An important work describing the historical facts of the Opium War. Written by Liang Tingnan, it was written between 1849 and 1853 (the 29th year of Daoguang - the third year of Xianfeng), with 5 volumes and about 100,000 words. Because this book exposed and criticized the Qing rulers' performance in the Opium War, although it was published many times, it was not signed with the author's name and had no "preface", so it was not widely circulated. The content of the book begins with the smoking ban in the early years of Daoguang's reign and ends in 1849, when the Guangzhou people's struggle against invading the city was victorious. Except for Volume 4, all the others are about things that happened in Guangdong and Guangzhou. Volume 1 mainly describes Sino-foreign relations before the Opium War, the opium trade, the anti-smoking movement and the outbreak of the Opium War; Volume 2 describes Lin Zexu's strengthening of Guangdong's defense, British troops sent to China and the British army went north to Tianjin, Lin Zexu and Deng Tingzhen were dismissed, Qi Shan went south to preside over Guangdong affairs, the fall of Humen, the emergency in Guangzhou, Qi Shan's private cession of Hong Kong and his dismissal; Volume 3 describes Yishan's presiding over Guangdong affairs, etc. The military affairs in the East, the British invasion of Guangzhou and the signing of the "Guangzhou Peace Treaty", the resistance against the British in Sanyuanli, the British invasion of Fujian and Zhejiang from the north, and the resistance of the patriotic officers and soldiers of Fujian and Zhejiang are all recorded; Volume 4 describes Yishan's reckless attempt to regain eastern Zhejiang and its disastrous failure, the British army's northern invasion of Jiangsu along the coast and anchoring on the Nanjing River, the surrender of the Qing Dynasty and the signing of the "Nanjing Treaty"; Volume 5 records the post-war struggle against the invasion of Guangzhou. The records in the book are relatively detailed and reliable, and it is a rare history book of the Opium War written by people of the time. However, he believes that "learning from foreigners to learn skills" is a "disrespectful" move, which reflects the author's conservative attitude towards learning from the West.
