Lin Zexu: Modern China is the first person in the world to open its eyes

preface

Lin Zexu's life was full of ups and downs, he was born poor, but he was diligent and studious since childhood. He began to read at the age of 4, began to practice writing articles at the age of 7, won the first place in the township examination at the age of 13, showed talent at the age of 14, lifted people at the age of 20, and entered the official field at the age of 27. He successively served as the inspector of Yushi of Jiangnan Province, the envoy of salt transportation in the two Zhejiang Provinces, the political envoy of Henan, Hunan and Jiangningbu, the governor of DongheHe, the governor of Jiangsu, and the governor of Huguang. He built water conservancy and concluded that "gravel is beneficial to river workers"; He strictly forbade opium, warning the people of the world that "if it is revealed, it will make the Central Plains almost invincible in a few decades, and there will be no silver to be fed"; He sold cigarettes in Humen and was the first pioneer in the history of human civilization to advocate the strict prohibition of drug trafficking and firmly pay for practice; He was the first to open his eyes to the world, and he was the leader of the famous idea of "mastering yi long skills to control yi"; He was the digger of Tuntian Yili, known locally as the "Lin Gong Canal"...

Why is Lin "Zexu"

According to legend, on the day Lin Zexu was born, that is, on August 30, the fiftieth year of Qianlong (1785), the weather was sweltering and the heat was difficult to dissipate, and a "premeditated" rainstorm arrived as promised, and the raindrops of beans poured down. Coincidentally, at this time, Xu Si, the inspector of Fujian, was taking a palanquin to the vicinity of the Dingyuan Bridge on Ximen Street. When the inspector saw the situation, he had to get off the car to find a place to shelter from the rain. There was a dilapidated hut not far away, so I hurried over. Just after stopping for a moment, I heard a cry of a baby falling to the ground, and the sound of wah-wah-w The inspector was overjoyed and was about to push the door to say hi, just when Lin Zexu's father, Lin Binri, came home from outside, and was really shocked to see the inspector, and he was very happy after learning that the inspector was going to give himself a congratulations. He decided that the arrival of the nobles at the time of the birth of his son was a good sign. He named his son Zexu, hoping that one day his son would become a beloved official like Inspector Xu.

Childhood is bitter

Although Lin Zexu's family is cold, he can have an enlightened father and a warm family. Under the careful teaching of his father and the love of his mother, his childhood was quite happy.

When he was four years old, Lin Binri had already taken him into the school and taught him to read. At the age of seven, he began to write articles, and some people persuaded the child to be too young to be too hasty, but Lin Binri believed that the child was intelligent from an early age, and not guiding would delay the spirituality. By the age of eight or nine, Lin Zexu often spoke amazingly, and the couplets he made shocked the teachers. I remember once, the teacher ordered the students to make seven-word couplets at the beginning of "mountain" and "sea", and Lin Zexu recited: "The sea is the shore of the boundless sky, and the mountain is the peak of the mountain", such a magnificent spirit reflects Lin Zexu's open mind and superb interest. At the age of thirteen, Lin Zexu was born into a teenager. This year, he ushered in the first leap in his life. Under the expectation and encouragement of his sideburns parents, a brother and six sisters sent each other, Lin Zexu boldly participated in the Qing Dynasty imperial examination, and after cutting thorns all the way, he finally entered the final interview in the second year of Jiaqing. At that time, a white-haired old man went to the interview with him, and the two were equal, and the interviewer prepared to compete as a pair. The interviewer pointed at him and said, "How does the boy know?" Lin Zexu calmly replied: "Adults are favorable", while Lao Shu silently sighed: "Old man is old!" ”。 In the end, 13-year-old Lin Zexu won the crown of the provincial examination, and the following year Lin Zexu took the Xiucai Examination.

When Lin Zexu was nineteen years old, he took the township examination and was admitted to the lifting. On the day of the announcement of the results, Lin Zexu married Zheng Shuqing, the daughter of Zheng Damo in Yongcheng Zhixian County, Henan Province, as his wife, and the husband and wife respected each other as guests, and their lives were harmonious and happy. At the end of the year, Lin Zexu went to the capital to participate in the examination, but this time the name fell to Sun Shan. Later, Lin Zexu worshiped Zhang Shicheng as a teacher, participated in the examination twice, and finally passed the entrance examination. At a young age, Lin Zexu entered the hanlin academy after entering high school. A whole new journey of life.

Construction of water conservancy

At the beginning of the twenty-fifth year of Jiaqing (1820), Lin Zexu was appointed to supervise the imperial history of Jiangnan Province. When he heard that his subordinates reported that the river workers had bad habits such as embezzlement and perverting the law and filling their own pockets, he took his entourage to Yifeng (present-day Lankao, Henan) to raid and inspect. It was found that some people engaged in speculation on chopping materials and inflated the price of materials, causing migrant workers to stop working and wait for materials. He immediately played the quasi-imperial court to deliver materials to buy at a fair price, and put an end to intermediate exploitation. In a short time, the construction site was up and down, the stack was new, and the instrument sealing workers were quickly repaired. Officials, large and small, all praised Lin Zexu for being serious in his inspection and strict in his political discipline.

In February of the eleventh year of Daoguang (1831), he was promoted to governor of the East River and handled the affairs of the Yellow River. In the Qing Dynasty, the main building on the Yellow River was the "GongGong" built with straw. He said: "Straw is the first drawback of river work" and must be resolutely eliminated. Therefore, after he arrived at his post, he inspected the straw stacks of each section of the fifteen halls on the north and south banks under his jurisdiction one by one, and strictly rewarded and punished them according to the false and real situation of the material stacks in each department, so as to eliminate the shortcomings of the river work. The Daoguang Emperor rewarded him for this, "Hechen has never been such a refined person." At the same time, in view of the fact that the Yellow River workers were often seriously swept away by the big slip and the defense was difficult, he personally threw stones to investigate, came to the conclusion that "crushed stone is beneficial to river workers", and vigorously promoted the new technology of stone throwing. This is a major progress in the late Qing River Defense Project. Lin Zexu believes that only by building water conservancy can we improve our ability to resist floods and ensure that droughts and floods have funds. His meritorious service in running water conservancy projects during his tenure as inspector of Jiangsu has been unanimously praised by people.

Opium is strictly prohibited

Lin Zexu hated opium to the bone, and as early as his infancy, his brother died under opium persecution. When the British colonists engaged in the illegal opium trade, he often wrote to the Daoguang Emperor to strictly ban opium. Lin Zexu, who was serving as the governor of Huguang at the time, resolutely advocated strict prohibition, and also proposed 6 specific anti-smoking plans, and took the lead in issuing a smoking ban notice in Huguang, and began to ban smoking vigorously. In just two months, five thousand smoking guns were inspected, and the knives were cut and burned in public. He was taught a large amount of opium, and hanyang county alone seized more than 12,000 pieces of opium. On the basis of the effectiveness of the anti-smoking ban in Huguang, Lin Zexu went up to the top and pointed out the necessity of strict prohibition. He warned: "If it is revealed by leaks, it will make the Central Plains have few soldiers who can resist the enemy in a few decades, and there will be no silver that can be fed." The Daoguang Emperor was impressed by his determination. In November of the eighteenth year of Daoguang (1838), Lin Zexu was appointed as the minister of Chincha and went to Guangzhou to supervise opium. After Lin Zexu arrived in Guangzhou, he immediately determined the policy of smoking smoking and adopted meticulous measures to confiscate opium; he appealed to the British commercial supervisor in China, Yi Lu, and the opium dealers, demanding that foreign dealers issue a contract with yizi hanzi, stating that the ship would never dare to carry opium with him, and if he brought it, once it was found, the person would be brought to justice.

Humen sells cigarettes

Everyone knows that June 26 this year is the 35th International Day Against Drugs, but I believe that few people know that the International Day Against Drugs is related to Lin Zexu, because this day is also the 182nd anniversary of Lin Zexu's "Humen tobacco sales".

On April 22, 1893 (June 3, 1893), in the sound of drums and cannons, the Humen tobacco sales that shook China and foreign countries began. On that day, Lin Zexu personally came to the scene to monitor, Humen was crowded with people, after three cannon shots, a group of soldiers bravely put the water into the non-smoking pool, added salt to become a thick brine, and then threw the cut into small pieces of opium into the pool to soak in opium for half a day, and then threw into the lime. Suddenly, the pool boiled, the Humen beachhead smoked, and the opium became a slag. Once the pool is destroyed, the gate is opened and washed into the sea, and the cycle repeats. After 23 days of smoke and smoke in Humen, a total of 2376254 kilograms of opium were destroyed, shocking China and foreign countries. His feats have written a glorious page in the history of China's anti-aggression campaign, announced to the whole world the determination of the Chinese nation to never yield, and unveiled a glorious page in the anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggle of the Chinese people in modern times. In his honor, the League of Nations designated June 3, the beginning of the Humen War, as the International Day of Smoking Ban, and June 26, the day of the completion of the ban on smoking, as the International Day against Drugs.

Open your eyes to the world

The outbreak of the Opium War in 1840 officially opened the prelude to China's modern history. Before Lin Zexu banned smoking, the Chinese people were at a loss for the outside world, believing that the British people ate the powder made of beef and mutton, and if they could not eat it, they would "die without pooping" if they left China's tea and rhubarb. The Qing Dynasty boasted that it was "the kingdom of heaven and heaven", believing that "Chinese products are all-encompassing", and that it could not communicate with other countries, and closed off the country to self-sufficiency. When Lin Zexu first arrived in Guangzhou, he also called tea and rhubarb "the great power of making yi", but with the contact with the outside world, he gradually changed this stereotype of ignorance of the West, and for the first time proposed to learn from the West, becoming "the first person to open his eyes to the world".

Lin Zexu first began to seek to understand foreign culture and technology extensively, and he sent people to collect foreign-run newspapers and periodicals published in Macao, and recruited people from humble backgrounds who knew English to do translation work. He himself carefully read and studied the translated materials night and night, and edited the "Macao Monthly" translated into Chinese into five series: "On China", "On Tea", "On Smoking Ban", "On the Use of Soldiers", and "On the Yi Situation of Various Countries". He also organized a large number of intellectuals to cooperate with Wei Yuan in compiling the "Atlas of the Sea Country", trained the Qing army to resist the British in the Opium War by training the army in the Western Regions, and wrote to the Daoguang Emperor to demand the revitalization of the country's politics and military. This series of behaviors can actually prove that Lin Zexu has gone beyond the traditional Confucian mindset of a scholar.

Tuntian Yili

At the end of May of the Twentieth Year of Daoguang (1840), the British invading army launched a war of aggression of dialogue. At that time, Lin Zexu took strict precautions in Guangzhou, forcing the British ships not to dare to easily attack Guangdong and turn north. The Daoguang Emperor believed that this was a disaster caused by Lin Zexu, so he dismissed Lin Zexu from his post and investigated him for the crime of "misleading the country and the sick people and handling them badly", and filled the army with Yili. The 58-year-old Lin Zexu wept in grief and indignation.

When Lin Zexu saw that Xinjiang at that time was desolate and deserted everywhere, he held the belief that "peace of mind can also be home", began to prepare for the construction of sleeping and forgetting food, he read Xinjiang materials day and night, entrusted General Ili to go to the people to find local historical materials, and gradually became familiar with Xinjiang, and a century-old plan about Xinjiang Tuntian was born. In the winter of the twenty-third year of Daoguang (1843), Lin Zexu began the initial reclamation of the Aqiwusu wasteland, but it was abandoned due to insufficient water. Later, he used his long-term experience in river management in the interior to plan to open canals to introduce the Water of the Hash River. Lin Zexu, together with local officials and gentry, donated funds to build a large-scale water diversion project to divert the water of the Hash River. Lin Zexu personally supervised the elderly and sickly body, employed more than 100,000 people, lasted more than 4 months, and built a canal of more than 200 kilometers long, after the canal was completed, the 100,000 mu of fields in Aziwusu were irrigated. To this day, this wide channel still moisturizes the western land, which is called the "Lin Gong Canal" by the local people.