sembled in the spacious grounds of Chang Su Ho's Gardens, on the
afternoon of Sunday, May 3, 1908, some two or three thousand of Shanghai's
leading Chinese business men, together with a goodly sprinkling of
Europeans and Americans, to witness the destruction of the opium-pipes,
lamps, etc., taken from the Nan Sun Zin Opium Palace. In America, such a
scene as this would have appeared little less than a farce, but here the
obvious earnestness of the Chinese, the great value of the property to be
destroyed and the deep meaning of this sacrifice, should have been
sufficient to put the blush of shame upon the cheeks of the Shanghai
voters and councilmen, who, representing the most enlightened nations of
the earth, have compromised with the opium evil and permitted
three-fourths of this nefarious business to linger in the "Model
Settlement" when it has been so summarily dealt with by the native
authorities throughout the land.

Within a roped-in, circular enclosure, marked by two large, yellow
Dragon-Flags, were stacked the furnishings of the Opium Palace, consisting
of opium boxes, pipes, lamps, tables, trays, etc., and as the spectators
arrived the work of destruction was going rapidly on. Two native
blacksmiths were busily engaged in splitting on an anvil the metal
fittings from the pipes, and a brawny coolie, armed with a sledgehammer,
was driving flat the artistic opium lamps as they were taken from the
tables and placed on the ground before him. Meanwhile the pipes, mellowed
and blackened by long use and many of them showing rare workmanship, were
dipped into a large tin of kerosine and stacked in two piles on stone
bases, to form the funeral pyre, while the center of each stack was filled
in with kindling from the opium trays, similarly soaked with oil. On one
of the tables within the enclosure were two small trays, each containing a
complete smoking outfit and a written sheet of paper announcing that these
were the offerings of Mr. Lien Yue Ming, manager of the East Asiatic
Dispensary, and Miss Kua Kuei Yen, a singing girl, respectively. Both
these quondam smokers sent in their apparatus to be burned, with a pledge
that henceforth they would abstain from the use of the drug.

During the preparations for the burning, Mr. Sun Ching Foong, a prominent
business man, delivered a powerful exhortation on the opium evil to the
enthusiastic multitude and introduced the leading speaker of the
afternoon, Mr. Wong Ching Foo, repr