This poem was written in August 1842, and Lin Youan was exiled to Yili. The poem shows that Lin has no regard for personal safety on the issue of banning smoking and resisting Britain, and even if he is dismissed, he has no regrets.
The whole poem is as follows:
Green hills don't paint for thousands of years, but green waters string guqin.
The colorful flowers in the green hills are smiling, and the static birds in the green water are singing.
Hard work is not necessarily the end of the day, but it must be unbearable.
If a glass of water is as light as its name suggests, you should believe that village tea is more fragrant than wine.
Based on this belief, I will serve my country at all costs, even at the expense of my own life, whether I am lucky or unlucky.
Castle Peak is not painted by a good painter's extraordinary pen and ink, but it will never be defeated in the primary colors like a beautiful painting. Without a piano, clear water can never play a beautiful sound. Castle Peak does not need to be painted with pen and ink, but it can also be a picture handed down from generation to generation. Qingxi has no strings, but it can make the sound of the piano echo through the ages with the gurgling sound of running water.
God will not let those who have worked hard down, and those who are extremely vicious should be careful that others will fight back because of their own humiliation. If a person can reach the realm that boiled water can also be regarded as fragrant tea, then he should believe that the coarse tea of the farmer is more fragrant than wine. As long as it is beneficial to the country, even if you sacrifice your own life, you are willing to avoid it because you may get hurt.
Extended data:
Lin Zexu was a politician, thinker and poet in Qing Dynasty. Official to Yipin, served as Governor of Huguang, Governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and served as an imperial minister twice; He was called the "national hero" of China because he advocated smoking ban.
1839 When smoking was banned in Guangdong, Lin Zexu sent an unannounced visit to force foreign opium dealers to hand over opium, and the confiscated opium was destroyed in Humen on June 3. The destruction of opium in Humen put Sino-British relations in a state of extreme tension, which became an excuse for British aggression against China during the First Opium War.
Although Lin Zexu struggled against western invasion all his life, he was open to western culture, science and technology and trade, and advocated learning and using it. According to the literature, he knows at least a little English and Portuguese, and is committed to translating western newspapers and books.
Wei Yuan, a thinker in the late Qing Dynasty, compiled the documents translated by Lin Zexu and his aides into "Seaside Map", which inspired the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty and even the Meiji Restoration in Japan.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Lin Zexu