The Scholarly Foundations of Xuehaitang

In 1824, during the fourth year of the Daoguang Emperor’s reign, the eminent Qing scholar Ruan Yuan, then serving as Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, founded the Xuehaitang Academy on Yuexiu Hill in Guangzhou. For nearly eighty years, until its closure in 1903, Xuehaitang stood as a beacon of intellectual activity, producing influential texts and shaping scholarly discourse. Its headmaster, Wu Lanxiu, a respected scholar from Jiaying, was instrumental in fostering connections between the academy and high-ranking officials like Xu Naiji, the Deputy Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

The academy’s intellectual environment was marked by rigorous debate, particularly on pressing national issues. Among these, none was more contentious than the opium crisis, which had begun to drain China’s silver reserves and weaken its social fabric.

The Opium Crisis and the Birth of the “Relaxed Prohibition” Debate

By the 1830s, opium smuggling had reached catastrophic levels. The British East India Company’s monopoly on Indian opium led to massive imports into China, exacerbating silver outflows and addiction. Xu Naiji, deeply troubled by the economic and social decay, sought solutions beyond outright prohibition. Through intermediaries like Wu Lanxiu, he engaged with scholars at Xuehaitang, who argued for a pragmatic approach: relaxing the ban on opium to regulate and tax its trade, thereby curbing smuggling and retaining silver.

This “relaxed prohibition” (弛禁) stance was not without opposition. The rival Yuehua Academy, another prominent Guangzhou institution, staunchly advocated for stricter enforcement. The divide between these two intellectual camps mirrored broader tensions between reformist pragmatism and moral absolutism.

The Role of the Cohong Merchants and Economic Interests

Behind the scenes, the powerful Cohong merchants—Guangzhou’s licensed trade monopolists—lurked as potential influencers of the relaxed prohibition argument. Figures like Wu Shaorong, one of the wealthiest men in China, stood to gain immensely from legalized opium trade. While direct evidence of collusion between Xuehaitang scholars and the Cohong remains elusive, the alignment of their interests is striking. The academy’s proposal to tax opium transactions dovetailed perfectly with the merchants’ desire to control—and profit from—the lucrative trade.

Xu Naiji’s Memorial and the Imperial Response

In 1836, Xu Naiji formalized the relaxed prohibition argument in a memorial to the Daoguang Emperor. His “Xu Taichang Memorial” acknowledged opium’s harms but insisted that prohibition had failed. Instead, he proposed legalizing and taxing opium while restricting its use among officials and soldiers. The memorial triggered fierce backlash, with critics like Zhu Zhan and Xu Qiu condemning it as morally bankrupt and economically shortsighted.

The emperor, initially ambivalent, ordered Guangdong officials to investigate. Their subsequent report cautiously endorsed Xu’s ideas, suggesting nine regulatory measures—including a ban on silver payments for opium and strict controls on domestic cultivation. Yet, opposition only intensified.

The Rise of Hardline Prohibition and Huang Juezi’s Memorial

By 1838, the debate had shifted decisively toward prohibition. Huang Juezi, a former member of the reformist Xuan Nan Poetry Society, delivered a blistering memorial advocating the death penalty for opium users. His argument was simple: without demand, the trade would collapse. The emperor, swayed by Huang’s logic, distributed the memorial to provincial officials for feedback—a move that set the stage for Lin Zexu’s appointment as Imperial Commissioner and the ensuing Opium War.

Legacy: Intellectuals, Policy, and the Path to War

The Xuehaitang-Yuehua debate encapsulated the Qing Empire’s struggle to reconcile tradition with crisis. While the relaxed prohibitionists sought economic pragmatism, their opponents framed opium as a moral catastrophe. Huang Juezi’s hardline stance ultimately prevailed, but the failure of prohibition—culminating in the Opium War—exposed the dynasty’s vulnerability to foreign pressure.

Today, the episode serves as a cautionary tale about the intersection of scholarship, commerce, and state policy. The academies of Guangzhou, once centers of learning, found themselves at the heart of a conflict that would reshape China’s modern destiny.