Fuzhou : Lin Xe Zu

Lin Zexu Memorial House is located in Macao Street, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province. It is sited in the famous Three Lanes and Seven Alleys.

Perhaps it is not known to many overseas Chinese that there was a great anti-opium hero: Lin Zexu. Chinese school books and many history books written for Malayan schools in the past would not have Lin Zexu in the syllabus.

This Foochow hero was a patriotic politician, ideologist, and poet in Qing Dynasty. He was born on Aug, 30th, 1785 in a poor family in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. When he grew up, he became an official of the Manchu Government. He was incorrupt and honest. He cared for the civilians and was admired by people of that time. During the Opium War, he advocated opium prohibition and was against the invasion of western capitalism. He confiscated and put to the torch a great quantity of opium in Humen in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province. That’s the famous Destruction of Opium in Humen, an event that startled the whole country. Lin Zexu made great contributions to protecting the state sovereignty of China and the interests of Chinese people.

In fact Chinese historians  if not the others speak highly of him. Indeed Lin Zexu was the first Chinese in modern China who opened his eyes to look at the world.


The memorial house has an area of more than 3000 sq meters. It was constructed in the site of Lin Zexu Temple in 1982, which was built in 1905. The memorial house mainly displays Lin Zexu’s life stories. Inside the house, there are couplets, letters, manuscripts, and notes written by Lin Zexu. Besides, many objects used by Lin Zexu are displayed in the house.

Lin was  the first man who advocated Chinese to learn advanced technology from Western countries.