In 1846, under the coercion of the British minister Debbie, the two governors, Qiying and the governor of Guangdong, jointly issued a notice allowing the British to enter the city. The crowd tore up the notice, Liu Xun, the prefect of the Qiying faction, and the British secretly set the date for entering the city. Thousands of people broke into the government yacht, burned Liu Xun's chaozhu and public clothes, and Debbie was forced to bring his soldiers back to Hong Kong.

On April 3, 1847 (February 18th, 27th year of Daoguang), Debisch once again asked to enter the city and sent a military ship into the provincial river. Due to the struggle of the people of Guangzhou, the British side failed. However, Qi Ying and the British side made a secret agreement to open Guangzhou two years later.

In April 1849, British envoy Wen Chao said that two years had expired and requested to fulfill the contract and enter the city. Xu Guangjin, who succeeded the governor of Guangdong, saw the fierce resistance of the people and did not dare to implement the secret agreement. The British invaders again threatened force and drove the troops into the Provincial River again. More than 100,000 people from various townships in Guangzhou gathered on both sides of the Pearl River to demonstrate, forcing Wenhan to give up his request to enter the city.