The site of Lin Zexu Opium-destroying Pool is leaning on Niubei Mountain in the north, with the Pearl River in the south. In its west, there stands the pass of the Taiping Town.

In the late 1930s, the smuggling of opium to China from Britain and America was rampant, posing a big threat to the Qing Regime. With the support of the great mass, Lin Zexu, Imperial Commissioner of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), was determined to ban the entry of opium. He even forced British and American dealers to hand over more than 20,000 boxes of opium, weighing over 118.5 million kilograms altogether, and burnt them in public from June 3 to 25, 1839 in Humen. Two quadrate pools, with each side measuring 45 meters, were used to destroy the opium. The pools are made up of flagstones on its bottom, having rails around. There are a culvert near them and a drain behind. When burning the opium, people first filled the pools with water and then put salt into them to turn the water into thick brine. Opium was put into the thick brine then to be dissolved, and at last quicklime was put in it to get the opium disintegrated completely. The destroyed opium was drained to the river.

The Site of Humen Batteries is located on the Chuanbiyang, the estuary of the Pearl River, Guangdong Province. As there are two mountains named Mount Big Tiger and Mount Small Tiger around the Pearl River, the place got a name Humen, meaning Tiger's Gate. There exist Shaojiao Battery, Weiyuan Battery, Lin Zexu Monument, tombs for these who fell in battle named Tombs of the Valiant and Tombs of the Devoted available for people to memorialize.

Before the outbreak of the Opium War, Lin Zexu was responsible for the consolidation of coastal defense. He rebuilt 11 batteries on both sides of Humen and on the islands in Haikou and set up more than 300 cannons. Shaojiao and Dajiao Batteries were treated as the most important ones. Nanshan, Hengdang, Yong'an, Weiyuan, Jingyuan, Zhenyuan, Gonggu Batteries were considered as of secondary importance and Dahu the third. In waters between mountains, rafts and iron chains were set up to hinder the invasion of enemy's warships. After the Opium War broke out on January 7, 1841, British navy began to attack Shajiao and Dajiao Battery. Navy of the Qing Regime led by deputy general Chen Liangsheng resisted firmly. Unfortunately, the crew were all killed and the batteries fallen into the British hands due to the shortage of ammunition. On February 23 that year, the British army moved upon Humen. Guan Tianpei and his army defended Yong'an, Weiyuan, Jinyuan and Zhenyuan Batteries. Humen was captured by the British invaders on February 26 because of the delay of reinforcements, and Guan Tianpei and more than 400 soldiers battled to death. 

All rights reserved. Reproduction of text for non-commercial purposes is permitted provided that both the source and author are acknowledged and a notifying email is sent to us.