From a distance, the Lata Stone Battery resembles a mighty lion, hence its original name, ‘Lion Mountain’. It is located on Gongbei Battery Hill, serving as both a customs site and a battery site. After losing military control over Macau during the First Opium War, the Qing government constructed the Lata Stone Battery in 1841, deploying troops to guard and manage the customs and border affairs. On August 22, 1849, an assassination attempt on the Macau Governor occurred in Longtian Village near the border gate. On the 25th, with the support of Britain, France, and the United States, the Portuguese authorities brazenly attacked the border gate area and captured the Lata Stone Battery. In 1890, the battery was reclaimed and subsequently reinforced with land and water defenses. For more than half a century thereafter, the Lata Stone Battery was a crucial military site for border defense and served as the land anti-smuggling headquarters for the Chinese customs at Gongbei. In November 1949, it was taken over by the People’s Liberation Army of China. It is open all year round, accessible 24 hours a day.
Lata Stone Battery
From a distance, the Lata Stone Battery resembles a mighty lion, hence its original name, ‘Lio[...]
