Shanghai Royal Asiatic Society History Club March 22: David Atwill on Lin Zexu after the Opium War

Posted: March 21st, 2025 | No Comments »

History Club Mar 22: David Atwill on Lin Zexu after the Opium War

Beyond the Opium War: Rethinking the Contributions of Commissioner Lin Zexu to 19th century Imperial China

Garden Books
长乐路325号，近陕西南路
325 Changle Rd, Near Shaanxi South Rd
Shanghai, China

Mar​ ​22,​ ​2025​
​​ ​(​4​:00​​ ​PM​ ​-​ ​​6​:00​​ ​PM)​ (GMT+8)

The Opium War (1839-42) appears in virtually every telling of nineteenth-century world history. No individual, Chinese or British, looms larger in that event than Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu. In 1838, Lin was hand-picked by the emperor from among the empire’s best and brightest officials to combat the opium trade at Guangzhou. Only eighteen months later, the emperor just as quickly dismissed Lin from the post and soon thereafter banished him to northwestern China. In most tellings, this is the last one hears of Lin. And yet, in the last decade of his life, Lin remained highly respected among his peers, immensely popular across the empire, and continued to serve as one of the emperor’s top imperial troubleshooters.

In this talk, Professor Atwill (NYU Shanghai) focuses on Lin’s post-Opium War career to upend traditional accounts of mid-nineteenth century China and to allow us to see with new eyes how Qing China faced global challenges in a rapidly changing world.

David G. Atwill is Dean of Arts and Sciences and Professor of History at New York University Shanghai.

More Details and to register here

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