Lin Zexu was a scholar in the 16th year of Jiaqing (18 1 1). He used to be editor of Hanlin, provincial judge of Jiangsu, governor of Donghe, governor of Jiangsu and governor of Huguang.
In the 19th year of Daoguang (1839), when an imperial envoy went to Guangdong to ban smoking, he sent an unannounced visit to force foreign opium dealers to hand over opium and destroy the confiscated opium in Humen.
This incident is considered to be the fuse of the first opium war. Shortly after the war broke out, Lin Zexu was framed and dismissed from office and sent to Xinjiang to defend the border.
Twenty-five years after Daoguang (1845), it was put into use again. He has served as governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, governor of Shaanxi, governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and added Prince Taipo.
In the thirty years of Daoguang (1850), Lin Zexu died of illness in Puning, Chaozhou, and was ordered to suppress the uprising of worshipping God.
Commemoration of future generations
Lin Zexu's tomb is located in Jinshishan, Ma 'an Village, Gulou District, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province. This tomb is where Lin Zexu and his wife were buried with their father, mother, brother and sister-in-law.
In front of the tomb, there is a memorial tablet of "Imperial inscription" and "Imperial writing" set by the court officials during the first year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty (185 1). 1988 was announced by the State Council as the third batch of national key cultural relics protection units.