Who is lin referring to when he says the barbarians

The correct answer is b) Chinese peasants.

Lin is referring to Chinese peasants when he says barbarians.

Commissioner Lin wrote a Letter to Queen Victoria where he said that after a period of trade in the region, there were some barbarians. Some of them were good and some were not. Some of them smuggle opium to Chinese people and spread opium all over the provinces. Lin suggested Queen Victoria that the people in China who smuggle opium or smoke opium should be punished with the dead penalty.

The options of the question were, a) an ancient tribe, c) Americans, and d) Europeans.