Lins letter to queen victoria. A Letter to Queen Victoria 2022-10-16

Lins Letter to Queen Victoria (1) (1).pdf

Therefore he especially promulgates these fixed regulations. Both letters share an influence of the historical context and the well reasoned arguments backed by information which affect the content of these letters. As for other foodstuffs, beginning with candy, ginger, cinnamon, and so forth, and articles for use, beginning with silk, satin, chinaware, and so on, all the things that must be had by foreign countries are innumerable. I have also heard that you have instructed every British ship that sails for Canton not to bring any prohibited goods to China. Therefore in the new regulations, in regard to those barbarians who bring opium to China, the penalty is fixed at decapitation or strangulation. The barbarian merchants of your country, if they wish to do business for a prolonged period, are required to obey our statues respectfully and to cut off permanently the source of opium. As such it does not make as many appeals to morality nor does it have to stress the power of the Qing Empire.

digital china/harvard: Letter of Advice to Queen Victoria

British mer- chants took the lead in opening up China to trade with the West, armed with an ex- tremely addictive commodity — opium. Yet the Emperor cannot. The letter: A communication: magnificently our great Emperor soothes and pacifies China and the foreign countries, regarding all with the same kindness. You have traded in China for almost 200 years , and as a result, your country has become wealthy and prosperous. His Majesty the Emperor, upon hearing of this, is in a towering rage. May you, O King, check your wicked and sift your wicked people before they come to China, in order to guarantee the peace of your nation, to show further the sincerity of your politeness and submissiveness, and to let the two countries enjoy together the blessings of peace How fortunate, how fortunate indeed! Hence the main entry point of the opium into China that comes in from the south.

Lin Zexu's Letters to Queen Victoria and Emperor Daoguang

This treaty held economic bond but also eventually begot many sociological pressures from the strong, Christian nation that did not go unseen by Chinese who were keen to resist any change from their already advanced culture. There remains some question whether Queen Victoria ever read the letter. Lin directly refers to the Queen by saying "You, the queen of your honorable nation sit upon a throne occupied through successive generations by predecessors, all of whom have been styled respectful and obedient. By the early nineteenth century opium was the principal product that the English East India Company traded in China and opium addiction was becoming a widespread social problem. In these possessions the English people not only plant opium poppies that stretch from one mountain to another but also open factories to manufacture this terrible drug. This may be called the height of kindness and the perfection of justice. If the merchants of your honorable country wish to enjoy trade with us on a permanent basis, they must fearfully observe our law by cutting off, once and for all, the supply of opium.

A Letter to Queen Victoria

The goods from China carried away by your country not only supply your own consumption and use, but also can be divided up and sold to other countries, producing a triple profit. Why do you not do it? Of all that China exports to foreign countries, there is not a single thing which is not beneficial to peolple: they are of benefit when eaten, or of benefit when used, or of benefit when resold: all are beneficial. If China, again, cuts off this beneficial export, what profit can the barbarians expect to make? As for the barbarian merchants who come to China, their food and drink and habitation, all received by the gracious favor of our Celestial Court. Since they are not needed by China, what difficulty would there be if we closed our the frontier and stopped the trade? The purpose of your ships in coming to China is to realize a large profit. Since a Chinese could not peddle or smoke opium if foreigners had not brought it to China, it is clear that the true culprits of a Chinese's death as a result of an opium conviction are the opium traders from foreign countries.

Commissioner Lin's Letter To Queen Victoria In 1839

Emerging from lockdown, some in Shanghai are visiting well-provisioned markets. As months accumulate and years pass by, the poison they have produced increases in its wicked intensity, and its repugnant odor reaches as high as the sky. It was as much as a tourist attraction as Times Square is in New York City. By what right do they then in return use the poisonous drug to injure the Chinese people? The tributes that Lin Zexu mentions were diplomatic missions aimed at giving trade rights to the British inside of China. He who sells opium shall receive the death penalty and he who smokes it also the death penalty. Since then you do not permit it to injure your own country".

Lin Zexu – Letter to Queen Victoria, 1839

Now we, the commissioner and others, have memorialized and have received the extraordinary Celestial grace of His Majesty the Emperor, who has redoubled his consideration and compassion. Since it is not permitted to do harm to your own country, then even less should you let it be passed on to the harm of other countries - how much less to China! Now after this communication has been dispatched and you have clearly understood the strictness of the prohibitory laws of the Celestial Court, certainly you will not let your subjects dare again to violate the law. Instead they show the interactions between the British Empire and the Qing Empire and the events that led to the clash of the Opium Wars. It is only necessary to explain to them the advantages and disadvantages and then they will know that the legal code of the Celestial Court must be absolutely obeyed with awe. Heaven is furious with anger, and all the gods are moaning with pain! This was best demonstrated when he was finally ordered to join the war against the Taiping rebels in south and central China, he died an old man while travelling to his new post in 1850. The information that Commissioner Lin provides demonstrates the historical context that the letter is based on. His logical appeal is also present in this statement "in your own country opium is prohibited with the utmost strictness and severity - this is a string proof that you know full well how hurtful it is to mankind.

Lin Zexu

Since it is not permitted to do harm to your own country, then even less should you let it be passed on to the harm of other countries -- how much less to China! Since then you do not permit it to injure your own country, you ought not to have the injurious drug. Having established new regulations, we presume that the ruler of your honorable country, who takes delight in our culture and whose disposition is inclined towards us, must be able to instruct the various barbarians to observe the law with care. Moreover, you will enjoy a long life and be rewarded with a multitude of children and grandchildren! All those people in China who sell opium or smoke opium should receive the death penalty. The interpretation I get from this quote is that China thinks very highly of themselves and think they are the center of the world, whether it be physically or superiority. Because of this fact, the Celestial Empire, following its traditional policy of treating foreigners with kindness , has been doubly considerate towards the people from England.

Jesse Bauer

For months and years work is continued in order to accumulate the poison. Take tea and rhubarb, for example; the foreign countries cannot get along for a single day without them. The reason why we unhesitantly allow foreigners to ship out such Chinese products as tea and silk is that we feel that wherever there is an advantage, it should be shared by all the people in the world. Lin Zexu seems to imply that Britain always acknowledged the superiority of "the Central Land" another term used to refer to China. Our Celestial Dynasty rules over and supervises the myriad states, and surely possesses unfathomable spiritual dignity. This will really be a great, benevolent government policy that will increase the common weal and get rid of evil. Consequently there are those who smuggle opium to seduce the Chinese people and so cause the spread of the poison to all provinces.