Since the early years of the Daoguang Emperor's reign in the Qing Dynasty, British warships frequently violated China's territorial waters and illegally surveyed the country's mountains and rivers, mapping its terrain—an act that increasingly revealed their aggressive intentions.
In the fifteenth year of the Daoguang reign (1835 AD), Huang Juezi, a native of Yihuang, Jiangxi, serving as the Chief Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, witnessed these conditions with burning anxiety and submitted a memorial to the court, urging vigilance against the malicious intentions of foreign invaders. He stated, "Foreign nations cannot be entirely appeased with kindness, and the lack of coastal defenses is perilous."
In 1838, during the Daoguang Emperor's reign, Lin Zexu submitted his famous "Memorial on Prohibiting Opium," where he first proposed a nationwide ban on the drug, arguing that its devastating effects threatened the very fabric of Chinese society.
In his memorial, the official cited extensive historical records, stating that since opium entered China, before the third year of the Daoguang reign, millions of silver taels flowed out annually. After that year, the amount grew, with Guangdong alone losing 17 to 18 million taels yearly from the third to the eleventh year, over 20 million taels from the eleventh to the fourteenth year, and reaching 30 million taels from the fourteenth year onward. Combined with ports in Fujian, Zhejiang, Shandong, and Tianjin, the total annual loss was tens of millions. He argued, "Using China's valuable wealth to fill an endless overseas pit, year after year—where will it end?" If this continued, he warned, it would become a national crisis. To strictly ban opium, he urged the use of the death penalty, aiming to "awaken the deaf and stir the dull."
Emperor Daoguang approved of Huang Juezi's proposal and soon appointed Lin Zexu as Imperial Commissioner, sending him to Guangdong to enforce the opium ban.
"To rouse the deaf and awaken the unhearing" means a sound so loud even the deaf can hear it. It is a metaphor for using startling words to awaken the confused and apathetic.
Source: *Draft History of the Qing*, Chapter "Biographies 7: Huang Juezi"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "发聋振聩" came to describe a sound so loud even the deaf can hear it. It is a metaphor for using startling words to awaken the confused and apathetic.