Lin Zexu's"Cambridge"Merchant Ship in the Anglo-Chinese Battle of Wuchong in Guangzhou
During Lin Zexu's brief tenure in Guangdong,he skillfully used the network of overseas Chinese mer-chants to successfully introduce more advanced western firearms-foreign guns,as well as several high-performance sailing ships.This strategy greatly improved the combat capability of the Guangdong Naval Division and laid a solid foundation for it to play a key role in the military confrontation between China and Britain.On February 27,1841,a fierce battle broke out between Chinese and British troops at Wu-chong Fort near Whampoa,Guangzhou.Unfortunately,the American merchant ship"Chesapeake"(originally named"Cambridge")introduced and reformed by Lin Zexu,although before the war it had been carefully renovated as the country's largest sailing ship in tonnage,in this battle failed to play the expected combat effectiveness,resulting in the heavy losses of the Qing army.The Battle of Wuchong was not large in scale and did not occupy a significant position in the Opium War,but the incident of the largest ocean ship purchased by China was sunk by the invading army,symbolizing the difficulties encountered by the imperi-al Dynasty on the road of"mastering the skills of the enemy to control the enemy".At the same time,this humiliating event also marked the beginning of China's attempts to integrate itself into the world's modern-ization trend on a material level,and the beginning of a difficult journey of exploration.
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