Going home

(Left: 福島安正, Fukushima Yasumasa, the first Japanese Administrator of Danshui)

After the loss of Keelung, Danshui was the only remaining port accessible to the Qing soldiers in northern Taiwan. They managed to arrive by following either the coastal roads from Keelung by way of 金山Gin-Shan, or the railroad tracks from Keelung to Taipei and then traveled along the northern shore of Danshui River. By early June, 1895, about 5,000 men (?) waited impatiently on the shipping docks in front of the 媽祖宮MaZu Temple hoping to catch a boat ride back home to China. At that time, there were supposedly still 300+ battalions (360 men in each battalion) of Qing soldiers on the island ready to fight. However, it is known that the Chinese officials often inflated the number of enlistees and pocketed the pay of the ghost soldiers. So the true strength remains unknown.

Most of the soldiers who ended up in Danshui were from Canton previously brought over by 唐景崧Tang Jing-Song to fortify the defense of Taiwan. They owed no loyalty to the people of Taiwan and in fact ran away en masse at the first sight of the Japanese Forces. In retreat, they wrecked havoc wherever they went. The looting and killing in Taipei had prompted the merchants, both Taiwanese and European, to seek Japanese intervention. (Needless to say, these merchants are now branded as traitors of China.) On June 7, the Japanese cavalry pretty much trotted into Taipei unmolested. In so doing, they had also underestimated the resolve and the fighting capabilities of Taiwanese resistance south of Taipei and later paid for this oversight dearly.

There are two versions of what had happened to the Qing soldiers in Danshui:

The Chinese version (from "喋血台湾岛" published by 中国国际广播出版社, 1995):

June 5: Chinese merchant ship 駕時(the Cass) took a number of the soldiers back to Shanghai.

June 9: A Japanese force of about 500 men entered Danshui. There was some sporadic shooting from the Qing side. At 10AM, two Japanese warships 浪速Naniwa and 高千穗Takachiho sailed into Danshui River and fired warning shots at the soldiers. The Qing soldiers were now under Japanese custody. In the afternoon, 60+ men led by Col Fukushima Yasumasa arrived on warship 八重山Yaeyama and set up a Township Office quickly to register the soldiers. The Qing men did not comprehend the Japanese process believing that if they took off their uniforms and discarded their weapons, then they'd be free to go as civilians. The Japanese, however, saw this as a violation of the surrender and started shooting and killing those who tried to leave. It was unclear how many died. The estimate was 2,000 because it appeared only about 3,000 out of the 5,000 eventually made it back to China:

June 10: At 8:30PM, 1,200 boarded the Japanese ship 磯浦丸(? - might have been the 有磯浦丸 owned by 南嶋間作) which sailed for Hong Kong.

June 11: The remaining 1,700 were put on board of the Chinese ship 萬國號 and arrived back in Amoy.

The Japanese version (according to "淡水新政記", a 14-day diary written either by Fukushima Yasumasa himself or possibly recorded by his subordinates - several editions now exist):

June 9: Sent back 1,000+ Qing soldiers whose luggage was inspected by the military police and then allowed on board a British ship which then sailed for China. A hectic day with no time for meals. From early afternoon to dusk, representatives from several villages came to request protection from pillaging by the Qing soldiers.

June 10: Announced the exchange rate of Japanese and Qing monies. Hired 36 locals to do a census survey and purchase foodstuff plus cleaning and cooking. There was a report of a 14-men gang robbing 新莊Shin-Juang. Dispatched one military police with 11 soldiers to catch these bandits who ran off upon learning the impending confrontation.

June 12: Reported to the headquarters that 1,700 Qing soldiers were sent back to China yesterday. Decided to distribute rice to the local poor.

June 14: Appointed locals as policemen to maintain law and order. The eligibility included:

滬尾街有家屋者 (owns a house in Danshui)
年齡20-30歲 (is 20-30 years old)
娶妻成家者 (has a wife and family)
不抽鴉片者 (is not an opium addict)
能取得二人具保者 (can obtain guarantees from two others)

June 15: Announced the hygiene law. There was a one-day delay for a British ship to take on some Qing soldiers who were therefore given a one-day's ration. They were quite uncouth leaving filth and garbage scattering on the docks, had to force them to clean up at gun point. Census showed 1,019 families residing in Danshui.

June 16: The patrol found one dead Qing soldier, had to force 5 surprisingly unsympathetic others to bury their comrade. Distributed 308 boarding passes. In the afternoon, sent back 350 Qing soldiers. Paid 15 local laborers and 10 carpenters.

June 19: To speed up the repatriation process, negotiated with 3 Chinese ships, one could take 60 to 溫州Wen-Zhou, and the other two, 136 and 62, respectively. Finally, the repatriation was finished. Caught two escapees, a 44 year old tailor from 江西Jian-Xi and a 20-year old peasant.

The Japanese version is probably closer to the truth. The Chinese version argued for 2,000 massacred based on conjecture and an unsubstantiated estimate of 5,000 at the beginning. For one thing, the many westerners in town (including Dr George Leslie Mackay) would have taken notice as they had done during the Sino-French War and reported any large-scale killings to the outside world - not to mention the logistics needed for the burial of 2,000 that Danshui certainly did not have. [Note: JW Davidson's 1903 eyewitness account also did not report such an incident.] The Japanese house-keeping log indicated that in 10 days, around 3,300 Qing soldiers were repatriated. It was probably close to this number, not 5,000, who had arrived in Danshui. Fukushima also had written to the Chinese Government in Canton requesting humane treatment of these returning poor souls.

These poor souls came back 50 years later to re-claim the island. On Oct 8, 1945, the 9th Company (106 men) of the 4th Regiment of KMT Military Police (國軍憲兵第四團) arrived in Danshui on junks. They were called 雨傘兵 (the umbrella troop), disappointingly, by the welcoming residents of Danshui. Because, for some inexplicable reason, most soldiers carried on their backs a folded umbrella (on top of the pots and pans plus some rifles and bags of rice that they were also carrying). Yes, the rag-tag army had just landed. And Danshui-ren were stunned by their disheveled appearance not knowing that these soldiers had gone through hell before arriving in Danshui - not until recently anyway.

A postscript: In the 228 Incident of 1947, all three battalions (with the 2nd Battalion joining in from Foochow) of the 4th MP Regiment played a brutal role in northern Taiwan.

Danshui resistance 1895

(A 1911/2 Map of Japan incorporating Taiwan and the Pescadores)

The Japanese forces arrived in Danshui on June 9, 1895. There were locally organized resistances which for some reason remain little known outside of Danshui. The following is taken from Danshui's town history now amended and translated into English:

光緒二十一年 (一八九五)
Guan-xu Year 21 (1895)

五月十四日[note: this is a lunar calendar date - June 6 in western calendar]，台灣民主國總統唐景崧得淡水滬尾稅務司英人馬士(H-C C Morse) 幫助，乘德輪鴨打(Arthur) 號逃至廈門。滬尾舉人李應辰(1860-1922) 聯滬尾十八莊，壯丁五百人與各地義軍聯結，定於十四日合力打擊日軍，因唐景崧逃亡，計畫中止。
[On the 14th Day of the Fifth Month, President Tang Jing-Song (1841-1903) of the short-lived Taiwan Democratic State (May 26 - June 6, 1895), with the help of Danshui Customs Chief - a Brit named H-C C Morse, got on the German ship Arthur and escaped to Amoy. A local gentleman Mr Li Ying-Chen (1860-1922) raised a 500-men militia from the 18 villages of Hobe (Danshui). And together with the militiamen from other areas, they were to attack the Japanese Army on this day. This plan was, however, called off because of Tang's desertion.]

五月十六日，日軍少將川村景明(Kawamura Kageaki - 1850-1926) 率兵入臺北城，命中西中佐(Nakanishi) 率大隊西取淡水，當晚兵宿關渡。當日，李應辰滬尾義軍迎戰日軍一中隊於士林，激戰兩小時，敵軍不支而退，義軍也退向大屯山深處。
[On the 16th, Lt Gen Kawamura Kageaki (1850-1926) led an army and entered the City of Taipei. He ordered Lt Col Nakanishi to take one battalion, go west, and invade Danshui. This army camped in Guan-du for the night. On the same day, Li Ying-Chen's militia engaged one Japanese company in Shi-lin. After two hours of intense fighting, both sides retreated with Li's back deep into TaTuan Mountain.] (Note: Two months later, Li was wounded in a battle and had to evacuate from 鹿港Lu-Kang to Amoy together with his family.)

五月十七日，日中西中佐率部至滬尾。日軍大本營參謀步兵大佐福島安正(Fukushima Yasumasa -1852-1919) 率佐藤(Sato)憲兵大尉等六十人，通譯官十一人，乘八重山(Yaeyama)軍艦，由基隆至滬尾，入海關署，設淡水事務所。
[On the 17th, Nakanishi's men entered Danshui. In addition, Chief of Staff of Japanese Headquarters Col Fukushima Yasumasa (1852-1919), together with Military Police Major Sato and 60 others, plus 11 Translator Officers arrived from Keelung on board of warship Yaeyama. They took over the Customs Office and set up a Tansui (Danshui) Township Office.]

五月十八日，日軍奪滬尾及基隆港稅務，並派兵偵察八里坌，派遣軍艦三艘，清掃淡水港口地雷。日軍設淡水電信通信所。日軍撤淡水事務所，改置淡水支廳，隸台北縣。
[On the 18th, the Japanese took over the taxation affairs of Danshui and Keelung harbors. Scouts were sent over to Bali. Three warships swept the mines of Danshui Harbor. They had also established a tele-communications office, revoked the township and changed it to the Tansui Branch Office of the Taipei Prefecture.]

十一月十七日（日曆一月一日）七時許，金包里(今金山)義軍簡大獅 (1870-1900) 部約六百餘名，出江頭(今關渡)以攻淡水，日軍淡水守備隊會赤羽(Akahane?)支隊，憑淡水街天公廟至墓地為陣，戰至八時，在淡水街兩軍肉搏戰，日軍憑壁防禦，砲火熾烈，義軍乃退街外高地。
[On the 17th Day of the 11th Month - Jan 1, 1896, at around 7AM, a 600-men militia led by Jien Da-Shi (1870-1900) of Gin-Shan came out of Guan-du and attacked the Japanese military in Danshui. The Japanese fought from the now Tamkang University area, near the public cemetery, until about 8AM. The battle then shifted into hand-to-hand combat fought inside the town itself. The Japanese, hiding behind the walls, fired back intensely. The militia had to withdraw to the higher grounds outside of town.] (Note: Mr Jien continued his unsuccessful fight against the Japanese and had finally surrendered in 1898. In 1899, he snuck back to Hokkien but was extradited back to Taipei where he was executed. His plea to die in China went unheeded.)

十九日，台北各地紊亂，英人派艦至淡水保護僑民。
[On the 19th, Taipei and other areas descended into chaos, the British sent a battleship to Danshui to protect its citizens.]

Eventually, after about 5-6 months, the resistance in Taiwan gradually subsided (but never totally stopped). There had been no support from China and none was forthcoming, either. Tang Jing-Song (left, the "10-day President") lived out his life in luxury. He was the biggest patron of the Guang-Xi opera and in his spare time wrote poetry. And yet, he is now enshrined in 淡水忠烈祠 - for reasons still unknown. The only achievement that the Danshui-ren know of was his successful escape back to China. Even the shots fired at Arthur from the stranded Qing soldiers had failed to stop him. It is said (of Tang) that "英雄懦夫僅是一念之差而已 (the difference between a hero and a coward is only a mere change of heart)" - a very accurate description indeed.

There was more. According to 連橫Lien Heng's 台灣通史Comprehensive Taiwan History: ...「李文魁馳入撫署請見，大呼曰：『獅球嶺亡在旦夕，非大帥督戰，諸將不用命』。景崧見其來，悚然立；而文魁已至屏前。 即舉案上令架擲地曰：『軍令俱在，好自為之』。文魁側其首以拾，則景崧已不見矣。景崧既入內，攜巡撫印，奔滬尾，乘德商輪船逃。砲台擊之，不中。文魁亦躡景崧後至廈門，謀刺之。事洩，為清吏所捕，戮於市。」- A subordinate of Tang's, Commander Li Wen-Quei, who had just lost Keelung to the Japanese, barged into the President's Office in Taipei and pressed for Tang to personally lead the battle at Shi-chiu Ling, the gateway to Taipei. A terrified Tang did not want any part of it and merely threw down a rack of "Orders" and exclaimed "The military orders are all here, do your best!!" Li picked up the orders and saw from the corner of his eyes that Tang had already disappeared [onto Danshui and then Amoy...] Li later secretly followed Tang to Amoy and plotted to have Tang assassinated. He was caught and killed in public by Qing officials.

And how did those stranded leader-less soldiers return to China? That is another story.

In the news 台灣好味道節目

Nov 29, 2009 登峰魚丸博物館 - 亞洲電視--蔣怡採訪
台灣好味道節目

(A bayonet used by the French Fusiliers Marins is displayed in the lucite case in the foreground.)

Special Sino-French War Exhibition
All are invited

李鸿章 Li Hung-Chang

Whether the fully-empowered Chinese emissary who ratified the Shimonoseki Treaty Li Hung-Chang李鸿章 (1823年2月15日－1901年11月7日) was a traitor is still being debated in China. There is absolutely no doubt as far as the Taiwanese are concerned, he had betrayed Taiwan.

One year after Japan took over Taiwan, Li went on a grand tour, ostensibly as a fact-finding mission, of Europe and finally the US. He was welcomed in New York City in a manner befitting that of a head of state:

According to New York Times (August 28, 1896, Wednesday):

"AWAITING THE VICEROY; Plans for Li Hung Chang's Reception To-day. GEN. RUGER TO WELCOME HIM Salutes to be Fired by Naval Vessels and Land Guns. THE VISITOR TO RIDE UP BROADWAY He Will Land at the Pier of the Steamship St. Louis -- Troops and Police to Escort Him. TO BE LODGED IN THE WALDORF Preparations for Banquets There and at Delmonico's -- "Chinatown" to Celebrate with Fireworks."

In a NYT interview at 9AM, Sep 2, 1896, he was asked if there would be any future for American investments in China:

●美国记者：美国资本在清国投资有什么出路吗？

●李鸿章：只有将货币、劳动力和土地都有机地结合起来，才会产生财富。清国政府非常高兴地欢迎任何资本到我国投资。我的好朋友格兰特将军曾对我说，你们必须要求欧美资本进入清国以建立现代化的工业企业，帮助清国人民开发利用本国丰富的自然资源。但这些企业的管理权应掌握在清国政府手中。我们欢迎你们来华投资，资金和技工由你们提供。但是，对于铁路、电讯等事物，要由我们自己控制。我们必须保护国家主权，不允许任何人危及我们的神圣权力。我将牢记格兰特将军的遗训，所有资本，无论是美国的还是欧洲的，都可以自由来华投资。

His reply cited an advice from his old friend Gen Ulysses Grant: "You must allow European and American capitals into China to establish industrial enterprises, to help the people of Qing develop and profit from the rich natural resources. However, the management and control must be in the hands of the Qing Government." And based on this doctrine, all investments were welcome.

To put everything in perspective, four years later in 1900, the US joined England, Japan, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, and Austria in sacking Beijing in the Boxer Rebellion. The looting of the Qing royal palaces and gardens and the pillaging of Beijing went on for days with no one claiming disadvantageous illnesses as in other previous wars with the Qing.

And despite fits and starts, in another 100 years or so, the US becomes the biggest debtor nation of China.

On the odd side, in an ad in Harper's Monthly (left, dated 1896, click to enlarge), Li appeared to be endorsing Johann Hoff's malt extract.

Malt Extract was/is not known in China (maybe 麥精?) Presumably, it is a product used in beer and bread making that is a ready to use form of the sugars found in grain.
--Usually made from barley
--Can be liquid or dried
--Flavor varies by type of grain, and how long it was roasted prior to extract

A comparison of the signature with that in Li's calligraphy (bottom right, click to enlarge) shows in the latter, the word 章Chang was without a vertical stroke extending through the middle, i.e., a 日, not a 田. This ad was probably one of those JoHo creations well-known at that time.

Not surprisingly, Li had amassed immense wealth with huge real estate holdings - rumored to "rival that of a nation". He was not without defenders, however:

梁啟超說：“世人競傳李鴻章富甲天下，此其事殆不足信，大約數百萬金之產業，意中事也。"

Although this still means a net worth of US$125 million.

清日甲午戰爭 (1894-5)

How did Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands (漁翁島, i.e., 澎湖), both of which Chinese territories since the early 1600s, end up becoming ceded to Japan? In an era of the Sleeping Lion exposed to be a Paper Tiger, the inept Qing Court lost many wars to foreign powers and was forced to sign humiliating treaties. In mid-1894, Japan invaded Korea, then a client state of China. The map above [source: here] shows the Japanese Army [red arrows], based in Hiroshima, landed in Pusan and advanced through Seoul and Pyongyang to reach Liaodong Peninsula where the battle of 旅順 (Port Arthur) took place - among many other skirmishes that one of the defenders of Danshui (in the Battle of Fisherman's Wharf) 章高元總兵 had also participated. The Japanese finally crossed the 膠州Bay and attacked 威海衛 (Port Edward) in Shantung Peninsula in Feb, 1895.

This painting (right) depicts the battle of 旅順, a major harbor city coveted also by Russia, Germany, and France. These three nations had objected to and ultimately denied the Japanese demand for the Liaotung Peninsula in the Shimonoseki Peace Treaty (detailed below). 旅順, however, eventually became a battle ground in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5.

The Japanese Navy [blue arrows in the map above], in coordination with the Army, had launched from Nagasaki and sailed steadily north along the west coast of Korea. In July, 1894, it dueled with the Qing Navy in the 豐島 Sea. And in the Battle of the Yellow Sea (Sep, 1894) had annihilated the Qing 北洋Beiyang Fleet. In this diagram on the left, the Japanese battleships are shown in black. Togo Heihachiro commanded the 浪速Naniwa. He had come to observe the Battle of Fisherman's Wharf in 1884.

The commander-in-chief of the Qing Fleet, the British-trained Admiral 丁汝昌Ting Lu-Chang was on board his flagship, the Battleship 定遠TingYuan. Both Ting and the ship were wounded. Unfortunately, Adm Ting did not designate a second-in-command and the chain of command was lost. With the fleet now in poor formation, the ships became easy targets for the faster and more powerful Japanese fleet. All together, 5 Qing warships were sunk. After the loss at the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Qing fleet regrouped to defend 威海衛. This mission had also failed. And on Feb 11, 1895, Adm Ting committed suicide refusing to yield to the Japanese. The Qing Court did not honor his death citing dereliction of duty. It actually disallowed a proper burial for Adm Ting until 1910 when he was somehow exonerated for losing both the battle and the fleet.

As a footnote, the 定遠, built in Germany and commissioned in 1883 but delivered only after the Sino-French War, was a steel-hulked warship (see picture below). At 7,220 tons with 22 guns (4 of them Krupps at 305-mm), it was one of the most formidable battleships of the Qing Navy. It evoked a sense of doom among the Japanese during an 1886 port call to Japan. It, as other warships in the Qing fleet, had fallen into disrepair owing to the misappropriation of funds by the Qing Royal Court. By 1894, it was no longer an adequately armed warship. 定遠's sister ship, the 鎮遠ZhenYuan was captured near 威海衛 by the Japanese and conscripted into 17 years of service before being scrapped and sold in 1912. Some remaining parts were returned to China in 1947.
To end the war, a peace treaty must be agreed upon by both sides. On March 23, 1895, Japan attacked the Pescadores Islands [with Togo Heihachiro playing a crucial role] to put pressure on the negotiation. The meetings took place in a restaurant 春帆楼 in下関, also known as 馬關, in 山口Yamaguchi Prefecture. And the first part of the treaty reads as follows:

日清講和条約

大日本帝国全権　伊藤博文首相、陸奥宗光外相
大清帝国全権　　李鴻章
明治28(1895)年4月17日 調印
明治28(1895)年4月20日 批准

第一条

　清国ハ朝鮮国ノ完全無欠ナル独立自主ノ国タルコトヲ確認ス因テ右独立自主ヲ損害スヘキ朝鮮国ヨリ清国ニ対スル貢献典礼等ハ将来全ク之ヲ廃止スヘシ

第二条

　清国ハ左記ノ土地ノ主権並ニ該地方ニ在ル城塁、兵器製造所及官有物ヲ永遠日本国ニ割与ス

　一

左ノ経界内ニ在ル奉天省南部ノ地
鴨緑江口ヨリ該江ヲ溯リ安平河口ニ至リ該河口ヨリ鳳凰城、海城、営口ニ亘リ遼河口ニ至ル折線以南ノ地併セテ前記ノ各城市ヲ包含ス而シテ遼河ヲ以テ界トスル処ハ該河ノ中央ヲ以テ経界トスルコトト知ルヘシ
遼東湾東岸及黄海北岸ニ在テ奉天省ニ属スル諸島嶼

　二

台湾全島及其ノ附属諸島嶼

　三

澎湖列島即英国「グリーンウィチ」東経百十九度乃至百二十度及北緯二十三度乃至二十四度ノ間ニ在ル諸島嶼

[下略]

Essentially, the Shimonoseki Treaty下関条約 [or 馬關條約 in Chinese] stipulates:

1. 清朝の朝鮮に対する「宗主権」放棄（朝鮮独立の承認）[that the Qing Court recognize the independence of Korea]
2. 遼東半島・台湾・澎湖諸島の割譲 [that Liaotung Peninsula, Taiwan and the Pescadores be ceded to Japan]
3. 庫平銀(賠償金), 2億両(テール, 約3億円)の支払 [that Japan be compensated for 200 million silver taels or about 300 million Japanese Yen]
4. 新通商条約の締結と最恵国待遇条款 [that Japan be granted the most favored status in a new commercial trade treaty]
5. 沙市・重慶・蘇州・杭州の開市・開港 [that several named ports be opened for trade]
6. 条約履行の担保として山東半島の威海衛の一時占領 [that the port city 威海衛 be temporarily occupied by Japan to guarantee the execution of the peace treaty]

So, there it was, in Article 2: Taiwan and PengHu would henceforth become part of Japan.

The reaction in Taiwan? To put it mildly, it was one of disbelief with an overwhelming sense of betrayal. On May 29, 1895, Japanese forces landed in northern Taiwan ready for the occupation. They ran into fierce Taiwanese resistance which was to last for 5 months until all major cities were lost. It was not until 50 years later, in 1945, when another war nullified the treaty.

Danshui History Museum

Special Sino-French War Exhibition (with English translation)
117 Chung Cheng Road, Danshui

淡水登峰魚丸博物館中法戰爭特展
(附有英文說明)
淡水鎮中正路 117 號


西仔反125周年紀念 1884 - 2009

"西仔反" is Taiwanese for "the 'revolt or uprising' of the French". An outdoor re-enactment/dramatization is scheduled for

October 10/11: 2009 臺北縣淡水藝術舞動街坊~環境劇場西仔反傳說
Place: 淡水滬尾砲台公園 (Danshui Hobe Fort Park)
Program: 由金枝演社擔任編導，淡水地方藝術團隊和民眾協助，紀念清法戰爭125週年，從滬尾之役還原清法戰爭的地理空間及路線，結合古戰場景觀、歷史、傳說，用戲劇創作的大型戶外環境劇場，作為本活動特色及主軸，代表淡水特有的藝術饗宴。

Rehearsals have been conducted:


And here is the show:

章高元總兵

Tsing Tao (Qing Dao 青島) is famous for its German beer, the Tsingtao lager [left]. The Germans invaded this beautiful city in ShanTung (山東) on Nov 20, 1897, under the guise of a military exercise. They occupied strategic locations and trained their guns on the Qing army gun batteries and menacingly at the military headquarters. And the high official in charge of defending the city was none other than General Zhang Gao-Yuan章高元總兵 - of the Battle of Fisherman's Wharf fame.

A brief biography of General Zhang states:

"章高元，字鼎臣，安徽合肥人。早年入淮軍，隸劉銘傳部，參加鎮壓太平軍和捻軍起義，累遷至副將擢總兵，賜號奇車巴圖魯。後隨劉銘傳戍守台灣，“平日認真操練，臨敵尤能奮不顧身”。一八八四年，法軍入侵台灣，章高元奉劉銘傳之命，往援滬尾(今淡水)。在基隆 [註: 應為基隆及淡水] 戰役中奮勇作戰，榮立戰功，更勇號年昌阿巴圖魯，擢登萊青鎮總兵，駐守山東半島。"

Essentially, Zhang was from An-Huei, a member of the Huai Army and a trusted lieutenant of Liu Ming Ch'uan. During the Sino-French war, he was ordered by Liu to come from the mainland to defend Northern Taiwan. He was dispatched posthaste to Danshui, from Keelung, when the French intention of attacking Danshui became clear. At the Battle of Fisherman's Wharf, in a pincer movement, his infantrymen together with those commanded by Sun Kai-Hua defeated the 5 Fusilier Marin companies. He was later promoted and sent to Tsing Tao to be the commander of the regional Qing Army. In the battle field, his nickname was 章迂子 or Foolish Zhang because he often braved flying bullets and personally led hand to hand combats. He had distinguished himself in several battles in Liáodōng Peninsula during the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-5.

When the Germans came calling, Zhang frantically telegraphed the General Headquarters in HeBei and ShanTung for instructions and was ordered absolutely not to fight back, citing "敵情雖橫,清廷決不動兵". On Nov 25, he was captured by the Germans. After the almost routine signing of treaties in that humiliating era, the Qing Court ceded Tsing Tao and 膠州灣Jiaozhou Bay to the Germans who then proceeded to transform the city into a German one (the colonial rule lasted until 1914). This had included the building of a beer brewery which is now the supplier of the world-renowned Tsing Tao Beer.

After the release, Zhang was so anguished by his being held back unable to fight off the invaders for even once that he became stone-deaf. He refused (or avoided) further assignments and died in Nanking in 1900 at age 71.

The photo here is Zhang Gao-Yuan's headquarters in Tsing Tao, taken shortly after it was occupied by the Germans. It shows German soldiers posing at its front entrance.