Lin Zexu

Lin Zexu

Lin Zexu (August 30, 1785 - November 22, 1850), a native of Houguan County, Fujian Province, was a statesman, writer, thinker and national hero in the mid Qing Dynasty.

Lin Zexu was a Jinshi in the 16th year of Jiaqing (1811). He was the editor of the Imperial Academy, the governor of Jiangsu, the governor of Donghe, the governor of Jiangsu and the governor of Huguang. In the 19th year of Daoguang (1839), when the imperial envoy went to Guangdong to ban smoking, he sent people to investigate and investigate, forced foreign opium merchants to hand over opium, and destroyed the confiscated opium in Humen. Shortly after the outbreak of the first Opium War, Lin Zexu was sacked and sent to Xinjiang for border defense. In 1845, he was reappointed as governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, governor of Shaanxi and governor of Yunnan and Guizhou. In 1850, Lin Zexu died of illness in Puning, Chaozhou, on the way to suppress the God worship Association. He was awarded the title of "Wenzhong" to the crown prince. His works, such as the official politics of Lin Wenzhong, have been handed down to the world.

All his life, Lin Zexu traveled all over the country and made outstanding achievements. Although he fought against western invasion in Guangdong and Guangxi, he held an open attitude towards western culture, technology and trade, and advocated learning from their advantages and using them. He has at least a little knowledge of English and Portuguese, and has made great efforts to translate Western newspapers and books. The records of the four continents compiled by him in 1839 and the atlas of the sea compiled by Wei Yuan in 1844 were enlightening to the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty and even the Meiji Restoration in Japan.

(source of picture in overview)

Life of the characters

Poor childhood

Lin Zexu was born in the 50th year of Qianlong (1785). His father, Lin binri, formerly known as Lin Tianhan, was a year-old Gongsheng of Marquis of Jiaqing Dynasty. Later, he became a local teacher and opened a school in the neighborhood of Luo. Lin Zexu's mother, Chen Xu, is the fifth daughter of Chen Shengli, a year-old Gongsheng in Min county. Lin binri and Chen Chu have 11 children, the second of whom is Lin Zexu.

Although Lin binri was a private school teacher, he could receive public food after becoming a scholar. However, due to the large population of the family, three meals are unsustainable. Chen Chu conceals Lin binri and secretly uses nvhong Gang to make up for her family. She also passes on this paper-cut skill to her daughter in order to maintain her family life. With his mother's support, Lin Zexu didn't have to work for his mother, but every day before he went to the school, he would first get his mother's and sister's handicrafts to the shop for consignment. After school, he would go to the shop to collect money and return them to his mother. His poor childhood and strict family education made him keep the habit of being thrifty and observing the sufferings of the people when he was promoted to a senior official.

Neighbors often hear the laughter of the Lin family when they eat, but more than ten people are eating tofu with relish. Later, the Lin family used this to teach their children the truth of contentment.

Get married in the middle

Lin Zexu had a miserable childhood, but he was taught by his enlightened father and had a warm family. His childhood was quite happy. Lin binri also attached great importance to the education of Lin Zexu. At the age of four, Lin binri had brought him into the school to teach Xiaozi. At the age of seven, Lin Zexu was already proficient in writing and writing. Because Lin binri was poor when he was young, he didn't enter the school until he was 13 years old. He was often ridiculed by his classmates. In order to prevent his son from having the same fate as himself, he brought him into the school, held him on his knees and listened to the school together.

When Lin Ze was eight or nine years old, he wrote a poem in the school: "the sea is boundless, the sky is the shore, and the mountain is the top. I'm the peak." it shocked four people. He often got prizes for his excellent works in the school. Seeing that his family is still poor, someone once asked Lin Zexu to change his career, but Lin binri didn't allow him. He thought that his son would be prosperous in the future and become famous and profitable.

When Lin Zexu was 12 years old, Confucius temple called Tong Sheng to be Yi Sheng. After a round of selection, he was elected Yi Sheng as a member of sacrificial music and dance. Aofeng Academy was the highest institution in Fujian at that time, and its president was Zheng Guangce, an upright educator. Under the guidance of Zheng Guangce, Lin Zexu devoted himself to learning and wrote a reading note, miscellaneous records of Yunzuo Shanfang, which was adopted by all schools of thought.

During his study, Lin Zexu met scholar Chen Shouqi through his father, and was influenced by Chen Shouqi's thought of managing the world. He had frequent contacts with Liang Zhangju, Zheng Guangce's son-in-law, and both of them set up their ambition of "managing the country and saving the world".

Zheng Damo, the county magistrate of Yongcheng County, Henan Province, once met Lin Zexu. He was very keen on his quick thinking and thought that he would become a great tool.

In the ninth year of Jiaqing (1804), Lin Zexu took part in the rural examination, and ranked 29th in the examination. On the day the ranking was announced, he officially married Zheng Shuqing. At the end of the year, Lin Zexu went to the capital to take part in the examination, but he failed. After returning to his hometown, he set up a "plum blossom library" in beiku lane of Fuzhou to teach students and wait for the next examination.

First official career

In 1806, Lin Zexu served as the Secretary of Xiamen coastal defense, responsible for handling the clerical records of foreign ships, rice, grain and soldiers. At that time, the smuggling of opium in Xiamen was a serious problem. All previous coastal defense officers in Xiamen were corrupt officials. Foreign businessmen bribed and no one cracked down on smuggling. Lin Zexu realized the opium problem and the tactics of tobacco dealers, and broadened his vision. During his term of office, he was appreciated by Ting Zhang Longdao bailing and Fujian governor Zhang Shicheng, and was recruited as an aide by Zhang Shicheng. Zhang Shicheng is a Buddhist monk who advocates the pure land method and is good at both understanding and practice. He wrote the book "path in the path and path again", in which he selected many incisive expositions of Jingzong, and advised people to specialize in pure land method and to have more incisive words. Lin Zexu worked with Zhang Shicheng for four years and was highly valued by Zhang. He was also deeply influenced by Zhang's teaching in Buddhism.

Zhang Shicheng taught Lin Zexu his business knowledge and skills one by one, and even allowed Lin Zexu to join him when he suppressed the pirate Cai Qian's rebellion in August 1809. Zhang Shicheng later praised Lin Zexu: "it's a service, and my staff and subordinates have seen Yu's work. They say that Yu didn't get the thief's trace first, and they may not be able to speed up the war like this."

At the end of the same year, Zhang Shicheng recommended Lin binri to preside over the Lezheng academy, which improved the economy of the Lin family. Later, Lin Zexu took part in the joint examination in this year, but he still failed and remained in the shogunate of Zhang Shicheng. Until the 16th year of Jiaqing (1811), 26 year old Lin Zexu went to Beijing for the imperial examination, ranking the fourth in the second place.

On the ninth day of may in the 18th year of Jiaqing (1813), Lin Zexu entered the Imperial Academy and became an official. Lin Zexu spent seven years in the Imperial Academy. He was sent to work in different places, but he was still a small official in Beijing. During the seven years, his children were born one after another. On the fourth day of the first month of the 19th year of Jiaqing (1814), Lin Ruzhou, the eldest son, was born; Lin Qiubai, the second son, died three days after birth; later, Lin chentan, the eldest daughter, and Lin Jinluan, the second daughter (later died young), were also born. The annual salary of 200 Liang silver alone was not enough to meet the family expenses. The only way to help the family is to teach in a calligraphy school or sell their own calligraphy works on consignment. During his stay in the Imperial Academy, he wrote a special economic book, Beizhi water conservancy book.

Lin Zexu was not sociable, but in 1814, he joined Xuannan poetry society, which was composed of low ranking Beijing officials. He made friends with Huang Juezi, Gong Zizhen and Wei Yuan, and became their leader.

In June 1816, Xu Zelin left for the imperial examination in Nanchang. Since then, Lin Zexu has been an examiner for many times. He was just and serious, and won a good reputation among scholars. Even the candidates who failed in the examination wrote to Lin Zexu for discussion and advice. Lin Zexu later wrote about his attitude towards the work of examiners: "when Xu Dian tried Jiangxi, the emperor of the government was in the courthouse. He knew the difficulty of the name of the Department, and repeatedly told Hengwen to be cautious. If you have recommended the volume, you should read the first three arts to the end, and then comment on it separately; if you have not recommended the volume, you must also have a red ink comment on it one by one. "

Lin Zexu attached so much importance to the imperial examination, but his good friends Gong Zizhen and Wei Yuan saw the serious drawbacks of the imperial examination and thought that the imperial examination was the concealment and destruction of talents, so they once argued about it.

In February of 1820, Lin Zexu was appointed as the censor of Jiangnan Road. The dike in the South Bank of Henan Province was broken, and the governor of Henan Province, borzijit Qishan, failed to do anything, which led to the flood. Lin Zexu was not afraid of Qishan's background as a Manchurian nobleman, and told emperor Jiaqing of his incompetence. He was incorruptible, undaunted to power, bold and sincere, which led to the suspicion and sarcasm of his colleagues. Therefore, Lin Zexu was tired of officialdom.

In the first year of Daoguang (1821), Lin binri was critically ill. Lin Zexu resigned for taking care of his father. Zheng Shuqing gave birth to her three daughters, Lin Puqing, on the boat when she returned to her hometown. When she returned to Fuzhou, Lin binri had recovered. With the opposition of his parents and his hometown elders, Lin Zexu went into officialdom again. Cao Zhenyong, his chief teacher, and Shen Weifan, his real estate teacher, had been mediating for Lin Zexu. Emperor Daoguang also knew that Lin Zexu had made outstanding political achievements during his term of office, so he summoned him to praise him and reinstated him. From then on, Lin Zexu, who was deeply favored by Emperor Daoguang, went straight up.

Place of experience

In the first month of the third year of Daoguang (1823), Lin Zexu was appointed as an inspector general of Jiangsu Province. During his term of office, he clarified the administration of Jiangsu officials, reformed the trial procedure, and ruled the cases in person. They even sneak around in the dark, investigate openly and secretly, and do autopsy by themselves. In just four months of his term of office, he dealt with nine out of ten of Jiangsu's backlog of cases, which was praised as "Lin Qingtian" by Jiangsu people. He also thought that the corruption of Jiangsu was due to the harm of opium, so he ordered Jiangsu to ban smoking. In the summer of the same year, Jiangsu was hit by a flood. The society was in turmoil. The people gathered and the people would change. The government still pursued taxes. Han Wenqi, the governor of Jiangsu Province, strongly advocated the use of military suppression, but Lin Zexu strongly opposed it. He went to the disaster area by boat to relieve the victims, calm the people's anger and restore social order.

In June of 1827, he was appointed as the procurator and acting chief of Shaanxi Province. In January, he was transferred to Jiangning.

Chinese PinYin : Lin Ze Xu