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Lin Zexu – Saviour of Opium Addicts

An opium den (in San Francisco) date: 19C?
An opium den (in San Francisco) date: 19C?

Most people have heard of the Opium Wars and seen pictures of tragic men lying on beds inhaling the awful drug, eyes empty and hopeless under the spell of this most noxious of plants.

But not many have heard of the hero who tried to save these people, nor indeed of the ongoing work in China to prevent future citizens from being drug addicts. This work began with a scholar and official of the Qing Dynasty, Lin Zexu [pronounced ‘Lin Zugh Shoe’], who set himself against the might of the British Empire …. and won (albeit temporarily)!

We had the good fortune to visit Lin’s residence in Fuzhou in 2008, which turned out to be rather an embarrassing event!  We had only a dim knowledge of Lin’s work then. But, staying in Fuzhou for several months teaching English, we decided to take a look at his house and garden [officially known as Lin Zexu Memorial Hall]. The house was surrounded by a high wall, but was situated in a public street in Fuzhou with traffic roaring by. As you entered through the front door, the traffic noise disappeared and the quiet of the house relaxed one’s thoughts. Each room was beautifully furnished and several rooms led onto small gardens with pools and zigzag bridges or statues of children playing.

Entrance to Lin Zexu Memorial Hall, 16 Aomen Road, Gulou, Fuzhou
Entrance to Lin Zexu Memorial Hall, 16 Aomen Road, Gulou, Fuzhou
Altar to Lin Zexu, in Lin Zexu  Memorial Hall, Fuzhou
Altar to Lin Zexu, in Lin Zexu Memorial Hall, Fuzhou

His house is now a temple to him and additions to the temple have been set up as an Anti-Drug sector with posters showing the old pipes and newer modern articles used in drug-taking. Other exhibits underline the efforts that have been and are being made on anti-drug campaigns in China.  There is also an extensive exhibition about Lin Zexu and his own efforts on that score.

One of the 3 ponds in the in Lin Zexu Memorial Hall, Fuzhou.  Note the typical zig-zag 'bridge'
One of the 3 ponds in the in Lin Zexu Memorial Hall, Fuzhou. Note the typical zig-zag ‘bridge’

We enjoyed the visit to this tranquil house and garden and subsequently learned much more about Lin and his fight against opium.

Rising rapidly through the grades of the provincial service during the Qing Dynasty, he became Governor General of Hunan and Hubei provinces in 1837. During this time, the ever-growing demand for tea and other Chinese products created an imbalance of trade between Britain and China. The British people had begun their love affair with tea and couldn’t get enough of this aromatic plant. The Emperor had no interest in western products, pronouncing that,“Our celestial kingdom possesses all things in prolific abundance and

Sculpture of Lin Zexu with cranes in garden of Lin Zexu Memorial Hall, Fuzhou
Sculpture of Lin Zexu with cranes in garden of Lin Zexu Memorial Hall, Fuzhou

lacks no product within its own border”. 

By 1817, India had become a British colony and opium poppies were being grown in large quantities. Denied other trade exchanges, the Brits had begun trading in Indian opium as a way to reduce the trade deficit with China and to gain some kind of profit from their Indian colony.   At that time, opium was most commonly used as a treatment for cholera and initially, the Qing dynasty tolerated its importation, but by 1820, Chinese smugglers were helping British traders to import the drug and many citizens were becoming addicts. More importantly, the flow of silver, the Chinese preferred currency, resulted in the trade deficit being reversed to the chagrin of China. Efforts to constrain the trade failed.

Eventually, Lin was sent to Guangdong as imperial commissioner by the emperor to halt the flow of British opium and, within a few months, he made a huge impact. He arrested 1,700 Chinese opium dealers smuggling in the banned drug and confiscated 70,000 opium pipes and in a matter of weeks, merchants gave up nearly 1.2 million kgs of opium.  Nearly 2 million workers destroyed all of it, mixing it with lime and salt and throwing into the sea near Humen Town. Lin also wrote an extraordinary open letter to Queen Victoria, published in Canton, exhorting her to stop the trade and stating that Britain received tea, silks and spices whilst returning ‘poison’ in return. He wrote:

“We find that your country is sixty or seventy thousand li from China. Yet there are barbarian ships that strive to come here for trade for the purpose of making a great profit. The wealth of China is used to profit the barbarians. That is to say, the great profit made by barbarians is all taken from the rightful share of China. By what right do they then in return use the poisonous drug to injure the Chinese people? Even though the barbarians may not necessarily intend to do us harm, yet in coveting profit to an extreme, they have no regard for injuring others. Let us ask, where is your conscience?”

—Lin Zexu. Open letter addressed to the sovereign of England and published in Canton (1839)

The Chinese did not realise the extent of the commitment of the British government to protecting the interests of private traders and the British viewed the opening of China to free trade as a moral issue as well. Whether the trade in drugs was moral or not did not appear to worry them.

Open hostilities between China and Britain started in 1839 in what later would be called “The First Opium War.” The immediate effect was that both sides, by the words of Superintendent Captain Charles Elliot, and the Chinese High-Commissioner Lin Zexu , made a ban to all trade. Lin had previously put pressure on the Portuguese government of Macau, and the British found themselves without refuge, except for the bare and rocky harbours of Hong Kong.  Soon, however, Qing imperial forces were faced with a British imperial force of warships and improved weapons, and were soon routed. [At the close of the First Opium War, Hong Kong was leased to Britain as part of the Treaty of Nanjing.]

Lin Zexu’s position was then given to Qishan in September 1840 and as punishment for his failures, Lin was exiled to the remote Ili region in Xinjiang. Eventually, however, he was exonerated and went on to perform many other good deeds for his country.

Lin died in 1850 while on the way to Guangxi, where the Qing government was sending him to help put down the Taiping Rebellion.

June 3, the day when Lin confiscated the chests of opium, is celebrated as Anti-Smoking Day in the Republic of China, Taiwan. A statue of Lin stands in Chatham Square (Kimlau Square) in Chinatown, New York City, United States. The base of the statue is inscribed with “Don’t do drugs” in English and Chinese. The statue faces what has been dubbed “Fuzhou Street” which means his back is turned to the Manhattan Detention Complex and the city’s main police station. English sinologist Herbert Giles praised and admired Lin: “He was a fine scholar, a just and merciful official and a true patriot.” A wax statue of Lin also appeared in Madame Tussauds wax museum in London.

Today in China, Lin Zexu is considered a hero for his action against the foreign imperialists and his house is a centre for informing the public about drugs and drug control as well as a museum and record of his life’s work.

As we wandered round the museum, we realised that a tour leader, taking his group around, was mentioning in hectoring tones the word ‘Yinguo’. Knowing very little Chinese, enough to say ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’ and ‘that costs too much’, we knew that that was the word for ‘England’. Eventually we slunk out into the garden thinking that the English were not exactly flavour of the month there.

For Wikipedia article on Lin Zexu, click HERE

Teri France