On June 3rd 1839, a lot of boxes were piled up high on the beach of Humen, Guangdong province. Thousands of local people were waiting with great excitement ...

In fact, what was inside the boxes was dayan, the local term for opium, which is an addicitive drug that causes great damage, physically and mentally. Britain and other Western countries began and smuggle opium into China in the early 19th century. In less than 40 years, the number of opium addicts in China amounted to over two million. Opium brought huge profits for British traders, but posed a great danger to Chinese society. It not only damaged off Chinese financial resources by the denomination of silver, thus undermining the socio-economic stability of the country. In addition, the morale and strength of the army were greatly reduced with the increase of opium addiction among the ranks.

Facing these threats, Emperor Daoguang was repeatedly urged by his ministers to ban the trade of opium. The prominent one among the ministers was Lin Zexu, Viceroy of Hubei and Hunan, who was dispatched by teh Emperor in 1839 to Guangzhou to implement the banning of opium.

Lin Zexu (1785 - 1850) had been successful in banning opium in 1838 when he was Viceroy of Hubei and Hunan. After arriving in Guangzhou, he fought against the foreign opium trades by investagating and forcing them to turn in their stocks of opium together with a pledge of never smuggling again. At first, the opium traders did not take Lin seriously by refusing to take his command. Some of them even tried to escape, but were caught by Lin's army. The army later besieged the British Chamber of Commerce and cut the food supply there after evacuating the Chinese employees inside. Lin made his voice clear, "I will stay so long as the opium trade is carried on! I swear to ban the opium thoroughly!" The opium traders felt scared and hopeless. They had no choice but to turn in the opium, which amounted to more than 1,100,000 kg in over 20,000 boxes.

Lin Zexu ordered to destruct the 20,000 boxes of confiscated opium, hence the scene on the beach of Humen. Starting from June 3rd, 1839, it took 23 days to complete the destruction of the drug.

The destruction of opium at Humen stunned the world and highlighted the will of Chinese in banning the drug and in battling against foreign aggression. For his bold action, Lin Zexu became a national hero in modern Chinese history.