鸦片战争博物馆

Opium War Museum 【General Introduction】—【Statue of Humen People Fighting against Opium from Britain】—【Opium Destroyed Pond】—【Exhibition Hall】【General Introduction】Good morning ,everyone ! Welcome you to the Opium War Meseum in the Humen town, Dongguan province . This is a monument and historical site .It covers an area of about 30,000 square meters .Its exhibits include physical objects, historical picture, diagrams and three grand scenes. Chinese people’s fighting against opium over 150 years ago is played here again vividly .This site reminds people of the war which shocked the world at that time.This museum is an important base for patriotism education .Every year ,more than 1,000,000 people from different parts of the world come to visit this place .Since 1990 ,more than 50 party and state leaders have been here .Among them are Hu Jintao , Jiang Zemin and Li Peng . They speak very highly of this site .The museum is awarded as a National 4-A Tourist Atraction . And it is singled out as a National Advanced Unit from a list of model bases for Patriotism Eduction .【Statue of Humen People Fighting against Opuim from Britain】May I call your attention to the grand pink statue are dressed asfishermen . But their looks and postures tell us that they are ready to go to the battlefield at any moment. Do you know what story is behind ? W ell ,it suggeststhat this site was once the soul stirring ancient battlefield .Is it hard to believe?【Opium Destroyed Pond】Do you see the two large ponds in the right front of the statue ? They are sites of the two original opium destroyed ponds.Emperor Daoguang in Qing Dynasty assigned Lin Zexu to fight against opium rampant at that time .With great efforts,1,150,000 kilograms was seized from British people on the sea in this town .From June 3rd to 25rd , 1839, ,Lin Zexu destroyed all the confiscated opium here in public .This worldwide-astonishing event is called Destruction of Opium in Humen .It marks the beginning of the modern history of China .Do you have any ideas how Lin Zexu ,an imperial envoy to Guangdong province ,do away with the astronomical figure of opium at that time ?We know that policemen in Narcotics Division sometimes light fire to burn drugs .Did he try on a method different from burning ?Y ou might have some clue from the two ponds here , I guess.At first ,the stuff was planned to be transported to Beijing ,the capital city and burned it there .Given the cost and the risks of being robbed in transport ,he gave up the idea. Order came from Daoguang, the then emperor, to destroy it locally.Should he use the commonly used method in his time ?If yes ,he would burn the opium with tung-oil .Then its remnants would penetrate into the soil .Opium could still be extracted from the soil .So this practice is not desirable .With this problem in mind ,he started to collect ideas from the folks .He was tolde that sea salt and lime could be dissolve opium .He adopted their ideas creatively .Let me how and what he did .The site of the two ponds was a beach 150 years ago .Lin Zexu had two pools dug .Each was 15 zhangs（that equals 50 meters）in length and width .Pilings were used to fasten the wooden boards on the four sides of the pools .Slates were spread on the pool beds .In the front of the pools were water gates .At low tides when the remains of the dissolved opium .Do you get the point ? What a scientific design it is !Many years have passed .The former pools are gone .What we see here are the duplicates built on the same sites .The original wooden pegs and slates excavated by archaeologists are displayed in the exhibition hall.Humen beach was packed with people on those days when opium was being destroyed .Lin Zexu led his civil and military officials here . He invited and welcomed the merchants from other countries here .They were all here to witness this event .It took 20 days to destroy all of the forfeited opium .This action gavea message to the world that Chinese had the determination to ban opium and opium trade ,to fight against foreign invasions .It is no wonder that Lin Zexu is a national hero and is titled as “the pioneer in the drug fighting worldwide”.【Exhibition Hall】The main exhibition hall of the museum reflects the verve of the emplacement ,doesn’t it？Do you see the two pairs of stone lions in the front of the building? What adjectives can be used describe them ? “Marttial”.“yes”. Any other words ? “Brave, heroic”. “Good”. This museum is surrounded by walls .And these walls are the imitations of the battlements.The construction area of this exhibition hall building is 2,400m2 . On the first floor is the theme about Lin Zexu’s ban on opium and some historical facts related to the Opium War . This theme is subdivided into eight parts. Because of the time , I am not going to explain the details .Now I would like to draw your attention to see such physical objects as the wooden pegs and boards from the ponds, a few smoking sets ,the handwritings of Lin Zexu , and some weapons used during the Opium War by Chinese soldiers and British people? These exhibits are proofs for what the British people have done to the Chinese. They reveal Chinese resistance to the invasions and pay a great tribute to Chinese people’s love towards their country.Shall we walk up to the second floor? The exhibits on this floor tell us a complete story of the Opium War in an accessible way. They use not only pictures and physical objects, but also war settings, terrain models on sand and soil. What’s more ,acoustic , optic and electronic techniques are employed to bring vividness to the exhibits. Would you please move along with me to have a look at a battle scene? Lin Zexu and Guan Tianpei , two brave commanders , used these wooden boats ,rafts and iron chains to block Humen seaport. These timber anchors and the very boat in front of us were used at the war time though the rafts and iron chains over there are duplicates. This painting of Humen seaport is 33 meters long and 2.8 high . Looking at this grand seaport in the picture, can you image how fought with their simple, shabby weapons like these? Do you like their ideas to make this war scene alive?Loyal Horse Monument is an important antique in this exhibition hall. A touching story about it is what I am eager with you. On January 7th 1841,the British troop started a large scale attack on the emplacement in Shajiao. About 600 Chinese guarding soldiers were in great danger , as they were fighting against a British army who had advantages in number and weapons , but the related department in Qing Dynasty refused to send reinforcements. Not armed with advanced guns and cannons , the defending Chinese soldiers killed around 500 British invaders with their earthen mortars ,bows and arrows. When they ran out of bullets andgunpowder ,they used swords to fight face-to-face. General Chen Liansheng and most soldiers died hard , including his son ,Chen Jupeng. It was said that the warhorse of Chen Liansheng had been plundered to Hong Kong. But it refused to take a mouthful of food from the British soldiers. It kicked when approached , and fell over itself when ridden. Later, this warhorse was left on a hill , but he didn’t eat grass ,just neighing woefully towards the direction of the Shajiao Emplacement in Humen. At last, he was starved to death and became a heroic loyal horse. During Tong Zhi period Qing Dynasty , Humen naval force made a stele for the loyal horse , and erected it in the Loyal Ancestral Temple in a Humen village. The stele was made of black mica , about 1.5 meters long and half a meter wide. The horse was on its left, and a prose glorifying the horse on its right. But the stele was buried in the rubble when Japanese air raid seized the temple in 1938. Twenty-four years later ,it was fortunately found again by Shajiao naval people. They placed it in the museum for people to pay their respect and receive patriotism education.Opium War Museum has a collection of more than 3000 pieces of relics. Among them , 13 pieces including “Cannons Used in the War”(Gonglao Pao in Chinese) are listed as national A-level cultural relics. All the exhibits on display witness the Chinese resistance to foreign insults and invasions during that period.。