Lin Ze Xu, Drug War Pioneer

New York, New York

Lin Ze Xu -- the way his name appears on his American monument -- was a scholar and government bureaucrat in China in the 1830s. He was also the first Chinese official to battle the importation of opium into China by the British, an effort that ultimately failed. Lin Ze Xu died in relative obscurity, but was later rediscovered and championed as a Chinese national hero -- especially around 1997, the year the British had to give Hong Kong back to the Chinese. A bronze Lin Ze Xu, dressed in scholarly robes, was unveiled in New York City's Chinatown that year. The only words in English inscribed into its base are, "Pioneer in the War against Drugs."