Opium War Museum 鸦片战争博物馆

About Opium War Museum

The main axis passes sculptures before reaching a building whose facade recalls a coastal battery. Start with the pool site, then use the exhibition to understand Lin Zexu’s campaign and the conflict that followed. The institution also manages the Naval Battle Museum and several battery sites, but those are separate destinations rather than rooms in this museum.

The museum was established in 1957 as the Lin Zexu Memorial Hall (林则徐纪念馆), opening to the public on 1 January 1958 together with Lin Zexu Park. In 1972 it was renamed the Opium War Humen People's Anti-British Memorial Hall, and in 1985 it took its present name, Humen Lin Zexu Memorial Hall, with 'Opium War Museum' added as a second name. In December 1999 the Naval Battle Museum opened and was combined with the Opium War Museum and Humen Lin Zexu Memorial Hall into a single institution, which manages a total area of about 800,000 square meters.

The museum's collection spans categories including stone, jade, pottery, porcelain, bronze and iron objects, textiles, bone and ivory carvings, and calligraphy by Lin Zexu, alongside more than 1,300 historical photographs; by the end of 2022 it held 8,125 items and sets, including 258 rated as precious cultural relics. It was rated a national AAAA tourist attraction in January 2004 and was named a national first-class museum, in the fourth such batch, in December 2020.

What to look for

• The preserved opium-destruction pool site anchors the museum in the events commemorated here.
• The courtyard sculptures lead towards a museum facade designed to evoke a coastal battery.

Location & getting there

Getting to Opium War Museum

Use 113 Jiefang Road in Humen, Dongguan, for the Opium War Museum and Lin Zexu Memorial Hall. Do not use the 88 Jiefang Road address repeated in some encyclopedic text, or confuse this campus with the Naval Battle Museum in Nanmian.