The execution of French POWs 1884

It was often difficult to know how truthful the news reports were during the Sino-French war.

The above is an illustration [click to enlarge] published in 點石齋畫報Dian-shi-zhai Pictorials Issue 乙七 Page 50 (in the 9th Month of 1884). The artist was 吳友如Wu You-ru. In it, General 孫開華Sun Kai-hua, with subordinates, is seen presiding over the execution of French POWs in front of Ma-Zu Temple in Danshui - under a banner [upper left] marked with his name 孫.

And the caption reads: "...after a four-hour battle, the French lost. Our army were in hot pursuit. The French retreated to the beach and more than 100 of them drowned. A 3-striped officer was captured and a 7-striped officer was killed. More than 40 were decapitated and their heads hung high above the Ma-Zu Temple for all to see. Everyone is happy for justice has been done..."

In truth, this scene never occurred. To sell more copies, the Pictorials had played up Chinese nationalism and gave the readers what they wanted, i.e., a public execution.

And the French casualties in the caption might also be exaggerated. This appeared a common Chinese practice. Indeed, even Liu Ming-Ch'uan's own dispatch to the Qing Court stated that 25 were beheaded, more than 300 shot dead, and 70-80 drowned. These were very different from the French version. In La Terre Illustrée, under the heading of "Le mousse de l’amiral Courbet: Campagne de l’Indo-Chine - Fou-Tchéou et Formose", the young French sailor/author reported on Oct 15, 1884, that in the Danshui campaign, 17 were killed and 49 injured. The captured 3-striped officer was the already wounded Lieutenant Fountaine [the French map of the battle of Tamsui recorded the location where his body was abandoned], but no loss of a 7-striped officer was ever known [that would have been the fleet commander Rear Adm Sébastien Lespès who had lost the battle but not his life].

And the breakdown of the losses (ship name/dead/injured) was:

La Galissonnière/9/9; Triomphante/4/17; Duguay-Trouin/0/4; Château-Renaud/0/7; Tarn/2/4; Le Bayard/0/3; and d'Estaing/2/5. [Note: Le Bayard was still in Keelung, the numbers here are its Fusiliers marins re-assigned to assist in the attack of Danshui.]

Of course, we can't really be sure if the French deliberately played down their own losses to counter the Chinese claims.

These numbers games abound in history. A victory, unless Pyrrhic, means much greater enemy losses and the more lopsided the more glory. And unacceptable losses can always be blamed on diseases.

Modern-day Frenchmen may have already forgotten la Guerre Franco-Chinoise. The interest in this part of the history has long faded. And if anything at all, the attention would have been placed on the major battles fought in Tonkin, not China. For the people of Danshui, however, the memories of being at the receiving end of 2,000 shells and the sacrifice of the Chinese soldiers from Hunan remain fresh. And all important landmarks are still around us. In fact, celebration of the 126th anniversary of the victory at Fisherman's Wharf, organized by the Tamsui Township Office, is now underway.