A risky stimulant thrives in China’s capital of chewing

BETEL NUTS assail the nostrils before they thrill the tongue. At a shop in Xiangtan, a city in the central province of Hunan, they are sold in a dried form—dark and wrinkled in blue-and-white porcelain bowls, with flavourings of spice, mint, orange and cinnamon oil. They sell for a few yuan apiece (under $1). A local song celebrates their ability to induce a bit of a buzz: “The more you chew the betel nut, the livelier you’ll feel...Spit one out and pop another in.” People in Xiangtan exchange them in greeting. From teenagers to elderly mah-jong players, the city’s residents chomp furiously to get their fix of the nut’s main stimulant, arecoline.