Although the Kangxi Dynasty opened the four trading ports of Guangzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo and Yuntaishan, it was entirely based on a charity attitude and could not meet the trade needs of British merchants.

In the middle of the 18th century, Britain took the lead in completing the bourgeois revolution. Western businessmen, led by the British East India Company, have always hoped to open up the Chinese market. Although the Kangxi dynasty opened four trading ports in Guangzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, and Yuntaishan, it was entirely based on a charity attitude and could not meet the trade needs of British merchants.

This is far from the free trade that the British have in mind. Some British businessmen could not bear the blackmail from the officials of the Qing Dynasty and demanded to change trade routes and open new trading ports. However, Emperor Qianlong of the time believed that this was foreigners with ulterior motives and flatly refused.

In fact, the normal trade carried out directly between China and the West had always been a surplus before the Opium War . In the short nine years from 1781 to 1790 when Qianlong was in power, China earned 96 million yuan from tea exported to Britain. During the same period, the value of all industrial products imported from Britain to China was only one-sixth of the price of tea.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the amount of silver flowing into China from Britain every year was between 1 million and 4 million yuan. If trade between the two sides can continue, Jiaqing will not have to worry about financial difficulties at all.

However, the trade deficit was intolerable to the British, and the Qing Dynasty's trade attitude made British businessmen unsatisfied. This made the British government and British businessmen unanimously hope to expand the Chinese market. For this reason they started selling opium.

Opium trade, the key to reversing the Sino-British trade

Barrow, a member of the British mission, described the popularity of opium in Chinese society in the later years of Qianlong in his book:

"People in the upper class indulged in smoking opium at home. Although the authorities Despite taking all measures to ban the import, a considerable amount of this drug is still smuggled into the country... Guangzhou Daotai pointed out the various harmful effects of opium smoking in a recent announcement... However, this Guangzhou Daotai took his time and smoked his share of opium every day. "

In the early years of Qianlong, British merchants imported opium to China for the first time. East India Company employees secretly transported opium from India to Guangzhou and tasted the sweetness for the first time. The purchase price of each box of opium in India was only 250 Indian coins. After being shipped to China, the price was as high as 1,600 Indian coins, more than six times the price.

Opium has begun to harm China. What is sad is that everyone from emperors and nobles to traffickers and pawns did not know the dangers of opium, so they fell into drug addiction and could not extricate themselves.

Through trafficking to China, opium taxation became an important source of revenue for the British Indian government. In order to increase production, the East India Company continued to open up new opium-producing areas and studied how to make opium more suitable for the needs of the Chinese people in order to expand the output of opium.

The British believe that opium is harmful and must strictly limit its domestic consumption. However, they do not restrict the use of opium for foreign trade, but actively encourage export sales. Many British opium traders made fortunes in China. According to Chatton, the largest British opium dealer, in the best years, opium profits were as high as 1,000 silver dollars per box.

In the forty-fifth year of Qianlong's reign, the Chinese government had become aware of it. Emperor Qianlong reiterated the ban imposed during the Yongzheng period, prohibiting the import and sale of smoking utensils. But at this time, China did not have a deep understanding of the dangers of opium.

Therefore, the ban became a dead letter, and Qing customs officials happily accepted the bribes from British merchants and allowed them to pass. According to the British's own records, although the sale of opium was prohibited, as long as a small amount of money was spent to bribe the officials in charge, the opium trade banned by the court became legal and could be carried out openly.

In the first 20 years of the 19th century, Britain imported about 4,000 boxes of opium into China each year. By 1839, the number of boxes had expanded tenfold, with profits reaching 40 million silver dollars per year. The opium trade accounted for more than half of Britain's total trade with China.

Relying on the export of opium, the British government reversed the trade deficit with China in one fell swoop, and China changed from an exporting country to a importing superpower for more than two hundred years. The British made a fortune, but the Chinese were unlucky. The opium trade changed from the tacit approval of the British government to the open recognition, and it began to force India to produce opium in exchange for Chinese silver.

The opium trade caused a massive outflow of cash from China, and the opium-sucking areas expanded from "coastal areas" to dozens of provinces. The silver shortage spread from coastal provinces to all parts of the country. By the eve of the Opium War, China was losing at least 10 million taels of silver every year, accounting for nearly a quarter of the Qing government's total annual income.

The large outflow of silver caused the price of silver to rise, which increased the burden on the people. Tax arrears in various provinces increased day by day, and the Qing government fell into a financial crisis. Moreover, millions of Chinese people have been deeply poisoned physically and mentally due to opium smoking, and China's social economy and national finances have suffered significant damage and losses.

The Qing Dynasty, realizing that something was wrong, would of course take action. Naturally, Western opium dealers who have tasted the sweetness will not give up easily. War is inevitable.

A new beginning of the anti-smoking movement

Deng Tingzhen Smoking ban

There were two opinions in the imperial court: relaxing the ban and strictly prohibiting it. The two factions argued endlessly. Faced with this situation, Emperor Daoguang did not make a clear decision at the beginning. On the ninth day of August in the sixteenth year of Daoguang (1836), he said in his edict: Opium smoke came from overseas and spread to the mainland of China, and was banned many times.

There has been no consensus in recent opinions. Some have requested flexibility, while others have requested strict prohibitions. The situation must be carefully examined and coordinated arrangements must be made to ensure long-term implementation without any drawbacks. As Deng Tingzhen said in his excerpt, those traitors, merchants, buyers, crab boats, and soldiers who are engaged in trafficking must be closely investigated and dealt with, and the facts must be reported to the police.

On November 20th of the same year, Deng Tingzhen and others discussed in the memorial to put an end to the abuses of opium. They believed that "the argument made by Zhu Zun is extremely fair" and clearly pointed out that the current discussion about relaxing the ban on was not explicitly ordered. Although the outside of the imperial court may not be aware of it, after all, there is no explicit provision, so the terms of the ban on smoking must still be abided by.

In this regard, Emperor Daoguang adopted a default attitude. Deng Tingzhen and others also pointed out in the memorial that the spread of opium in the mainland has led to the increasing consumption of grain silver . In order to prevent the source of the evil, the most important thing is to prevent grain silver from going abroad.

On December 20, the 16th year of Daoguang (1836), Emperor Daoguang wrote in reply: What all the governors have done is very insightful. We must work together to inspect carefully, severely punish the traitors who collude with foreign businessmen, and put an end to the greed of foreign businessmen. To ensure that silver does not flow out of the country and is effective, we must not just talk about banning smoking, we must live up to the name. This edict marked the failure of the noisy talk of relaxing the ban, and the Qing government's anti-smoking campaign opened a new page.

After Emperor Daoguang's order arrived in Guangzhou, Deng Tingzhen immediately followed the spirit of the order and banned opium in various parts of Guangdong, prohibited the export of silver coins abroad, and ordered the opium dealers listed in Xu Qiu's memorial to leave Guangzhou. The British opium traders suffered an unprecedented blow. At the end of December in the 16th year of Daoguang's reign (1836), Yilu reported to London that the anti-smoking campaign in Guangzhou had achieved remarkable results in the past two months. On June 12, the 17th year of

(1837), Emperor Daoguang ordered the expulsion of the opium barges and ordered the governors to severely punish the foreign merchants. He also issued instructions to the foreigners in the country and ordered them to return home as soon as possible, and they were not allowed to stay and anchor the ships for any reason. And we must search the kiln entrance nests, inspect and manage them one by one, and don't tolerate them. On July 18, Emperor Daoguang ordered Deng Tingzhen to arrest opium smugglers.

After receiving the edict, Deng Tingzhen followed the edict and asked Yilu to remove the barge as soon as possible. He reiterated it many times, but Yilu turned a deaf ear. At the end of the seventeenth year of Daoguang (1837), Yilu reported that after arriving in Guangzhou, Chinese official businessmen continued to urge me to disband the opium barges.

Because Yilu was stubbornly resisting, in order to expel the barges, Deng Tingzhen ordered the eradication of the small boat named Kuai Xie to cut off the barges' support. By the autumn of the 18th year of Daoguang (1838), the fast crabs had been basically eliminated.

Although the opium barge can still rely on other speedboats to maintain the situation, the situation is no longer what it used to be. In addition, Deng Tingzhen also made certain progress in arresting domestic opium traffickers.

Huang Juezi and "Death Penalty Theory"

However, it should be noted that between the 17th and 18th years of Daoguang's reign (1837-1838), although the anti-smoking campaign in Guangdong under the leadership of Deng Tingzhen was effective, the import volume of opium still did not decrease. Under this severe situation, in the leap month of the 18th year of Daoguang's reign (1838), Huang Juezi, the Minister of Honglu Temple, came up with the key points of the ban on smoking. This is the famous "Please strictly seal the leaks to strengthen the country's foundation", and the anti-smoking movement set off a new climax.

Huang Juezi believes that the key to repeated opium prohibition is that there is no good method. He pointed out: "The high consumption of money is due to the prevalence of smoking. The prosperity of cigarette selling is due to the number of people who eat cigarettes. Those who do not smoke will not be interested in selling; if there is no interest in selling, the smoke from foreigners will not come."

Based on this situation, Huang Juezi proposed the method of "reinforcing smoking". That is to use severe punishment, such as the death penalty, to deal with drug addicts. The specific content is, "A period of one year is allowed to give up smoking. Even if the addiction is severe, it cannot be broken.

If you still smoke after one year, you are a rioter who does not follow the law. It is fair to impose a severe punishment." According to old rules, those who smoke opium are only guilty of using the cane, and those who do not point out those who engage in trafficking are guilty of one hundred canes and three years in prison. However, they are all sentenced to death...

If the crime is punished with death, it is a tragic imminent punishment, and it is even more painful to stop the addiction. I know that he would rather give up the addiction and die at home than be tortured and die in the market." This is the first time someone in China has proposed using the death penalty to severely punish opium addicts.

Huang Juezi's memorial attracted great attention from Emperor Daoguang. Emperor Daoguang immediately ordered "the generals of Shengjing, Jilin, Heilongjiang, and governors of the direct provinces to express their views, discuss the regulations properly, and implement them quickly."

Not long after, various governors and officials expressed their views one after another. Only He Changling, the governor of Guizhou, had a unique view. He believed that the reason why silver was more expensive than coins was because copper coins were minted by the government and increased every year, but the supply of silver was insufficient.

Other governors and governors all believed that the root cause of the high value of silver and the low value of money was the outflow of silver overseas, and the outflow of silver was the result of opium. Therefore, they all agreed to strictly prohibit opium, but they had different opinions on anti-smoking measures and the focus of the crackdown.

Those who basically supported Huang Juezi's views included Governor of Huguang Lin Zexu , Governor of Liangjiang Tao Shu, Governor of Hunan Guiliang, Governor of Nursing Hubei Zhang Yuesong, and Governor of Anhui Bu Xing'e. The rest believed that the death penalty was too harsh to treat drug addicts.

They expressed their own opinions and expressed different views on the objects of severe punishment. Some advocated that those who sell cigarettes and open opium dens should be severely punished;

It should be said that these governors and officials have their own opinions. Although Huang Juezi's proposal of using the death penalty to severely treat smoking is very necessary, the seriousness of the epidemic of tobacco and drugs must be recognized. Therefore, it must be comprehensively dealt with in many aspects such as punishing smuggling, importation, trafficking, hoarding, importing from seaports, and opening opium dens. Only in this way can the expected results be achieved. It can be said that these different opinions are supplements and improvements to Huang Juezi's claims.

Lin Zexu takes on important responsibilities

In the repercussions of local officials, Lin Zexu's views are outstanding. Lin Zexu not only fully agreed with Huang Juezi's proposition, but also drafted six anti-smoking regulations and formulated specific measures to severely curb smoking.

Not long after, he reported to Emperor Daoguang the results of his strict ban on smoking in the territory under the jurisdiction of Huguang. He pointed out that the situation among the people was not that they were not afraid of the law, and customs could be completely changed. As long as the laws were strict, the purpose of banning smoking could be achieved.

Lin Zexu allowed Emperor Daoguang to see reality and also allowed Emperor Daoguang to see hope. Lin Zexu also submitted an attachment titled "Money and Tickets Are Not a Thing, It's Better to Strictly Ban Smoking to Stop the Harm." This appendix further elaborated on the dangers of the opium trade, warning:

"When opium is not prevalent, Those who take it will not harm themselves, so the stick is enough to cover up the poison in the world, and the harm will be great. If the law is still serious, there will be no soldiers in the Central Plains to defend the enemy, and there will be no money to pay."

Looking at the great discussion on the smoking ban within the Qing government in the 18th year of Daoguang (1838), the focus was not on relaxing the ban or strict prohibition, but on how to strictly prohibit it. Regardless of whether the "death penalty theory" can be adopted, the determination of the imperial court to strictly implement the smoking ban has been obvious.

After July of the 18th year (1838), he was imprisoned for smoking opium. There were many imperial relatives and important government officials who were punished, such as Pu Xi, Count Guiming, Baron Tekeshen, etc.

Officials from various provinces have also taken on the important task of seizing tobacco and soot. Many tobacco and soot cases have been seized in , Shandong, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other places. At the same time, Deng Tingzhen, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, is still implementing his anti-smoking measures in Guangzhou.

In October of the eighteenth year of Daoguang (1838), it is estimated that more than 2,000 opium dealers, brokers, and opium addicts were arrested, and some were sentenced to death for serious crimes. In mid-December, the opium traders saw that the situation was over and fled one after another. Not even a box of opium could be sold.

On the east coast, conflicts between opium ships and the army intensified, and opium sales were limited. In November of the 18th year of Daoguang's reign (1838), "Guangzhou Price Times" The Daily News was no longer able to report the exact price of opium because the opium trade no longer existed. It can be seen that Deng Tingzhen's anti-smoking campaign in Guangdong dealt a huge blow to British businessmen.

During the nationwide wave of smoking bans, Emperor Daoguang shifted the focus of his work, which was to eliminate the import of opium. He said in his edict: "The contagion of opium smoke is getting deeper and deeper, and the contagion is longer. If the source is not investigated, how long will this disaster end? "

On September 23rd of the 18th year (1838), Emperor Daoguang summoned Lin Zexu to Beijing. On November 15th, he appointed him as the imperial envoy to go to Guangdong to "investigate the Haikou incident." Three days later, Emperor Daoguang ordered Deng Tingzhen, governor of Guangdong and Guangdong, and Yiliang, governor of Guangdong, to fully support Lin Zexu and complete the task of banning smoking.

Emperor Daoguang had high hopes for this, hoping that he could eradicate a major disaster for China. Daoguang 19 In January 1839, Lin Zexu arrived in Guangzhou and began to use unprecedented harsh methods to eliminate the smoke disaster. Since then, the vigorous anti-smoking movement has opened a new chapter.

The Trigger of the Opium War

Lin Zexu, the man who kicked off the Opium War

"If you live and die for the benefit of the country, how can you avoid it because of misfortunes and blessings?" "These are two lines from the poem " Going to the garrison and showing the family members at the entrance to the garrison" written by the national hero Lin Zexu in August 1842.

Lin Zexu was a native of Houguan, Fujian (now Fuzhou), born on August 30, 1785. . His father Lin Binri was unable to take the imperial examination due to eye disease and made a living by teaching.

Lin Zexu studied poetry and books since he was a child. , Jiangsu Advocate, Hubei Chief Envoy, Liangjiang Governor, Huguang Governor and other positions. Lin Zexu was an upright scholar who was very dissatisfied with official corruption. During his tenure, he carried out some reforms that "benefited the country and the people" and were highly praised by the people.

When Lin Zexu was the governor of Huguang, opium was already sold in large quantities in China. It is estimated that more than two million people across the country smoked opium, which seriously affected the Qing government's national defense and fiscal revenue and affected people's lives. People of insight began to advocate No smoking.

Lin Zexu also wrote three times to describe the harm of opium. When he was governor of Jiangsu, he started to ban smoking and achieved results. When he subsequently took office as governor of Huguang, he proposed the "Six Smoking Bans", confiscating tobacco and tobacco paste with a total value of more than 12,000 taels, and 1,264 pipes. At the same time, he issued detoxification prescriptions and folk remedies in order to cure diseases and save people.

He described six anti-smoking plans in the "Regulations on Strict Prohibition of Opium" to Emperor Daoguang, and also successively submitted the "Charge of Confiscating Cigarettes from Big Cigarette Dealers" "Special circumstances" and "Money and tickets are not a big deal and it is advisable to ban smoking to eliminate the source of the disadvantages".

Emperor Daoguang fully affirmed Lin Zexu's actions at that time. He met with Lin Zexu for eight consecutive days starting from November 27, 1838, and appointed Lin Zexu as the Imperial Envoy to Guangdong to investigate the Haikou incident in Guangdong. He also expressed his determination to ban smoking.

During the short period of time during which Lin Zexu was in Beijing, in addition to accepting summons, he also visited friends and apprentices, and extensively solicited opinions on the strict prohibition of opium.Among them, he received strong support from his close friend Gong Zizhen who was the head of the Host and Guest Department of the Ministry of Rites.

Opium is strictly prohibited, and the fear of the British commercial supervisor in China

Lin Zexu took office immediately after receiving the order. He conducted on-the-spot investigations in Guangzhou for six or seven days. He also hired four translators to get an in-depth understanding of the opium trafficking situation, and then took corresponding countermeasures. During the anti-smoking campaign, Lin Zexu encountered unprecedented pressure. Not only did the British plot to resist, but even China's thirteen lines tried their best to obstruct it.

The Thirteen Banks were the thirteen commercial banks franchised by the Qing government for foreign trade. They colluded with foreign businessmen in the long-term domestic and foreign trade, harbored opium smuggling, and were agents of foreign businessmen. Among them was a man named Wu Shaorong , who thought that he had money and could make trouble in the Qing Dynasty, so he tried to bribe Lin Zexu, but Lin Zexu severely scolded him.

Lin Zexu seriously pointed out the crime of the Thirteenth Bank's involvement in buying opium, and asked them to surrender in order to seek leniency. At the same time, he issued a message to businessmen from various countries, asking them to hand over all opium and promise not to sell it again. He also stated that he would fight against opium trafficking to the end.

When the British commercial supervisor in China, Elliot, heard the news, he rushed from Macau to Guangzhou in an attempt to protect the British opium merchants, but was surrounded by indignant Chinese people in the business building. After Lin Zexu learned about it, he immediately ordered the cabins to be sealed and the pavilions to be surrounded, and urged foreign businessmen to hand over cigarettes. Yilu and others had no choice but to hand over a small amount of opium.

Lin Zexu was unmoved and issued an order that Yilu could not leave the business house until the opium was paid in full. Yilu and others had no choice but to hand over 20,283 boxes of opium and sign a pledge to "never bring opium with them". Only then were they able to leave the country under Lin Zexu's expulsion.

With strict planning methods and serious discipline, Lin Zexu successfully completed the unprecedented task of confiscating opium. The emperor commended and affirmed his actions.

Opium is a well-known drug. Once addicted to drugs, over time, the user will become emaciated and lose their ability to work. Moreover, drugs are expensive and are huge profits. Many people have lost all their wealth because of smoking, and even sold their children, daughters and wives.

Not only that, in order to bribe high-ranking officials, opium dealers also tempted Qing officials to take opium, which permeated the entire bureaucracy of the Qing Dynasty and paralyzed the Qing Dynasty's coastal defense.

Many people with lofty ideals have realized the huge harm opium does to the human body and strongly demand a ban on smoking. Gong Zizhen, Lin Zexu, etc. are typical representatives. However, due to the appeasement and inaction in the early days of Daoguang, they were helpless and could only meet and talk regularly to express their helplessness.

As the poison of opium became more and more serious, people's calls for a ban on smoking became louder and louder. Emperor Daoguang had to issue an edict to strictly ban opium. However, because the entire coastal defense system of the Qing Dynasty was involved, the smoking ban was met with strong resistance from , a vested interest group , after it was issued.

They obtained a large amount of bribes from opium smuggling, opposed the smoking ban, and blatantly resisted the just demands of the broad masses of the people. The other group saw the serious consequences of the large-scale import of opium on feudal rule and advocated a strict ban on opium. Lin Zexu, the governor of Huguang, was a typical representative.

With the promotion of Lin Zexu and the strong support of Deng Tingzhen, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, a people's anti-smoking movement can continue in full swing. Finally, there was a scene of excitement in Humen in 1839.

Humen's opium burning , the fuse that lit the explosive package

Under the command of Lin Zexu, starting from June 3, 1839, the 23-day Humen opium burning kicked off. That day, people went to Humen Shoal one after another. Accompanied by the governor of Guangdong, Yi Liang, and others, Lin Zexu stepped onto the podium and announced the start of cigarette sales using the "seawater immersion method."

The method of seawater immersion is to dig two pools on the beach, pave the bottom with stones, and nail boards around to prevent the leakage of opium. Then dig a ditch to allow seawater to flow into the pool, then crush the opium and put it into the pool to soak for a while, and then sprinkle with lime.

When the sea water recedes, the culvert in front of the opium burning pool is opened, and the dissolved opium flows into the sea with the waves. After all the opium is dissolved, the bottom of the pool is washed with clean water so that no residue is left.

Lin Zexu issued a notice before the cigarettes were sold out, allowing foreigners to visit the site. Some foreign businessmen, consuls, foreign journalists, and missionaries did not believe that Lin Zexu had the means to destroy all opium without leaving any harm, so they came specially to watch, and in the end they all took off their hats to pay tribute to Lin Zexu. From June 3 to 25, more than 2 million kilograms of opium were completely destroyed except for 8 boxes left as samples to be sent to the capital.

At the same time as the ban on cigarettes, Lin Zexu formulated the "Ten Articles of Anti-Smoking Regulations", which stipulated that smokers should take the initiative to hand over their cigarettes and smoking utensils to the officials. The name of the person who handed over the tobacco will not be traced, and they can also ask others to hand it over on their behalf. At the same time, a government-run collection bureau and branch bureaus were set up to collect tobacco and tobacco paraphernalia and persuade them to quit drug addiction. After

promulgated the regulations, Lin Zexu strictly enforced the ban. Within two months, he arrested 1,600 drug criminals, confiscated 460,000 taels of tobacco, 40,000 pipes, and more than 200 smoking pots. Guangdong's anti-smoking campaign has achieved successive successes, taking the lead in various places, and anti-smoking campaigns have been launched in various places.

Lin Zexu was ordered to ban smoking, which was at a critical moment when he faced powerful enemies externally and treacherous ministers internally. He said, "If you live and die to benefit your country, how can you avoid it because of misfortunes and blessings." In this severe situation, he showed the fearless spirit of patriotism and became a national hero in modern Chinese history who dared to resist imperialist aggression.

History books commented on him: "The elimination of opium in Humen was a glorious page in the anti-imperialist struggle in our modern history. The victory of the anti-smoking movement led by Lin Zexu was the first great victory in the history of the Chinese people's anti-aggression struggle. This feat safeguarded the dignity and interests of the nation and increased the fighting spirit of the Chinese people." At the same time, the elimination of opium in Humen also greatly suppressed the British opium trade in China, dealt a heavy blow to the British bourgeoisie trade plunder in China, and also awakened the patriotism of the Chinese people.

From a global perspective, at that time, opium poisoning had spread to all parts of the world. Indonesia has suffered the fate of subjugating the country and the weak because of opium. Other countries in Southeast Asia have also been harmed by opium to varying degrees.

However, various countries have not paid enough attention to the ban on opium. Only China has carried out the anti-smoking campaign with great fanfare and achieved fruitful results. Lin Zexu can be said to be a pioneer in drug control in the world.

Emperor Daoguang once praised this move as "removing the source of China's great troubles" and "it can be said to be a very happy thing." Marx also praised the Humen ban on opium as the "culmination" since the Chinese government took strict prohibition measures. Since then, the anti-smoking hero Lin Zexu has also been respected as a national hero and praised by future generations.

Although the Humen Fire was extinguished, the indomitable Chinese nation preserved the fire and passed it on from generation to generation. The times always need some spirit and will as support. This spirit and will must be national, independent and strong, just like Lin Zexu's gunfire in Humen.

The anti-smoking movement was a good deed for China, but it directly harmed the interests of the British government and British opium merchants. In order to safeguard its own illegal interests and force the Qing government to surrender, the British government decided to launch a long-planned war of aggression against China. From this perspective, the "Humen Smoking Opium Campaign" became the trigger for this war and accelerated China's semi-colonialization.