Lin Zexu

Lin Zexu (1785–1850) was a prominent Chinese scholar and official of the Qing dynasty, posthumously known as Wenzhong. Renowned for incorruptibility as Governor of Jiangsu and Governor-General of Huguang, Lin was appointed Imperial Commissioner by the Daoguang Emperor in late 1838 with extraordinary authority to eradicate the devastating illegal British opium trade in Guangzhou (Canton).

Arriving in Canton in March 1839, Lin blockaded the foreign factories and forced British traders to surrender over 20,000 chests of opium (roughly 1,200 tons), which he methodically destroyed over twenty-three days at Humen beach using lime and sea water. His famous moral appeal to Queen Victoria pointedly questioned Britain's conscience in exporting poisonous drugs that were strictly banned at home. Following the British military retaliation in the First Opium War, Lin was unfairly exiled to Xinjiang, where he pioneered modern irrigation projects (karez wells).