Beneath the massive concrete piers of the modern Humen Bridge sits a small, square stone structure that once guided the world’s merchant fleets into China. The Jinsuopai Lighthouse, completed in 1906 by the Guangzhou Customs, holds the distinction of being the earliest maritime lighthouse in the Guangzhou region. It rests on a tiny reef in the Pearl River estuary, a treacherous stretch of water that historically served as the primary gateway for foreign ships entering the Qing Empire. Decades earlier, during the Opium War, official Lin Zexu had stretched iron chains across this very waterway to block invading fleets, earning the reef its name, Jinsuopai, or 'Golden Lock Reef.'

The lighthouse occupies a footprint of exactly twelve square meters. Originally, its beam shone from a height of 12.6 meters, powered by kerosene lamps that demanded constant human attention. In the 1920s, a local farmer named Huang Daixi took on the lonely job of lighthouse keeper. He rowed out to the reef every few days to manually refuel the lamps and frequently had to fend off pirates who targeted the isolated tower to steal its valuable kerosene reserves. Huang’s dedication sparked a family tradition; his descendants have continued to guard the Pearl River estuary’s navigational lights for four generations.

Over the decades, the lighthouse evolved alongside maritime technology. The keepers eventually replaced the kerosene with acetylene lamps, and a major 1987 overhaul added a white fiberglass tower and modernized lighting fixtures. The structure’s operational life ended abruptly in March 1993. Engineers constructing the Humen Bridge placed a massive support pier directly over the Jinsuopai reef, physically blocking the lighthouse's beam from the waterway. Today, the decommissioned lighthouse remains preserved on its original stone base as a provincial cultural heritage site. It stands quietly in the shadow of the bridge, a permanent marker of Guangzhou’s early modern maritime history.