Today I have spent the entire day at my doctor’s office located at 2 Mott Street in the center of Chinatown, in downtown Manhattan. As soon as my doctor prescribed me my medicine and gave me my good wishes to feel better soon, he sent me to a pharmacy located in Chatham Square, Confucius Pharmacy. As I exited the building and walked two blocks down to Chatham Square, before arriving at the Pharmacy, I am intrigued instantly by a group of people standing in front of an insanely large statue, not entirely sure who the statue may be; I move closer to find out. The name engraved on the statue is Lin Zexu.
I had never heard of this person before and asked the person next to me to please tell me who the person of the statue was, Xiang replies, “Zexu is a hero. He fought against the import of opium in my motherland China. He a good person, with a good heart but died in WWII. It was sad, but he is remembered. He helps me never forget my real home China.”
The statue of Lin Zexu is located in Chinatown, within the community of many Asians. Just across the street from Zexu is a statue of Confucius. I immediately tried to link the relationship between Confucius, a Chinese philosopher and spiritual being with Zexu as the writing on the statue states, “Father of the War on Drugs.” Due to the location of the statue, I can see that many of the people who walk around and see the statue are of Asian descent, primarily Chinese immigrants. From my understanding, many of the Chinese immigrants living in Chinatown found peace in Lin Zexu and his consistency of his status of being respected for remaining moral, and adhering to and upholding a universally recognized standard of justice or goodness. Similarly to Confucius who is also known for his just morality.
It is apparent that both Lin Zexu and Confucius are ideals of right moral judgment, justice, and sincerity. When I say Lin Zexu Statue, I immediately related Lin Zexu to Joshua L. Liebman’s book Peace of Mind.His book Peace of Mind shows a fusion of religion and psychology aimed at building a better sense of self and belief.The book is also focused on coming to terms with failures of humanity which I related to the Opium War that Lin Zexu tried to get people to see the moral wrongness of it while also moving past it. Liebman’s book captured the desire to find peace and I believe that all the people surrounding the statue of Lin Zexu were trying to come to terms with China’s not so good historical moments and move into a peaceful relationship. I believe that the location overall played an essential part in how I perceived the statue because I am sure that it was meant to inform the neighbors to find peace and justice in the world. I connected this aspect to a quote where Liebman states, “We display a true love for our neighbors when we cease to demand that another person becomes a modified version of our ideas- a revised edition of ourselves.” (Liebman, 175)
Therefore, the statue represents community between the Asian population in Chinatown and their use of strength, good moral judgment and peace to create a better world not just for them but everyone else around them.
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