Question

Background information: Read an excerpt from a letter written by a Chinese official to Britain's Queen Victoria.

By what right do [British merchants send] the poisonous drug to injure the Chinese people? Even though the barbarians may not necessarily intend to do us harm, yet in coveting profit to an extreme, they have no regard for injuring others. Let us ask, where is your conscience? I have heard that the smoking of opium is very strictly forbidden by your country; that is because the harm caused by opium is clearly understood. Since it is not permitted to do harm to your own country, then even less should you let it be passed on to the harm of other countries–how much less to China!

–Lin Zexu, 1839

What is Lin Zexu’s goal in writing the letter to Britain's Queen Victoria?

to appeal to her integrity and ask her to stop harming the Chinese people
to request the import of more opium to China because it was so popular
to try to compromise with the British so that both countries could make a profit
to ask Britain why the merchants intended to harm the Chinese people

Answer 1

to appeal to her integrity and ask her to stop harming the Chinese people