The following are transcribed from a news weekly published in New Zealand, Te Aroha News, Rōrahi II, Putanga 72, 18 Whiringa-ā-nuku 1884, Page 3 [click on the left image and single click again to get an enlarged view]:London October 13 [1884] - "The French fleet have been prevented from entering Tamsui on account of torpedos having laid across the entrance to the harbour, and in consequence of this, they have blockade the port."
Hong Kong October 10 - "Later intelligence from Formosa shows that the report of the occupation of Tamsui by Admiral Lespes is incorrect. The town is still in the possession of the Chinese troops, and the French bombardment is continued daily. The local forces are strongly entrenched in the neighbourhood of Tamsui, and all efforts to dislodge them have as yet proved unavailing."
Hongkong October 14 - "Intelligence has been received here that on the 8th inst. a considerable French force landed at Tamsui, Formosa. A severe engagement with the Chinese ensued, in which the French suffered heavy loss, and were compelled to withdraw and returned to their ships in port."
"A London telegram gives the following version of the engagement: -- 600 French troops at Tamsui were led into a ambuscade, when 20 of their number were killed and beheaded. The remainder managed to return to their ships in safety."
News actually traveled fast at that time because wired telegraphs were the main communication tool in the late 1800s. Taiwan was no stranger to the then novel tele-communications scene. In 1877, a 95-km telegraph cable system, the very first in China, was built in Taiwan [between Tainan and 鳳山Feng-shan]. In 1887, the first undersea cable was laid between Taiwan and Foochow. And the 電報學堂telegraph academy in Taipei began its first class in 1888.
Battles in the Sino-French War were also greatly facilitated by cable communications especially for the Chinese. Starting in 1881, the 3,075-km land line connecting Tientsin and Shanghai [津滬電報線] was established. And between 1883-4, a network linking 京津, 長江, 廣州, and 龍州 areas was also constructed. This completed a nationwide communications system. With it, instead of relying on the "pony express", the to-and-fro military orders could be dispatched instantaneously. This proved pivotal in several successful campaigns against the French in Tonkin. Before the cables, the Chinese were fighting blindly especially in the beginning when the intelligence reports to the highest command in Beijing and the orders back to the field commanders took more than 50 days.
Prior to this Chinese cable network, in 1868, the British had laid undersea cables from the Mediterranean, through the Indian Ocean to Hongkong. And starting in 1869 the Scandinavians (actually the Danish) took the northern route by stringing lines through Siberia to China (Shanghai) and Japan. All news reports, commercial transactions, and wired transfers were based on these cable routes.
Adm Courbet had used the French Consulate in Hongkong as his communication center, no doubt by tagging onto the British lines. Pictured below is the British Eastern Extension Telegraph Company's Hongkong office, ca 1873:
Interesting. I can never get over how sophisticated we are (laying telegraph lines from Tainan to China) but so brutal and primitive at the same time (20 French beheaded, etc.). I love the language too - "ambuscade." I looked it up. It's either a noun or verb, but archaic.
回覆刪除Have you put up the death totals for Taiwanese and Chinese in this battle before? You must have. It would be an interesting point of comparison. I've also read that the Chinese dumped a lot of junk at the mouth of the Danshui so ships couldn't enter. It was a smart tactic, but the river never did recover after that. Is that right?
Yes, I have post some numbers before. Briefly, 17 French lost their heads; although only three were actually executed in combat, the rest were already dead, mutilated later for monetary rewards. 80 Chinese were lost in the battle. And at least one enterprising Taiwanese was killed when he tried to recover an unexploded ordnance, which unexpectedly went off.
回覆刪除Very true, modernization processes do not proceed at the same rate.
The "junk" were actually a number of large commercial transport ships loaded with stones and sunk at the mouth of Danshui River. These ships were never retrieved. And 10 years later the Japanese came who chose Keelung over Danshui for further development. Danshui stayed a small fishing port until Taipei Metro brings in tourists starting in 1998. Most historical sites are still there, not for too long, though. They will soon fall victim to urbanization.
The stagnation of Danshui for 55 years? What did the people do during this period to get by?
回覆刪除Has tourism really revitalized Danshui then? Or, maybe it's the real estate boom going on at Hongshulin (紅樹林). I personally find all of those big "deluxe" buildings going in there, packed together, rather grim and depressing. I wonder if any historical sites have gone under in the name of this production.
115 years, Patrick.
回覆刪除There were still fishing, agriculture, mining, and tourism (e.g., golfing) in Danshui. Many residents worked and/or studied in Taipei commuting via the old railroad. It has a single steam engine which sometimes could not negotiate the slope near 竹圍 and had to back up a couple of kilometers before rushing uphill.
Not too long ago, north of 紅樹林 area was still rice fields stretching all the way up to 大屯山. No one seemed to haven taken stock of what historical sites might have been lost.
The urbanization is not only destroying the outlaying areas, even within Danshui itself. Sadly, the oldest street 重建街 is slated to be broadened this month, with loss of houses that are more than 100 years old. The residents are now trying to preserve a visual record.