The Relationship between Lin Zexu and Modern History of China

Lin Zexu, Fujian Houguan. In his early years, his family was poor and received a good education. In the sixteenth year of Jiaqing, he was given a Jinshi. For 40 years as an official, he "inspired the world" and was honest and clean; We also attach importance to water conservancy and provide relief to the people. His greatest achievement is that he led the vigorous anti-smoking movement in China history, commanded the anti-British struggle, safeguarded national sovereignty and national dignity, and became the first national hero and patriot in modern China history. At the same time, he compiled foreign books and materials such as The Chronicles of Four Continents, which initiated the atmosphere of learning and studying the West in modern China and was the pioneer of China's modern reform thought.

Lin Zexu (1785— 1850), whose characters are Fu, Shao Mu, Shi Phosphorus and Wen Zhong. Gan Long was born on July 26th (1August 30th, 785) in Houguan (now Fuzhou), Fujian, to a lower feudal intellectual family. My father Lin Binri teaches reading and lectures for a living. I can't make a living on my father's meager income from teaching in a private school, so my mother uses manual labor to share the embarrassment at home.

In the imperial examination era, Lin Zexu's parents expected their son to develop and rise in his official career. Lin Zexu is very clever. At the age of 4, my father "hugged the school" and dictated four books and five classics. Under the careful cultivation of my father, I read Confucian classics earlier. After being a scholar in Jiaqing for three years (1798) and 14 years old, he went to the famous Aofeng Academy in Fujian and studied under Zheng Guangce and Chen Shouqi who had practical knowledge. Under the influence of my father and relatives and friends, I began to pay attention to practical learning. Jiaqing nine years (1804), aged 20, was promoted. Lin Zexu has made amazing achievements in his studies because of his father's pure education. But since then, due to family difficulties, I went out to do a private school. In the autumn of 11th year (1806), Fang Yongqing hired him as the Tongzhi Department of Xiamen Coastal Defence. The opium smoke here caught his attention. At the beginning of the following year, Zhang Shicheng, the new governor of Fujian, appreciated him and was recruited into the shogunate. He learned a lot of anecdotes of the Qing Dynasty, knowledge of military affairs, punishment, ceremony and music, and experience of officialdom, which prepared some necessary conditions for his future "official career".

In the 16th year of Jiaqing (18 1 1), Lin Zexu was selected as a scholar and chose Jishi Shu from imperial academy, thus realizing his parents' desire to be an official. Nineteen years (18 14). Since then, he has served as an assistant, author officer, learner, secret hall cleaner, examiner in Jiangxi and Yunnan, and official of Jiangnan Road. During the reign of Jing Guan, he was determined to be an honest official who helped the world and corrected the current situation. Therefore, he "studied literature". In order to be familiar with political affairs, "it is beneficial to study the mind and the world, although this is in the case of secret and Cao Liu." The gains and losses of personnel administration are completely verified. "In his seven years as an official, he has extensively collected dozens of experts' lectures and writings on water conservancy construction in Jifu since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and wrote the Book on Water Conservancy in the North. It is clearly pointed out in the book that "water is suitable for Zhili rice, and water can make farmland" and "agriculture is a matter of the world and rice is a matter of farmers". It is believed that only by developing water conservancy in North China, advocating rice planting and solving the problem of transporting grain from south to north on the spot can the problem of transporting grain from south to north and its accumulated disadvantages be solved reasonably. In the 24th year of Jiaqing (18 19), Lin Zexu once participated in Xuannan Poetry Club, a literary group of some literati in Beijing, met Gong Zizhen, Wei Yuan and others, and performed poetry singing activities in the poetry club.

In July of the 25th year of Jiaqing (1820), Lin Zexu was appointed as Foreign Minister of Hangjiahu Road, Zhejiang Province. He actively recruited talents and suggested building seawall water conservancy, which was quite successful. However, he found it difficult to cope with all kinds of obstacles in his official career, and once vented his anguish of "supporting the left and lacking the right" and "sighing for the official". Finally, in July of the following year, he resigned and went home on the pretext that his father was ill. Lin Zexu did a lot of good things for the people, but because of impatience, people wrote "Curing Anger" and hung it in the hall as a warning.

In the second year of Daoguang (1822), he returned in April and served as Huaihai Road in Jiangnan, Zhejiang. Before taking up his post, he served as the salt transport ambassador of Zhejiang Province, rectifying the salt administration, and achieved results. Lin Zexu was favored by Daoguang and soon entered the rising period of officialdom. In the first month of Daoguang's third year (1823), he served as Jiangsu provincial judge. During his tenure, he rectified the bureaucracy, cleared up the accumulated cases, rehabilitated unjust imprisonment, and banned opium poisoning, a social malpractice. On the occasion of summer and autumn in Jiangsu this year, hungry people in Hadren and Songjiang gathered to tell about the disaster, and the threat will change. Lin Zexu opposed the transfer of troops to suppress, personally went to Songjiang to resettle the victims and took a series of disaster relief measures to ease class contradictions. At the end of the year, after returning from the pilgrimage, Jiangning was appointed as the ambassador, and Lin Zexu was put in charge of disaster relief affairs in the whole province. However, in the autumn of Daoguang four years, Lin Zexu was bereaved by his parents and kept at home. It was not until the first month of the tenth year that he became an official again.

Ten years of Daoguang's mourning (1830) ended. From June to July of the following year, Lin Zexu served as special envoy for deployment in Hubei, Henan and Jiangning. "-At the age of 18, corrupt officials everywhere in the three provinces were eager to ease the situation. Jiang Chen valued his talent and they all fell in love with him. "For the long-term interests of the Qing Dynasty, he was determined to rectify the finances, build water conservancy projects and provide disaster relief. "He was once famous in the world." 10, promoted to Hedong viceroy. In the face of major issues related to Jiang Minsheng, in order to "eliminate disadvantages, save money and strive for strength", we are determined to "break our feelings" and "do things according to the rules". In order to harness the Yellow River, I personally braved the cold wind, walked hundreds of miles, inspected thousands of spare water control straws, and studied the topography and water flow along the river. Painting is easy to understand and manage. Lin Zexu's earnest and meticulous spirit was remarkable at that time.

In February of the 12th year of Daoguang (1832), he was transferred to the governor of Jiangsu. From this year to sixteen years, he has made great achievements in agriculture, water conservancy, disaster relief and official management, especially advocating new farming techniques and popularizing new farm tools. In practice, he realized: "Soil fertility needs manpower, and soil work belongs to agricultural work." The more channel dredging, the more land benefits. "Lin Zexu's farming thought was experienced in the actual investigation. In the 12th year of Daoguang (1833), a flood occurred in Jiangsu province. Lin Zexu, regardless of the deadline for reporting the disaster and the imperial court's reprimand, made a detailed statement of the disaster, called for delaying the recruitment of Cao Fu, and put forward the requirements of "more breadth, more training and more vitality", which objectively played a favorable role in developing production and alleviating people's difficulties. At the same time, he analyzed that the floods were caused by the disrepair and siltation of the Wusong River, Huangpu River, He Lou and the white cats in the opposite direction, so he decided to build the white cats and He Lou and build seawalls, which played a certain role in the history of water conservancy in China. During this period, Lin Zexu raised objections to the financial and trade policies of the Qing Dynasty and opposed the total ban on foreign money. He proposed a set of homemade silver coins to Daoguang Emperor for the first time in diplomacy and established his own silver standard system. This is the forerunner of China's modern monetary reform. This is also an advanced idea to adapt to changes in the political and economic situation, protect domestic industrialists and businessmen, protect the independent development of the national economy, and resist the economic aggression of western capitalism.

In the seventeenth year of Daoguang (1837), he was promoted to Governor of Huguang. Facing the frequent flooding of rivers in Hubei every summer, Lin Zexu took effective measures and put forward the idea of "focusing on repair and prevention" to achieve "Jianghan long dike, An Lan Puqing, branch dike in the river, no overflow", which made indelible contributions to protecting the life and property safety of counties along Jianghan. At the same time, Lin Zexu rectified the bureaucracy and severely punished corruption and bribery. "To be upright, be upright first." "Teaching by example is more important than teaching by example." Lin Zexu attaches great importance to self-discipline, sets an example in everything and is a teacher everywhere. When he took office in Hubei, he issued a "pass" to enter Hubei, and flattery and extortion were prohibited along the way. During his tenure as governor, he still maintained the style of "doing everything impartially". Lin Zexu was conscientious in her work and was the most honest and capable maid-in-waiting in officialdom at that time. She was honest and selfless and deeply loved by the masses.

At that time, the opium problem gradually became one of the political disputes. In the 16th year of Daoguang (1836), Miss Xu Naiji of Taichang Temple advocated the theory of "prohibition" and asked the people to sell cigarettes to legalize opium smuggling. In the 18th year of Daoguang (1838), Huang Jue, the minister of Lu Hong Temple, put forward the theory of "no smoking", which focused on the treatment of food intake. Lin Zexu once played in the imperial court, demanding the prohibition of opium. Without waiting for the emperor's instructions, it began to strictly ban smoking in the whole province, collecting tobacco soil, tobacco paste and smoking utensils, and preparing "addiction pills" for people to quit smoking, with outstanding results. Later, a memorial was made to emphasize the importance of smoking ban, especially the elimination of opium sources and the general plan of smoking ban. In response to the opposition's rebuttal, it is emphasized that "the law should be strict, and if it is still ignored, there will be few soldiers in the Central Plains to defend against the enemy and no money to pay". The indecisive Daoguang Emperor realized the urgency, necessity and possibility of banning opium, so he was forced to accept the idea of smoking ban and decided to ban it. 1 1 month15th (65438+3 1 30th February), Daoguang sent Lin Zexu as an imperial envoy to Guangdong to investigate the smoking ban.

Before entering Guangzhou, Lin Zexu first found out the opium poisoning situation in Guangzhou, searched various cigarette houses and got a lot of first-hand information. In the 19th year of Daoguang, he arrived in Guangzhou in the first month [1March, 839], and on the fourth day of February (March, 65438+September, 2009), together with Deng Yanzhen, Lin Zexu summoned thirteen foreign businessmen, ordered them to hand over an imperial edict, and ordered foreign opium dealers to pay cigarettes within a time limit. However, foreign businessmen refused to hand it over. After resolute struggle, they defeated the British commercial supervision law and opium dealers in China, and confiscated nearly 20 thousand boxes of opium, about 2.37 million kilograms. On April 22nd (June 3rd), it was destroyed in public at Humen Beach. This is the victory of the world-famous anti-smoking movement led by the destruction of opium in Humen and Lin Zexu, and it is the first great victory in the history of China people's anti-aggression struggle. This feat safeguarded the dignity and interests of the country and enhanced the fighting spirit of the people of China.

In the process of investigating opium in Guangzhou, Lin Zexu realized that Britain would launch a war of aggression. To defeat the enemy, we need to know ourselves. Through all kinds of analysis and research, he reached the conclusion of turning an enemy into a friend, which is Wei Yuan's summary of "learning from foreigners to control foreigners". So Lin Zexu personally presided over and organized a translation team to translate foreigners' remarks about China into Petrochemical Yi Yan, which was an official "reference news" in China at that time. In order to understand foreign military, political and economic information, Guangzhou Weekly sponsored by British businessmen was translated into Macau News. In order to understand the geography, history and politics of the west, he also organized the translation of the Encyclopedia of World Geography written by the Englishman Murray, and compiled it into The Chronicles of Four Continents, which was the first book in modern China to systematically introduce western geography. He also translated Vattel's International Law. One of them stipulates: "All countries have the right to ban the import of foreign goods." This shows that the ban on smoking in China is in full compliance with international law. On the military side, we will strengthen and improve the coastal defense forces. Lin Zexu specially bought more than 200 new cannons from foreign countries and deployed them on Haikou Fort. In order to improve military technology, materials such as gun aiming methods and warship books were collected and sorted out. Lin Zexu dared to learn the spirit of foreign advanced science and technology and was highly praised by people. He is called "the first person who opened his eyes to see the world." Although Lin Zexu's understanding of the West is superficial, and his contact with Western learning is out of diplomatic and military needs, after all, he created an atmosphere of learning and studying the West in modern China, which played an enlightening role in China's modern reform thought.

British colonialists refused to give up the evil opium trade and planned to invade China by force. Lin Zexu banned smoking in Guangdong. "While actively preparing for the war, he built forts and pulled wooden chains to stop the river. He believed that' the people's hearts can be used' and recruited more than 5,000 fishermen to form a water brave, which repeatedly defeated the British provocation. 1839 In the second half of the year, it won the counter-offensive campaigns such as the Battle of Kowloon and the Battle of Chuanbi Piping. Blind and proud, Daoguang Emperor ordered to stop British trade. On the first day of December in the 19th year of Daoguang (1840 1.5), the Qing court awarded Lin Zexu the post of governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. After the Opium War broke out, Dinghai fell, and Qishan went to Guangzhou and Lin Zexu did the opposite. Under the threat and inducement of the British invaders, he signed the "Chuanbi Cao Yue" without authorization, ceded Hong Kong and paid 6 million yuan for tobacco. But he blamed all this on Lin Zexu.

Lin Zexu was meritorious in resisting Britain, but he was framed by the capitulators and dismissed by Emperor Guangxu. "He was sent back to Yili to atone for his sins." He endured humiliation and set foot on the road in the 21st year of Daoguang (184 1 July 14). On the way to Xu, I still care about my country and people, and I don't feel sorry for my personal frustrations. When I said goodbye to my wife in the ancient city of Xi 'an, I wrote an inspiring poem full of anger, "Would you like to live and die for your country? Do you want to avoid it because of disaster? " This is an expression of his patriotic feelings and a portrayal of his temperament and personality.

Daoguang arrived in Xinjiang on November 9th, 21st. Despite his advanced age and declining physical strength, Lin Zexu visited eight cities in southern Xinjiang from Yili to "Three Wan Li in the Western Regions", which deepened his understanding of the importance of border defense in northwest China. Lin Zexu's translation materials found that Russia threatened China, which prompted him to resist Britain's and Russia's national defense thought and became the pioneer of modern "anti-blockade theory". Therefore, he clearly proposed to the Ili general Bu Yantai that he should prepare for the "battle of ploughing". He also led the masses to build water conservancy projects and popularize karez and spinning wheels. People call it "Lin Gong Jing" and "Lin Che" to commemorate his achievements. Based on his many years of investigation in Xinjiang, Lin Zexu pointed out the seriousness of the threat posed by Russia when Russia threatened the Qing court to open Ili, and issued a warning at the end of his life, "After all, it is Russia!" Lin Zexu's foresight has been confirmed by later history.

In the twenty-fifth year of Daoguang (1845), Lin Zexu was reused by the imperial court and transferred to the governor of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia. When he was the capital of Yunnan, he proposed to rectify Yunnan's mining policy, encourage private mining and promote business. This reflects that his thoughts contain budding capitalist thoughts. Daoguang twenty-nine years (1849), died of illness. Ended his political career. In the thirty years of Daoguang (1850), the Qing government suppressed the Taiping Army, and later appointed him as an imperial envoy to supervise the military affairs in Guangxi. On the way to his post, he died suddenly in Puning County, Chaozhou on1October 19 (3 1, 12) at the age of 66. After his death, Kim presented the Prince Taifu and his wife to him.

Lin Zexu, a famous feudal politician and a representative of the landlord class reformists, has been in politics for 40 years and served in 13 province. Although as a feudal official, he had the idea of "loyalty to the monarch" and suppressed the uprising of ethnic minorities, at the critical moment when the Chinese nation was facing semi-colonialism, he stepped forward, "put aside misfortune and honor", resolutely banned smoking, resisted foreign armed aggression and defended national sovereignty and territory. It also advocates learning advanced western technology and developing national industry and commerce. This is the mainstream of his life activities and thoughts. Lin Zexu was the first national hero in modern China. Lin Zexu loves poetry and calligraphy all his life, and has written works such as Yunzuoshanfang Paper Money, Yunzuoshanfang Paper Money, Making Yunnan Sing Grass, and Lin Wenzhong's Official Letter. Manuscripts, diaries, official letters, letters, poems, etc. after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC). Was compiled as a collection of Lin Zexu's works.