Around 483BCE, the king of Persia, Xerxes I, attempted to gain unauthorised access to the Greek mainland, via the construction of wooden pontoon bridges across the Hellespont strait, in order to launch an invasion against the Greeks.
After the ocean destroyed the pontoon bridges during a storm, Xerxes was so infuriated about not getting his way, that he ordered his army to punish the ocean, by whipping the Hellespont ocean water 300 times.
...Looks like the Chinese government is going to need a bigger whip.
