At a gray-haired age, we live together with each other, advancing and retreating together. Who will judge the merits and demerits of this life?
On the seventeenth day of the seventh month in the twenty-third year of Daoguang's reign (1843), when Lin Zexu bid farewell to his old friend Deng Tingzhen in Yili, he wrote the poem "We will live together here until we are old, who can determine the right and wrong of history?" , quite tragic.
Lin Zexu was born in the fiftieth year of Qianlong (1785). He was nearly sixty years old at this time, and Deng Tingzhen was already nearly sixty-eight years old. Two years ago, both of them were dismissed from their posts due to the ban on opium in Guangdong and Guangxi, and were sent to Ili to "atone for their sins". Later, Deng Tingzhen was recalled first, and Lin Zexu gave him a farewell poem, which made his heart feel ups and downs.
For such a persistent minister, yet he was slandered for no reason, and he was naturally filled with resentment. He asked "who can determine right and wrong in history?" and even spewed out an air of injustice at the top of his lungs.
Extended information
Lin Zexu (August 30, 1785 - November 22, 1850), also known as Yuanfu, also known as Shaomu and Shilin, and his late name was the old man of Qicun , Pingquan layman, etc., were born in Houguan, Fujian Province (now Fuzhou City), politicians, thinkers, and poets in the Qing Dynasty.
He reached the first rank and served as governor of Huguang, Shaanxi-Gansu and Yunnan-Guizhou. He was appointed imperial envoy twice. He was known as a "national hero" because he advocated the strict prohibition of opium and resisted the invasion of Western powers. Lin Zexu devoted his life to resisting Western invasion, but he maintained an open attitude toward Western culture, technology, and trade, advocating learning the best and using it. According to literature, he was at least somewhat fluent in English and Portuguese.