The first outstanding anti-drug hero in Chinese history is Lin Zexu.
During the Daoguang period, British opium dealers used smuggling and tax evasion to continuously smuggle opium and tobacco into mainland China. The proliferation of opium greatly damaged the physical and mental health of smokers. If it is allowed to develop, it will inevitably This will put the Chinese nation at risk of extinction. Lin Zexu wrote to Emperor Daoguang to denounce the harm of opium, so Emperor Daoguang decided to strictly ban opium.
In mid-November of the 18th year of Daoguang's reign (1838), Lin Zexu rushed to the capital from Wuchang, Hubei. On the 15th, Emperor Daoguang granted Lin Zexu the imperial envoy to go to Guangdong to ban opium. On June 3, 1839 (April 22, the 19th year of Emperor Daoguang's reign in the Qing Dynasty), Lin Zexu ordered the destruction of opium in public at Humen Beach. By the end of June 25, the Communist Party lasted 23 days and destroyed 19,187 boxes of opium. and 2119 bags. After this incident, anti-smoking hero Lin Zexu was revered as a national hero by the Chinese.
Introduction to Lin Zexu
Lin Zexu was a Jinshi in the 16th year of Jiaqing (1811). He served as Hanlin Editor, Jiangsu Inspector, Governor of Donghe, Governor of Jiangsu, and Governor of Huguang. In the 19th year of Daoguang's reign (1839), when the imperial envoy went to Guangdong to ban smoking, he sent people to conduct overt inspections and secret inspections, forcing foreign opium merchants to hand over their opium, and confiscated the opium and destroyed it in Humen. This incident is considered to be the trigger for the First Opium War.
Not long after the war broke out, Lin Zexu was framed and dismissed from his post and sent to Xinjiang to guard the border. In the 25th year of Daoguang's reign (1845), he was re-appointed and served successively as governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, governor of Shaanxi, governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and the crown prince. In the 30th year of Daoguang's reign (1850), Lin Zexu died of illness in Puning, Chaozhou on his way to suppress the uprising of the God Worshipers Association. He was awarded the title of Prince Taifu and was given the posthumous title "Wenzhong". There are works such as "Lin Wenzhong's Public Affairs Book" handed down from generation to generation.
Lin Zexu traveled throughout his life and made outstanding achievements in governance. Although they fought against Western invasion in Guangdong and Guangxi, they maintained an open attitude towards Western culture, technology and trade, advocating learning from their best and using them. The "Four Continents" compiled by him and the "Hai Guo Tu Zhi" compiled by Wei Yuan were inspiring to the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty and even Japan's Meiji Restoration.