Lin Zexu (Lin Tse-hsü, 林則徐, Lín Zéxú) (August 30, 1785 – November 22, 1850) also known as Lin Tse-hsu, was a Chinese scholar and official during the Qing dynasty, whose efforts to end opium smuggling into Guangzhou (廣州) are considered to be the primary catalyst for the First Opium War of 1839–42. In 1838, Lin forced foreign merchants to surrender their stocks of opium, making them guarantee that they would cease importing it to China, and dumped it into the ocean. In 1839, the British retaliated by sending troops to ravage large areas of South China. Lin grossly overestimated the military capacity of his own forces and underestimated that of the British warships. China was defeated and forced to make many concessions to the British and then to other foreign powers, including the eventual legalization of the opium trade.

　　Lin was a member of a small, influential group of reformists, the "Statecraft school," who sought to revitalize traditional Chinese thought and institutions in order to revive the faltering Qin dynasty. They also advocated the compilation of practical knowledge, including information about the West and Western technology, in order to deal effectively with modernization. Their reforms were later adopted by the “Self-Strengthening Movement.”

　　Early life and career

　　Lin Tse-hsu was born August 30, 1785, in Fuzhou (福州), in Fujian (福建) province. His father was a teacher and, though poor, he gave his sons a thorough education in the Confucian classics, so that they could succeed in the civil service examinations and obtain positions in the government bureaucracy. Lin passed the initial examinations in 1804, and was made an aide to the governor of his native province, a position which gave him practical experience in politics. In 1811, he received the Jinshi degree, one of the highest titles in the imperial examinations (科舉; kējǔ), and the same year, he was appointed to the prestigious Hanlin Academy (翰林院, Hànlín Yuàn, literally "brush wood court"), which advised the emperor and helped him to draft documents. Lin received his first regular administrative assignment in 1820, in the salt monopoly. He then supervised water-control systems in several localities, served as tax collector, then for a term as a local judge, during which he earned the respectful nickname “Lin the Clear Sky.”

　　Campaign to suppress opium

　　After a period of literary activity during the traditional mourning and retirement at the death of his father, Lin returned to serve in the highest echelons of the government. He became Governor-General (總督) of Hunan (湖南) and Hubei (湖北) in 1837.

　　The opening of the tea trade to the Dutch and British merchants brought large quantities of illegal opium to China. By the early nineteenth century, opium was the principal product traded in China by the British East India Company, and opium addiction had become a serious social problem. When the son of Emperor Tao-kuang (Daoguang Emperor, 道光帝) died of an opium overdose, the Emperor decided to put an end to the trade, not only for moral reasons, but because the opium had to be paid for with precious Chinese silver. Lin submitted a memorial to the Emperor condemning a suggestion that the trade be legalized, and citing the measures by which he had suppressed the drug traffic in the provinces where he was Governor General. The Emperor responded by appointing Lin Imperial Commissioner in late 1838, and vesting him with extraordinary powers.

　　A formidable bureaucrat known for his thoroughness and integrity, Lin was sent to Guangdong (Canton, Kuangchou, Guangzhou, 廣東) to halt the importation of opium from the British. He confiscated more than 20,000 chests of opium already at the port and supervised their destruction, and later blockaded the port from European ships. His personal diary from this period vividly portrays his difficult journey from Peking to Guangdong; his perspiring in the sub-tropical heat of Guangdong as he kowtows before the Emperor’s written instructions; his meetings with British officials and merchants; his efforts to make corrupt Chinese officials enforce the laws; and his apology to the god of the sea for defiling the ocean with confiscated opium.

　　Lin also wrote a letter to Queen Victoria of Britain warning her that China was adopting a stricter policy towards everyone, Chinese or foreign, who brought opium into China. This letter expressed a desire that Victoria would act "in accordance with decent feeling" and support his efforts. The letter was never delivered to the queen, though it was published in The Times.[1]

　　Lin forced foreign merchants to surrender their stocks of opium, and made them guarantee that they would cease importing it to China. In 1839, the British retaliated by sending troops to ravage large areas of South China. Lin grossly overestimated the military capacity of his own forces and underestimated that of the British warships. The subsequent military debacle led to his replacement by Qishan( 琦善) in September 1840. Though the Emperor had approved of Lin’s policies, he was demoted and sent to exile in Ili in Xinjiang (新疆) as punishment for his failures. However, the Chinese government still considered Lin to be an official of rare virtue and sent him to deal with difficult situations. He was rewarded with the title of Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent for pacifying rebel Muslims in the province of Yunnan. Lin Tse-hsu died in 1850, while on the way to Guangxi (廣西), where the government was sending him to help put down the Taiping Rebellion.