Background
Lin was born on August 30, 1785 in Fuzhou, Fujian, China.
Lin was born on August 30, 1785 in Fuzhou, Fujian, China.
Lin Zexu received his first degree at the age of nineteen. By twenty-six he had passed the highest level of the Chinese civil service examination and was on track for an outstanding career as a public servant. His initial appointment was as a bachelor of the prestigious Hanlin Academy. While in Beijing, Lin moved in that city's most dazzling cultural circles and attracted a following of like-minded individuals. He went on to serve as a provincial examiner, censor, circuit intendant, salt commissioner, provincial judge, provincial treasurer, and governor. By 1837 Lin Zexu was governor general of Hubei and Hunan. The following year he sent his fateful memorial regarding the opium problem to Emperor Daoguang.
Used medicinally since the Tang dynasty, opium consumption began to increase when the Portuguese started importing the drug into Taiwan in the early 1600s. In 1729 the Qing prohibited opium imports, to little avail, and by 1820, the opium trade was booming. In that year some two million taels of silver flowed out of China, mostly into the pockets of British opium dealers. By the early 1830s, the annual outflow rose to nine million taels. The resulting rise in the price of silver and the cost of commodities alarmed Chinese officialdom, as did the debilitating effect the drug was having on Lin Zexu's memorial contained several suggestions for dealing with the opium problem. First, he proposed that dealers and smugglers be harshly punished. Second, he advocated the destruction of the drug and the equipment utilized in its consumption. Third, he suggested the need to cure those who had become addicted. Lin even went so far as to cojitact Dr. Peter Parker, an American medical missionary in China, to ask for a prescription for curing all opium smokers. Parker's response was that no such medicine was currently available. The Emperor Daoguang approved Lin's plan and commissioned him to take whatever measures were necessary to stop the opium trade. On March 10 1839 Lin Zexu arrived in Guangzhou, vowing not to quit until he had accomplished his mission. Even before he reached Guangzhou, he had issued orders for the arrest of the Chinese known to be dealing opium.
Once in Guangzhou, Lin ordered the British traders confined to their factory compound. He let it be known, however, that the Englishmen would be released once all of their opium had been turned over to him Captain Charles Elliot, a British government representative, commanded all British traders to surrender their stocks of the drug to him. It thus became British government property. Elliot then delivered the 20,000-plus chests of opium to Lin Zexu, who immediately began to have it destroyed. Once the British community had evacuated Guangzhou, Elliot urged London to redress the affront to English pride and profit. A British expeditionary force was dispatched to do just that. Upon arrival, the Opium War began.
Once the war reached the northern coast of China, the emperor needed a scapegoat. He blamed Lin Zexu for creating complications without re-solving the opium problems. Lin's response was that if he had been provided with the military force needed to confront the British, he would have been able to end the opium trade. Lin's argument was, of course, found unacceptable.
In September 1840, Lin Zexu was dismissed from office and ordered to Beijing to await punishment. In July 1841 he was condemned to exile in Yili, near the Russian border in Central Asia. Lin remained there for three years. In 1844 he was put in charge of colonization affairs in Xinjiang province. Because of the skill he displayed in this task, he was ordered back to Beijing in 1845.
Lin Zexu’s rehabilitation completed he was appointed as acting governor general of Shaanxi and Ningxia. Two years later he was named governor general of Yunnan and Guizhou. His success in this appointment was such that in 1848 Lin Zexu was awarded the title of Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent. One year later Lin attempted retirement, but was called back when the Taipings became active in Guangxi. Appointed imperial commissioner yet again, this time to suppress rebels rather than the opium trade, Lin Zexu died while on route to Guangxi.