S01E12 Lin Zexu Cracks Down

Chinese Revolutions: A History Podcast

Lin Zexu Cracks Down on the Opium Trade

In today's episode, we look at exactly the inciting incident for the Opium War. The British official on the scene, Charles Elliot, wanted to protect British subjects but also keep good relations between Chinese and British subjects. Chinese officials in Canton wanted to avoid direct conflict, but Beijing wanted to suppress the opium trade.

Increasing Measures Taken Against Foreigners

In December 1838, Chinese soldiers built a public execution site in view of the places where the foreigners lived in the foreign settlement of Canton. Foreigners, offended at the sight, started taking the scaffold apart. A riot ensued, as foreign sailors started beating Chinese crowd members standing by, watching the demolition of the scaffold.

It was unclear what the Chinese government was going to do. Deng TIngzhen, governor-general of Guangdong, ordered another public execution in the foreign settlement in February 1839, but sent enough soldiers to make sure it happened speedily and without disturbance. A warning to the foreign opium traders, if there ever was one.

Lin Zexu Blockades the Foreign Settlement

When Lin Zexu actually arrived in Canton, he started a huge crackdown on Chinese users and dealers in opium. But he also blocked off the foreign quarter to intimidate foreign traders into giving over their stocks of opium for destruction. Lin went against advice and precedent when he did this.

The foreign community didn't know what was going to happen: was it just a show? did Lin really mean business? could they just wait it out?

Charles Elliot's Solution to the Problem

British trade official Charles Elliot arranged to give promissory notes to all the traders in Canton, backed by his supposed authority as a functionary of the British government, in exchange for their opium. He turned the opium over to the Chinese, who destroyed it.

But the value of the opium destroyed was worth over US$250 billion in today's money. The British government, which relied on good relationships with trading companies in London, couldn't just dismiss the promises of a rogue official and didn't just have that money laying around.

Come back next week for what they did about it. Hint: it's the Opium War.

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