Lin Zexu's Letter To Queen Victoria Response

Lin Zexu conveys his distaste for opium by stating many negative aspects of it and the people who sell it. Lin says that opium causes all sorts of pain and problems for the Chinese people; even Heaven is affected by the use of opium. He is even more angry at the fact that opium usage has already spread to many of the provinces in China and nothing is being done to stop it. Also the traders of opium constantly sell opium in China even though there are laws that should prevent this from happening. The punishments inflicted on opium peddlers suggest that Lin's perception of opium's threat to China is a strong one because he believes that if the Chinese people who have interacted with this drug are setenced to death, then the traders who sell it should be killed as well. Lin explains that if there is to be peaceful trading between their countries, then everyone must obey the regulations that have been placed explicitly.