Lin Zexu
Lin Zexu was the Qing imperial commissioner whose principled confrontation with the British opium trade in 1839 precipitated the First Opium War and opened China's traumatic century of unequal treaties. A distinguished Confucian official who rose through the examination system, Lin was appointed by the Daoguang Emperor to suppress the Canton opium trade, which was draining silver reserves and devastating Chinese society. Arriving in Guangzhou in 1839, he arrested Chinese dealers, pressured foreign merchants to surrender their stocks, and oversaw the public destruction of approximately 1,200 tons of opium at Humen. His famous open letter to Queen Victoria appealed directly to universal ethical standards, arguing that Britain would not tolerate opium importation into its own territory and therefore had no right to flood China with it. The argument was legally prescient but politically ineffective; Britain dispatched a naval expedition that exposed the catastrophic military gap between the two empires. After China's defeat, Lin was scapegoated and exiled to Xinjiang. He is remembered in China as a national hero and early voice for reform.
- Lived: 1785 CE – 1850 CE
- Nationality: Chinese
- Roles: Imperial Commissioner, Statesman, Reformer
