearer than in ancient China, the birthplace of hemp culture.

Ancient China – Birth of Cannabis Culture

Hemp: A 10,000-Year Companion

Archaeologists trace hemp cultivation in China back over 10,000 years. The earliest fibers woven into rope and cloth weren’t cotton or wool — they were hemp. Long before China became the land of silk, it was the land of hemp. Farmers relied on it for durable clothing, ropes, and even early forms of paper.

Imagine: the first scrolls of wisdom, carried across centuries, written on hemp paper.

Shennong and the Medicine of the Gods

Around 2700 BCE, Chinese legend speaks of Shennong, the “Divine Farmer,” who catalogued the healing power of plants in his Materia Medica. Cannabis — má (麻) — was there.

According to the records, hemp seeds were valued for nourishment and balance. Other texts from later dynasties describe cannabis as medicine for pain relief, digestion, and even as an anesthetic in surgery.

In fact, Hua Tuo, a famous Chinese physician (2nd century CE), is said to have mixed cannabis with wine as the first known surgical anesthetic. That’s medical innovation far ahead of its time.

Hemp in Taoist Rituals

It wasn’t only industry and medicine. Taoist shamans used cannabis incense in rituals, believing it helped them connect with the spiritual world. Hemp was sacred — a bridge between heaven and earth.

Cannabis in China wasn’t taboo; it was respected, practical, and spiritual.

The Shadow of Prohibition

Fast forward thousands of years, and the same country that gave us the first hemp rope and the first hemp medicine now enforces some of the strictest cannabis laws in the world. Cannabis is illegal in China today — even research is restricted. Yet, ironically, China remains the largest producer of industrial hemp, exporting textiles, clothing, and CBD to global markets.

The land that once called hemp a “Divine Plant” is now torn between heritage and prohibition.

Reflection: What We Lost, What We Can Regain

• Why did humanity turn a healing, useful plant into a global outlaw?
• What wisdom lies buried in history, waiting to be rediscovered?

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