Lin Zexu

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The newest statue in Chinatown is of Lin Zexu, a Qing Dynasty official from the Fujian Province of China. Zexu was instrumental in starting the Opium Wars between the Chinese and British by banning the drug in China in the mid-19th Century. “Those who brought the Lin statue to Chatham Square say they did so to deliver a strong anti-drug message” (5). In addition, the statue carries a strong political message about the rising power of Fujianese immigrants in Chinatown. They are gaining political power, at the expense of the earlier, mainly Cantonese, immigrants. This new statue points to the changing face of Chinatown’s immigrants.