Lin Zexu (1785-1850), a statesman, thinker and poet in the Qing Dynasty, had a reputation of national hero in China for his strictly banning opium in 1840 ( see the movie Opium War). When he was the governor of Guangdong Province, he wrote down an antithetical couplet“海纳百川有容乃大 ；壁立千仞无欲则刚 ”（the sea is big as it is willing to accommodate every river; cliffs rise thousands feet as it is unwilling to lean against.)

The couplet has since been used to describe the noble character of those who are broad- minded and standing on principles and not yielding to pressure.

The idiom coming from the couplet is “海纳百川hǎi nà bǎi chuān”, which is mainly used to mean that a man’s mind should be as broad as the sea, so to be able to accommodate varieties of opinions and ideas. The idiom is also used to describe a vast and magnificent scene which covers and contains numerous things and activities.