Humen street scene

A street scene in Humen, Guangdong Province, in 1996. In June 1839, a Chinese official named Lin Zexu 林则徐 dumped large quantities of opium into the sea next to Humen. The First Opium War (1839–1842) began in September of that year. June 26 is now the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in honor of Lin’s work.

For an alternative view of the Opium Wars and the War on Drugs, see Unravelling the myth of China’s ‘Opium Plague’, by Frank Dikötter.