    lin zexu (30 august 1785 â 22 november 1850), courtesy name yuanfu, was a chinese scholar and official of the qing dynasty. lin's forceful opposition to the opium trade on economic, moral, and social grounds is considered to be the primary catalyst for the first opium war of 1839â42. he is praised for his constant position on the "moral high ground" in his fight and blamed for a rigid approach which did not realize the domestic and international complexities of the problem. although the non-medicinal consumption of opium was banned by the yongzheng emperor in 1729, by the 1830s china's economy and society were being damaged by increased imports by chinese smugglers who illegally bought opium from british and american traders. the daoguang emperor endorsed the hard line policies advocated by lin, but then blamed lin for the resulting disastrous war.spence, op.cit., pp.152â158. ==early life and career== lin was born in houguan (ä¾¯å®; modern fuzhou, fujian). the second son of the family, his father was bin re, a chinese official active in the qing dynasty. as a child, he was already "unusually brilliant". in 1811, he received a jinshi degree in the imperial examination, and in the same year, he was appointed to the hanlin academy. he rose rapidly through various grades of provincial service. he was opposed to the opening of china but felt the need of a better knowledge of foreigners, which drove him to collect much material for a geography of the world. he la
1785_births 1850_deaths Chinese_scholars People_from_Fuzhou People_listed_in_Hummel\'s_Eminent_Chinese_of_the_Ch\'ing_Period People_of_the_First_Opium_War Political_office-holders_in_Gansu Political_office-holders_in_Guangdong Political_office-holders_in_Hubei Political_office-holders_in_Yunnan Qing_dynasty_politicians_from_Fujian