NYC - Chinatown: Kimlau Square - Lin Ze Xu Statue

Located at the intersection of Oliver Street, East Broadway, the Bowery, and Park Row, Kimlau Square stands at the center of Chatham Square. In 1961, a local law named this island within Chatham Square in recognition of the contributions of Lt. Kimlau and the veterans post. Bejamin Ralph Kimlau, a former resident of the neighborhood, was a B-25 pilot in th US Army Air Corps. He was shot down over New Guinea in 1944.

A statue of Lin Ze Xu, noted as the world's first drug czar, stands in Chatham Square. Appointed by the Emperor of China in 1838 and charged with eradicating opium in China, he took on the East India Company, which was selling increasing quantities of the drug in China. He quickly confiscated and destroyed some 2.6 million pounds of opium, which led to the Opium War with Britain. China lost the war but Lin Ze Xu remained a symbol of moral resistance and is considered a national hero of China. In recognition of his efforts, the United Nations declared June 26th-the anniversary of the opium destruction-as International Anti-Narcotics Day, and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani signed a bill adding the name "Commissioner Lin Ze Xu Square" to East Broadway between Oliver and Catherine Streets.