The historical storm of the Opium War has passed for more than 120 years, and looking back at that period of history, we hate the corruption of the bureaucratic clique in the late Qing Dynasty, which led to the final cession of land and compensation, the loss of power and humiliation of the country, and began to continue the history of imperialist aggression against China for more than a century; of course, we also sighed and admired the national heroes who emerged in the Opium War, such as Lin Zexu, the governor of Huguang, who served the country and the people, Guan Tianpei, the admiral of Guangdong, and patriotic generals such as Chen Huacheng, Hai Ling, and Dinghai San. They all profoundly displayed the national spirit with patriotism as the core, and although they were feudal bureaucrats, their spiritual qualities were respected by future generations. One of the most thought-provoking is Lin Zexu, the "chief planner of Humen tobacco sales". Lin Zexu (林則徐), a Marquis of Fujian (present-day Fuzhou, Fujian), also spelled Shaomu, was a famous politician, thinker, and poet of the Guang Dynasty of the late Qing Dynasty of China, who served as the Governor of Huguang, the Governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and the Governor of Yungui, and twice served as the Minister of Qincha. He was strict with himself, flaunting the annals of history for honesty and honesty in government, and being loyal in the struggle against foreign nationalities; at the same time, he was also the "first person in Chinese history to open his eyes and see the world", took the initiative to explore the general trend of world development, and wrote the "Chronicle of Four Continents", which set a precedent for driving future generations of intellectuals to take the initiative to understand the world and abandon the concept of "Yixia Great Defense".
Figure I. Opium war
(1) The current social situation before the anti-smoking struggle
In the late Qing society where the opium trade was becoming more and more prevalent, the existence of opium caused a large amount of silver outflow from the Qing Dynasty at that time, and china's tea trade with the outside world always allowed us to maintain a surplus advantage in foreign trade, and it was precisely because of the influx of opium that the government's treasury at that time became increasingly empty; what is more, the influx of opium gradually began to gradually erode the bureaucratic group from the ordinary people, and when the Daoguang Dynasty came, it was found that a large number of people in the imperial court officials smoked opium, making the bureaucratic group at that time increasingly corrupt. Lin Zexu once asserted: "If opium is poisoned by the world, it will be extremely harmful, and the law should be strict!" If you leak it, it will make the Central Plains almost invincible to the enemy decades later, and there will be no silver to feed. It can be seen that the harm of opium is great, and if it is allowed to develop, the country will not be a country, and the ancestral inheritance will be destroyed.
The reason why the opium trade became popular in late Qing society was actually due to the development of capitalism in Western countries. In the 1760s and 1770s, when the British Industrial Revolution was booming, the development of capitalism made it difficult for Britain to be satisfied with a small domestic market, and opening up overseas markets became the dream of the British at this time. In order to satisfy the ambitions of the British at that time, the British capitalists at that time set their sights on the "fat meat" of China. At first, it was planned to dump the advanced industrial products of the British Industrial Revolution into the Chinese market, but unexpectedly, the Chinese society at that time was dominated by the small peasant economy, and the people never had interest in the advanced industrial products of the British, and they were always regarded as "strange tricks" in the official authorities. Naturally, although these items are indeed advanced in the eyes of the British, they have never been purchased in the Chinese market. Until one day, the British found that doing business with Chinese, good things did not tempt them, and a kind of "opium" in Britain, which was regarded as an illegal item, was quite good to sell in China. So the British government granted the East India Company the privilege of growing and selling opium in 1773, and began the evil opium trade in China.
Opium circulation in China has long existed, and a ban has been issued during the Yongzheng period, and then after opium spread throughout the country, it is still repeatedly banned. The reason for this is that in order to seek huge benefits, British businessmen did not hesitate to give small favors to officials and bribe officials, resulting in collusion between officials and businessmen, which caused opium to flood. In the Daoguang Dynasty, the opium issue became the central issue of society, and anti-smoking rhetoric began to become the core issue. Among the earliest appeared were the Forbidden Faction represented by Xu Naiji; there were also the Forbidden Faction represented by Huang Juezi. Xu Naiji advocated that smoking should be flexible, advocating the liberalization of the market and allowing the legalization of the opium trade, which is obviously a profound embodiment of the Taoist political concept of "ruling by doing nothing"; Huang Juezi, the secretary of the Hongxu Temple, advocated re-curing opium addicts. At first, the Daoguang Emperor remembered that the opium addicts in the society at that time accounted for about 4 million people, and it was difficult to bear to adopt severe punishments against them, and it was difficult to make a decision for a while. In the end, the forces of the strict prohibition faction prevailed, and Lin Zexu's anti-smoking ideas promoted the Daoguang Emperor's determination to ban smoking.
(2) Lin Zexu's anti-smoking struggle
When Lin Zexu's recital was sent to the Capital Division, the Daoguang Emperor was so impressed that he was determined to ban smoking, and later sent Lin Zexu, then the governor of Huguang, to Guangzhou to ban opium. Lin Zexu was well aware of the heavy responsibility of the state, so he made up his mind: "If the opium is not resolved for a day, this minister will not return for a day, and he will vow to be consistent with this matter, and there is no reason to stop it." In the later period, Lin Zexu's actions also did show that he was worthy of a generation of honest people, and always regarded the national interest as his responsibility. When Lin Zexu arrived in Guangzhou, he began the anti-smoking campaign, first to ban opium, never to be merciful to officials, rich and gentry, and to punish those who secretly stored opium according to law; then, in the one-year examination for the imperial examination, Lin Zexu did not hesitate to closely integrate the current opium problem with the content of the examination, and the examination that year mainly had four questions: first, the names of opium distribution centers and operators; second, related retailers; third, expositions on the drawbacks of anti-smoking in the past; and fourth, anti-smoking methods. Although the examination was nominally a examination, it was actually a questionnaire survey. When Lin Zexu made his debut to ban smoking, he was heard by the British Merchant House, and the British wanted to bribe Lin Zexu with heavy money and plead with him to open up the channels of opium trade. Unexpectedly, this Lin Daren, who was ordered to ban smoking, was very different from the previous bureaucrats, money and fame and fortune had long been ignored in Lin Zexu's eyes, he never forgot his great responsibility of smoking ban, and swore with his life to defend the rights and interests of the nation and save the nation from danger. This point did not change until he was dismissed from his post and assigned to Xinjiang in the later period.
After more than half a year of inventory, Lin Zexu confiscated more than 19,000 boxes of opium, which were finally destroyed in public at Humen Beach from June 3 to 25, 1839, which is the famous "Humen tobacco sales" in history. Lin Zexu's move completely shocked the British businessmen, and they also realized that Lin Zexu was a difficult person to deal with. In July of the same year, some British people deliberately killed Lin Weixi, a small qing dynasty citizen at the time, because of drunkenness, and Lin Zexu demanded that the British trading house hand over the murderer from the perspective of defending the Chinese people. Unexpectedly, the British refused to return the murderer and only dealt with the sinner in accordance with British law. Obviously ignoring the edicts of the Qing Dynasty at that time, Lin Zexu made a fierce move, ordering officers and soldiers to surround the British trading house to make it unable to drain, and cut off food and water until the British gave in, which is the famous "Lin Weixi Incident".
(iii) Dynastic dynamics after the outbreak of the Opium War
Since the "Lin Weixi Incident", when British merchants have been wronged in China, they have tried to return to their homeland to inform the Queen of England that they are trying to take revenge. The Queen of England, out of her own interests, encouraged parliament to discuss the war against China. In Parliament, many people who had not yet known about China's national conditions rejected war, declaring that China had been a great power since ancient times, its land area was dozens of times greater than Britain's, and its labor expeditions and supply lines were long, and war should not be lightly waged; another faction summed up the experience of its predecessors after Magalney's visit to China, threatening that although China was vast and rich, it was actually vulnerable. After some debate, in 1840 the British Parliament passed the "Bill for the Financing of the War against China" with a ratio of 271:262 to 9 votes. When British warships hit China, Qing officials who were not familiar with the world still thought that overseas barbarians were vulnerable. When Dinghai fell, the Daoguang Emperor was well aware of Yingyi's strength and could not send QiShan to negotiate peace with the British. The British demanded that Lin Zexu be punished, and the Daoguang Emperor removed him from his post and sent Lin Zexu to Yili.
Since then, the British have been pressing forward step by step. During the Opium War, they felt the ignorance and backwardness of the Qing Dynasty, so they seized benefits on the land of China by means of military conquest. Since Lin Zexu, although patriotic generals such as Tianpei, Yuqian, Hailing, and Chen Huacheng have continued to emerge, they have not been able to save the weak Qing Dynasty from the historical tragedy of paying reparations for land and losing power and humiliating the country. On August 29, 1842, China and Britain signed the Treaty of Nanking, which began the tragic history of imperialist aggression against China.
Figure II. Lin Zexu
(4) Summary
The fiasco of the Opium War made the Chinese people realize the profound truth that "to be backward is to be beaten." Before the Opium Wars, we hated the corrupt bureaucracy for accepting bribes and smuggling opium at will, which led to the decline of the country and the degeneration of civilization. At the same time, he also praised Lin Wenzhonggong's determination and courage to defend the interests of the nation to the death. "If a country lives and dies by profit, it is better to avoid it because of misfortunes and blessings", which is a vivid portrayal of Lin Wenzhong's patriotism and still plays its role in the times in contemporary times. Lin Zexu's life trajectory is not smooth, it can be described as a bumpy career, he is still concerned about the motherland when he was assigned to Xinjiang, writing the "Chronicle of Four Continents" and "opening his eyes to see the world". The second half of his life gradually faded in people's vision, in fact, behind the reflection of the corruption of the feudal system. Deng Xiaoping once said: "A good system can make it impossible for bad people to run amok at will, and a bad system can make good people unable to do good things fully, and even go in the opposite direction." Lin Zexu's experience is a vivid portrayal of it. The bureaucratic clique of late Qing society and the inferior corruption of its feudal system eventually forced them to be eliminated by reality, and the humiliating history of modern China since the Xinhai Revolution is also mainly rooted here.