The article notes that Orwell’s father was an overseer of an opium farm in India. You might ask if it was just for medicines. Nope, the British Empire was also

The article notes that Orwell’s father was an overseer of an opium farm in India. You might ask if it was just for medicines. Nope, the British Empire was also in the drug business, and it fought two wars against China to keep the opium trade going. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars Setting aside the horrors and humiliations of colonialism (not to mention what came afterwards too), ultimately this is why Hong Kong and Shanghai are different from the rest of China. That has its effects on the technology industry even today.