Lin Zexu is a national hero and a great patriot in modern Chinese history.
Lin Zexu was born in 1785, a native of Houguan, Fujian. He was born in a feudal intellectual family. His father, Lin Binri, was a private school teacher with a modest income. He also had to pay off the debts owed by Lin Zexu's grandfather. Therefore, his life was very poor. Lin Zexu's mother and sisters all had to work as female workers to earn money to support the family. In such a difficult family environment, Lin Zexu developed a character that would not succumb to difficulties under any conditions. Moreover, his father was an upright man and had the character to live in poverty and uphold the law. When Lin Zexu was a child, he saw his father giving rice to his third uncle who was impoverished, while his family was starving. This sentiment of helping others and sacrificing oneself for others had a subtle influence on Lin Zexu.
Lin Zexu’s father loved him very much, and because of his extraordinary intelligence, his father took him to a private school when he was four years old. He was the youngest student in the class. But he has been very sensible since he was a child. He studies hard under the guidance of his father's words and deeds, and studies very consciously. He never needs to say a word from his parents. In the summer, he was studying by the spring behind his yard, and he was not even aware of the mosquito bites all over his body. In winter, the lights in his house would not go out until late at night. His father once asked him why he worked so hard. The young Lin Zexu replied: "I am worthy of my parents, and I am worthy of my future." His father smiled happily and felt that his hard work was not in vain. God has the vision to give him such a sensible thing. a son of.
One spring, his father took Lin Zexu and the students in his library to visit nearby Gushan. Lin Binri couldn't help but be moved by the scene while watching the sea. On a whim, he asked his students to make a couplet with the title of "Mountain" and "Sea". The requirement was to embed the two words in the upper and lower couplets. This couplet was a bit difficult. . But while other students were still thinking hard, nine-year-old Lin Zexu had already blurted out:
The sea is boundless and the sky is the shore,
I am the peak of the mountain.
The top and bottom are integrated, the atmosphere is harmonious, the confrontation is neat, and the scenes are blended. All the students clapped their hands and applauded. Lin Binri was even more pleasantly surprised. Looking at his son with his head held high and his face looking upright, he was extremely pleased. Lin Binri savored this couplet carefully and felt that it was majestic and expressed his broad mind and grand ambitions by praising the scenery. It was a good pairing. In fact, to this day, this pair is often used as a model couplet for people who are starting to learn couplets!
Many of the couplets in the living room and study room of the Lin family were written by father and son with different handwriting, because it was often the father who wrote the first couplet and his son who wrote the second couplet. This kind of "father-son double couplet" is at home. Found everywhere. One New Year's Eve, Lin Binri wrote a couplet on the paper:
On New Year's Eve, the moon is different, so light a few lanterns to express the beauty of the universe
Then he deliberately pretended to think, and looked at it with his eyes Looking at Lin Zexu, Lin Zexu knew what his father meant, so he picked up the drumstick at hand, knocked on the drum three times, and then took up a pen and wrote the second line on the paper:
New Year thunder has not yet sounded, Beat the three-tone drum to show off the power of the world
My father saw that the battle was neat and graceful. He knew that this child would achieve something in the future and was very happy. From then on, the story of the double calligraphy couplet between father and son also spread, and Lin Zexu became even more famous in the local area.
In 1811, Lin Zexu became a Jinshi and began to serve as an official. Since 1820, he has served as a local official in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hubei, Henan, Shandong and other places. Wherever he went, he paid great attention to punishing corruption and establishing river and lake water conservancy. He attached great importance to actual investigation. When he was the governor of the Donghe River, he took thousands of stacks of straw on foot and tried his best to repair the Yellow River. When he was the governor of Jiangsu, he wrote a letter stating the tax burden for many years and the suffering of the people, and asked his superiors to suspend the collection of taxes and build water conservancy projects. In 1837, he was transferred to the post of governor of Huguang, where he strictly prohibited opium and achieved remarkable results.
In the early 19th century, British colonists smuggled large quantities of opium into China. Not only did silver drain out in large quantities, people became addicted to opium, their physical fitness declined sharply, and the army lost its combat effectiveness. This caused serious social crises and National crisis. The Chinese people deeply hate the importation of opium and insist on its prohibition.
In 1838, Lin Zexu wrote to Emperor Daoguang, stating bitterly: "If opium is not strictly banned, in a few decades, China will have no soldiers to fight and no silver to use as taxes." He believed that we must adapt to the times. changes, changing the original anti-smoking laws and replacing them with severe penalties.
Emperor Daoguang was deeply touched by his words of expressing extreme concern about the crisis of rule and proposing reform measures for the smoking ban. Therefore, he appointed Lin Zexu as the imperial minister and went to Guangzhou to preside over the smoking ban.
In January 1839, Lin Zexu, determined to save the country from national peril, rushed to Guangzhou, the forefront of the fight against opium invasion. On March 18, he and Deng Tington summoned the Thirteen Foreign Traders who monopolized foreign trade, ordered the foreign businessmen to immediately hand over the opium, and resolutely declared: "If opium is not eradicated for a day, I will not leave for a day, and will never stop halfway. "He united with the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Deng Tingzhen, the Admiral of the Guangdong Navy, Guan Tianpei and other civil and military officials, and with the active support of the people, took resolute and decisive measures to seize 19,187 boxes of opium and 2,119 more bags. 23,762 pounds. From June 3 to 25, under his personal supervision, they were all destroyed in public on Humen Beach, achieving a great victory in the anti-smoking struggle and making great contributions to the Chinese nation.
Lin Zexu attaches great importance to understanding foreign situations. He believes that he must often visit foreign situations and know the other side's true and false situation in order to find effective ways to defeat the enemy. In order to seek true knowledge, he organized the translation of the British "Encyclopedia of World Geography" and compiled it into "Four Continents", which was the first monograph introducing Western geographical knowledge in modern China; he also compiled the British "Chinese" He compiled an excerpt from the book "Hua Shi Yi Yan"; to understand foreign views on Chinese affairs; organized the translation of "The Laws of Various Countries" by Switzerland's Huddar to understand foreign legal systems; and organized the translation of "Cannon Aiming" France, etc., in order to understand foreign military technology. He came into contact with Western academics, investigated and studied the situation in Western countries, and broke through the traditional concepts of ignorance, conservatism, and closed eyes and ears. Open your eyes to the world, advocate reform and opening up, and implement the correct policy of "law-abiding people are allowed to come, and those who resist the law are expelled" for foreign businessmen, thus effectively isolating and attacking the British invaders.
On June 28, 1840, British warships officially blocked the waters of the Pearl River, and the Opium War officially broke out. On July 6, 1840, the British army captured Dinghai and headed north to Dagukou. At this time, Emperor Daoguang began to favor compromise and surrender, and appointed Qishan, a capitulationist figure, to satisfy the British request to punish Lin Zexu and shake hands with the British. On October 20, Lin Zexu was dismissed from his post and investigated. At this time, Lin Zexu still did his best to continue the anti-British struggle. He inspected various places and made suggestions to strengthen Guangzhou's war preparedness. He also raised his own funds and recruited soldiers to enrich coastal defense. On May 1, 1841, Lin Zexu was sent to Zhenhai by Emperor Daoguang to assist in coastal defense. The day after Lin Zexu arrived, he devoted himself to defense activities centered on building cannons and ships. Such loyal ministers could be said to be very few among the officials of the Qing Dynasty. . On June 28, Lin Zexu was charged with several unfounded charges and was sent to Yili, Xinjiang. Although this national hero was full of passion, he ultimately had no way to serve his country.
In 1849, Lin Zexu returned to his hometown due to illness. In 1850, Lin Zexu was appointed as the imperial envoy to Guangxi. In November, he died of dysentery on the way to take office.