An anti-smoking hero who open his eyes to see the world
Overview
Chinese Name: 林则徐
English Name: Lin Zexu
Other Names: Lin Yuanfu 林元抚, Lin Wenzhong 林文忠
Born: August 30, 1785
Died: Novermber 22, 1850
Achievements:
Anti-smoking in Guangdong 广东禁烟
Suppression of “swordsmen” in Shaanxi 在陕西镇压“刀客”
Rectification of mining administration in Yunnan 云南整顿矿政
Build irrigation works 兴修水利
Main Works:
Compile “Sizhou Zhi 四洲志” and “Hua Shi Yi Yan 华事夷言” 主持编译《四洲志》《华事夷言》
Brief Biography of Lin Zexu
Lin Zexu 林则徐 was a statesman, writer, thinker, and national hero in the late Qing Dynasty 清朝. He traversed places all his life and made outstanding achievements in governance.
Although he fought against western invasion in Guangdong 广东 and Guangxi 广西, he held an open attitude towards western culture, science and technology, and trade. He advocated learning from its advantages and using them. The SiZhou Zhi 四洲志 compiled by him and the Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms 海国图志 compiled by Wei Yuan 魏源 have inspired the Westernization Movement 洋务运动 in the late Qing Dynasty and the Meiji Restoration 明治维新 in Japan.
Lin Zexu (August 30, 1785 – November 22, 1850), also known as Yuan fu 元抚. His courtesy name is Shaomu 少穆 and Shilin 石鳞, later known as the old man of Qicun village 俟村老人, the old man of Qicun village 俟村退叟, the old man of seventy-two peaks 七十二峰退叟, the old man of Pingquan 瓶泉居士, and the scattered people of Lishe 栎社散人. Lin Zexu was born in Houguan County 侯官县, Fujian Province 福建省.
Lin Zexu 林则徐 was a JINSHI (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) 进士 in the 16th year of Jiaqing 嘉庆 (1811). He was an official of Hanlin 翰林, Jiangsu 江苏 governor, Donghe 东河governor, Jiangsu governor, and Huguang 湖广 governor.
In the 19th year of Daoguang 道光 (1839), Lin Zexu served as an imperial envoy to Guangdong 广东 to ban smoking. He sent people to investigate openly and secretly, which forced foreign opium merchants to hand over opium, and destroyed the confiscated opium in Humen 虎门. The incident was considered the fuse of the first Opium War 第一次鸦片战争. Shortly after the outbreak of the war, Lin Zexu was dismissed and sent to Xinjiang 新疆 to guard the border.
In the 25th year of Daoguang 道光 (1845), he was reappointed and served successively as governor of Shaanxi 陕西 and Gansu 甘肃, governor of Shaanxi, governor of Yunnan 云南 and Guizhou 贵州.
In the 30th year of Daoguang (1850), Lin Zexu died of illness in Puning 普宁, Chaozhou 潮州, on the way to suppress the worship of God. He was given the title of “Wen Zhong 文忠”. Works such as Lin Wenzhong’s political letter 林文忠公证书 passed down.
Personal Life and Major Contributions
A poor childhood
Lin Zexu 林则徐 was born on July 26, the fiftieth year of Emperor Qianlong 乾隆’s reign (August 30, 1785) in the rented house of Lin’s north courtyard, Fujian county (now Fuzhou, Fujian 福建省). When Lin Zexu was born, the Lin family was in the middle of nowhere and had a lot of debts. Although Lin Binri 林宾日 was a private school teacher, most of the money was used to pay off debts. Lin Zexu did not have to help the family, but every day before he went to school, he would take his mother and sister’s handicrafts to the shop for a consignment sale.
The stimulation of poor family background and living conditions made Lin Zexu precocious compared with other children. He sympathized with his hard-working mother and tried his best to help her. This quality and style made him have great concern and sympathy for the life of the lower class after he became an official.
Ordered to ban smoking
The Year of Daoguang 道光 was a period of rapid development of western capitalism. In order to open up the Chinese market, the British government, which is at the forefront, supports and connives with the British Opium traders to smuggle opium into the Chinese mainland by means of smuggling and tax evasion. After Emperor Daoguang ascended the throne, a large amount of silver flowed out of China. The physical and mental health of the people, the interests of the working people, and even the rule of the Qing Dynasty 清朝 were threatened. Therefore, Emperor Daoguang decided to ban opium.
On November 23, the 18th year of Daoguang (1838), Lin Zexu was ordered to go to Guangzhou 广州. He set out from Beijing and arrived in Guangzhou on the 25th of the first month of the following year (1839) after a two-month-long journey. In the face of the actual situation of rampant smuggling of opium by opium dealers along the coast of Guangdong, Lin Zexu realized that it was not enough to ban opium simply by prohibiting smoking. To fundamentally solve the problem, we must focus on curbing the import of opium and banning smuggling.
During the period of banning opium, Lin Zexu mainly did the following three jobs:
First, he investigated the opium smuggling and trade situation and took effective measures such as destroying all the Opium seized and presiding over the destructed opium in Humen 虎门.
Second, he organized talents from all walks of life to collect and translate books and newspapers from western countries to understand the political, military, legal, economic, cultural, historical, geographical, and other aspects of the capitalist world, which open a precedent for modern China to learn advanced western science, technology, and cultural knowledge.
Third, he actively stepped up war preparedness, rectified and strengthened coastal defense forces, set up additional artillery bases, trained naval divisions, recruited water soldiers, and called on the people to resist foreign aggression. All in all, he made all necessary war preparations to resolutely attack the British forces that come to provoke us.
Open his eyes to see the world
After Lin Zexu went to Guangzhou 广州 to preside over the ban on smoking, he realized that he was poor in western knowledge and the Chinese people were ignorant of the world outside the dynasty. He was eager to change the situation that “the coastal civil and military officials did not know the feelings of the foreigners, and were shocked by the English name, but did not know the origin”. Therefore, he began to consciously and purposefully collect foreign newspapers and books for translation in order to obtain valuable information and deepen the understanding of the imperial court Chinese people’s understanding of “the west”.
By analyzing the political, legal, military, economic, and cultural conditions of foreign countries, Lin Zexu realized that only by learning from western countries can he resist foreign aggression. He came up with the idea of “learning from the enemy and mastering skills to defeat the enemy”, and proposed that artillery and shipbuilding should be made in order to change the backward state of military technology.
Lin Zexu personally presided over and organized a translation team to translate foreign books and the remarks of foreigners about China into Hua Shi Yi Yan 华事夷言, which was the “reference information” of Chinese officials at that time.
In order to understand the military, political and economic intelligence of foreign countries, Guangzhou weekly 广州周报, sponsored by British businessmen, was translated into Macao news 澳门新闻报.
In order to understand the geography, history, and politics of the west, and systematically introduce the situation of various countries in the world, he also organized the translation of the British Murray 慕瑞’s world geography encyclopedia 世界地理大全, which was compiled as Sizhou Zhi 四洲志. It describes the geography and history of more than 30 countries on five continents in the world. It is the first relatively complete and systematic world geography chronicle in modern China.