Spiritual opium and the spiritual opium war: A cultural history of arcade games and console games in 1990s China.

This article examines the origins and implications of the metaphor "spiritual opium" used in 1990s China to describe arcade and console video games, highlighting its deep historical and political roots tied to China’s experience with opium and colonialism. It analyzes how mainstream media framed video games as addictive and ideologically harmful, equating them with drug addiction to justify government-led crackdowns on arcades and mobilization campaigns targeting youth. The study situates this discourse within broader themes of nationalism, media-state relations, and cultural policy in postsocialist China, revealing how video games became a site of ideological contestation amid globalization and market reforms. By reconstructing this history through state newspapers and gaming magazines, the research fills a gap in Chinese gaming historiography and contributes to understanding the global dynamics of video game regulation and cultural identity.