Lin Zexu

30 August 1785 – 22 November 1850

Lin Zexu (1785-1850) was a Qing dynasty scholar-official best known for his vigorous campaign against the opium trade as Imperial Commissioner at Canton. His confiscation and destruction of British opium stocks at Humen in 1839 became a precipitating event of the First Opium War. Exiled to Xinjiang after the war's early defeats, he was later rehabilitated and is honored in China as a symbol of integrity and resistance to the drug trade.

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Life events

Born in Fuzhou, Fujian province
30 August 1785

Lin Zexu was born on 30 August 1785 into a poor but scholarly family in Fuzhou.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Earned the jinshi degree in the imperial examinations
1811

In 1811 Lin passed the highest imperial examination and was appointed to the Hanlin Academy, beginning his official career.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Rose through provincial posts as a capable administrator
c. 1820 – 1837

Lin served in a series of provincial offices, gaining a reputation for competence and incorruptibility in flood control, finance, and administration.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Appointed Governor-General of Hunan and Hubei
1837

As governor-general from 1837 he launched a suppression campaign against opium use that impressed the Daoguang Emperor.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Named Imperial Commissioner to suppress the opium trade at Canton
December 1838

In late 1838 the Daoguang Emperor appointed Lin special Imperial Commissioner with orders to end the opium traffic at Guangzhou.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Destroyed confiscated opium at Humen
3 June 1839 – 25 June 1839

Beginning on 3 June 1839, Lin supervised the public destruction of more than 20,000 chests of opium surrendered by foreign merchants, an event that helped trigger the First Opium War.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Dismissed and exiled to Ili in Xinjiang
1841 – 1845

Blamed for the outbreak of war with Britain, Lin was stripped of office in 1840 and banished to the remote Ili region, where he continued useful work on irrigation and agriculture.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Rehabilitated and returned to high provincial office
1845

Recalled from exile in 1845, Lin subsequently served as governor-general in the northwest and southwest, including the Yunnan-Guizhou governor-generalship.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died en route to Guangxi to combat the Taiping rebels
22 November 1850

Appointed Imperial Commissioner to suppress the nascent Taiping uprising, Lin died at Puning, Guangdong, on 22 November 1850 while traveling to take up the post.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓