Battle of Ningpo

Last updated
Battle of Ningpo
Part of the First Opium War
Repulse at Ningpo.jpg
A British illustration of the battle of Ningpo
Date10 March 1842
Location
Ningbo (Ningpo), Zhejiang, China
29°52′18″N121°33′24″E / 29.87167°N 121.55667°E / 29.87167; 121.55667
Result British victory
Belligerents

Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom

Flag of China (1862-1889).svg Qing China
Commanders and leaders
Sir Hugh Gough Yijing
Strength
700 3,000
Casualties and losses
5 wounded 500–600 killed

The Battle of Ningpo was an unsuccessful Chinese attempt to recapture the British-occupied city of Ningbo (Ningpo) during the First Opium War. British forces had bloodlessly captured the city after their victory at Chinhai, and a Chinese force under the command of Prince Yijing was sent to recapture the city but was repulsed, suffering heavy casualties. The British eventually withdrew from the city the following spring.

Contents

Background

Prior to the outbreak of the First Opium War, the city of Ningbo had roughly 250,000 inhabitants and was frequented by warships of the British Royal Navy. [1] On 15 September 1840, after the outbreak of war between China and Britain, the British warship HMS Kite became grounded near Ningbo. The survivors of the shipwreck were captured by Chinese forces and paraded through the city and countryside in small cages. The mistreatment of the captured sailors by the Chinese influenced the attitudes of the occupying British forces in Ningbo as the event became widely known. [2]

The following year, on 10 October 1841, the British captured Chinhai after a fierce engagement between Chinese and British forces. [1] The British soon dispatched HMS Nemesis up the Yong River to discover if it was navigable. Upon discovering that the river could accommodate their large steamers, a Royal Navy fleet sailed to Ningbo. On 13 October, British troops entered Ningbo under the tune of "Saint Patrick’s Day in the morning" (sung by the Royal Irish band) and occupied the city unopposed. [3] The capture of Ningbo was a stepping stone in British plans to launch an attack on Nanjing (Nanking) as part of their larger strategy to capture Beijing (Peking). The British planned to occupy Nanjing and move up the Grand Canal towards Beijing. [2]

Occupation of Ningbo

Upon occupying the city, several British soldiers, infuriated by the mistreatment of the prisoners of war from the Kite, began to loot the city, though many in the occupation force condemned looting and prevented their comrades from undertaking any such action. The British burned down the prison where the prisoners from the Kite had previously been kept, along with confiscating the city's municipal funds, which consisted of over £160,000; a ten percent increase in taxation was also levied on the citizens of Ningbo. [4] [5] Due to the Ningbo police having fled prior to the British occupation, local Chinese freebooters looted the city and extorted money from other locals, many of whom expressed their anger by throwing trash and feces at unaccompanied British soldiers. The British officers in charge of the occupation force, Sir William Parker and Sir Hugh Gough, publicly expressed their disapproval at incidents of looting and mistreatment of the Ningbo citizenry. [6] On the other hand, Anglo-Irish soldier and colonial administrator Sir Henry Pottinger, who arrived on 13 January 1842, felt "considerable satisfaction" in looting the city. [7] After Pottinger arrived to Ningbo, he "ordered the confiscation of all the Chinese ships and provisions and other property, including the main Pagoda's bell, which was sent to India as another symbolic prize." [4] He also appointed Lutheran Reverend Karl Gutzlaff, a German missionary, as the highest ranking civil magistrate in Ningbo. Gutzlaff strictly enforced the laws of the new administration and hired a small group of spies to monitor the city and the activities of the residents, allowing British officials to impose higher taxes on the upper class citizens in Ningbo. [6] The British also opened up the public granary and began to sell the grain contained within to local citizens at cheap prices. [8]

Following the loss of Ningbo, the Emperor sent his cousin, Prince Yijing, to Suzhou (Soochow) to recruit men to recapture the city and "drive the English into the sea." [9] However, most of the recruits were poorly trained and unprepared for combat. [10] Despite this, Yijing ordered his force to go on the offensive. They fought several minor skirmishes with British troops outside of Ningbo, being defeated each time. [9] Fearful of possible infiltration by British spies, security was heightened in the Chinese camp, with the stated aim of preventing those disloyal to the Emperor from coming near Prince Yijing. [11] Plans were drawn up to recapture the city and destroy the Royal Navy's warships in the Yung River. One plan called for the destruction of the warships via using firecrackers tied to monkeys who would be flung onto the ships. This plan, as well as plans to use fire rafts to light the Royal Navy's warships alight, were both discarded prior to the battle. [12]

Battle

The Chinese, under the command of Prince Yijing, gathered over 3,000 men for the assault on the city. The original plan had been to assault Ningbo with almost 50,000 troops; however, most of these men failed to muster in time. [13] The British occupation force was also depleted in number, with fewer than seven hundred soldiers stationed in the city. [6] However, the Chinese plan of attack was exposed when a group of local boys who had befriended the British warned them of the coming attack. [14] On March 10 at roughly 4:00am, a British sentry spotted a Chinese soldier advancing towards the western city gate. The sentry repeatedly shouted "Wei lo" (go away in Cantonese) at the advancing soldier, who eventually responded "Wei loa moa" (will not go) before being shot dead. Some Chinese soldiers had misunderstood their orders and were only equipped with knives during the battle. [12]

The Chinese attacked the southern and eastern city walls, overwhelming the British soldiers stationed at the southern city gate. [9] At the western city gate, a group of Chinese soldiers under the command of Tuan Yu-Fang approached the walls, and upon seeing that the gate was opened and seemingly undefended, were ordered to capture it by Tuan. However, the British had mined the gate and deliberately left it open "in order to give the impression that they did not mean to defend it", and one hundred attacking Chinese soldiers were killed in the ensuing blast, forcing them to call off the attack. [15] Meanwhile, at the southern city gate, the attacking Chinese had pushed back the British soldiers stationed there into the city streets, but were eventually repelled by 150 British soldiers under the command of Sir Hugh Gough, with the British deploying a field artillery piece directly in a city street. [16] British and Chinese officials alike noted that many of the Chinese soldiers were under the influence of opium during the battle, which notably decreased their combat effectiveness. The Chinese retreated, having suffered between 500 and 600 casualties while the British suffered 5. [17] Historians have noted that heavy rains and mud had delayed the Chinese from swiftly bringing in reinforcements before and during the battle. [9]

Aftermath

Following the battle, the British continued to occupy Ningbo until the following spring when they looted the city one final time before departing. [7] The defeated Chinese armies retreated from Ningbo to the town of Cicheng (Tz’uch’i), eighteen miles north of Ningbo. The wounds suffered by Chinese soldiers in the battle, including shrapnel and bullet wounds, proved exceptionally difficult to treat. [18] During the final phases of the British occupation, kidnappings and murders in Ningbo experienced a massive increase as law and order continued to break down, with portions of the city being set aflame. The British administration executed numerous local citizens found guilty of such crimes. [19] The 1842 Treaty of Nanking, which ended the war, stipulated that Ningbo would become one of five "treaty ports", which would be permanently opened to foreign trade. Following the end of the war, the city became part of the British sphere of influence in China. [20]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Beeching 1975, p. 139.
  2. 1 2 Beeching 1975, p. 138-139.
  3. ↑ Fry 1975, p. 316.
  4. 1 2 Hanes III & Sanello 2002, p. 138.
  5. ↑ Beeching 1975, p. 140.
  6. 1 2 3 Hanes III & Sanello 2002, p. 139.
  7. 1 2 Inglis 1976, p. 162.
  8. ↑ Fry 1975, pp. 318–319.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Fry 1975, p. 319.
  10. ↑ Waley 1958, p. 158.
  11. ↑ Waley 1958, p. 160.
  12. 1 2 Waley 1958, p. 170.
  13. ↑ Waley 1958, p. 169.
  14. ↑ Beeching 1975, p. 145.
  15. ↑ Waley 1958, p. 170-171.
  16. ↑ Waley 1958, p. 172.
  17. ↑ Hanes III & Sanello 2002, p. 140.
  18. ↑ Waley 1958, p. 175.
  19. ↑ Fry 1975, p. 320.
  20. ↑ Chesneaux, Bastid & Bergere 1976, p. 64-65.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Opium War</span> 1839–1842 war between Britain and China

The First Opium War, also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of their ban on the opium trade by seizing private opium stocks from mainly British merchants at Guangzhou and threatening to impose the death penalty for future offenders. Despite the opium ban, the British government supported the merchants' demand for compensation for seized goods, and insisted on the principles of free trade and equal diplomatic recognition with China. Opium was Britain's single most profitable commodity trade of the 19th century. After months of tensions between the two states, the Royal Navy launched an expedition in June 1840, which ultimately defeated the Chinese using technologically superior ships and weapons by August 1842. The British then imposed the Treaty of Nanking, which forced China to increase foreign trade, give compensation, and cede Hong Kong Island to the British. Consequently, the opium trade continued in China. Twentieth-century nationalists considered 1839 the start of a century of humiliation, and many historians consider it the beginning of modern Chinese history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Opium War</span> 1856–1860 war between British–French forces and China

The Second Opium War, also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the United Kingdom, France, and the United States against the Qing dynasty of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opium Wars</span> Two 19th-century conflicts between China and the Western powers

The Opium Wars were two conflicts waged between China and Western powers during the mid-19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lin Zexu</span> Chinese scholar-official (1785–1850)

Lin Zexu, courtesy name Yuanfu, was a Chinese political philosopher and politician. He was a head of state (Viceroy), Governor General, scholar-official, and under the Daoguang Emperor of the Qing dynasty best known for his role in the First Opium War of 1839–42. He was from Fuzhou, Fujian Province. Lin's forceful opposition to the opium trade was a primary catalyst for the First Opium War. He is praised for his constant position on the "moral high ground" in his fight, but he is also blamed for a rigid approach which failed to account for the domestic and international complexities of the problem. The Emperor endorsed the hardline policies and anti-drugs movement advocated by Lin, but placed all responsibility for the resulting disastrous Opium War onto Lin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Peking (1900)</span> Part of the Boxer Rebellion

The Battle of Peking, or historically the Relief of Peking, was the battle fought on 14–15 August 1900 in Beijing, in which the Eight-Nation Alliance relieved the siege of the Peking Legation Quarter during the Boxer Rebellion. From 20 June 1900, Boxers and Imperial Chinese Army troops had besieged foreign diplomats, citizens and soldiers within the legations of Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, Spain and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humen</span> Strait in Guangdong, China

The Humen, also known as the Bocca Tigris or the Bogue, is a narrow strait in the Pearl River Delta that separates Shiziyang in the north and Lingdingyang in the south. It is located near Humen Town in China's Guangdong Province. It is the site of the Pearl River's discharge into the South China Sea. It contains the Port of Humen at Humen Town. The strait is formed by the islands of Chuenpi and Anunghoy on the eastern side, and Taikoktow on the western side. Since 1997, the strait has been traversed by the Humen Pearl River Bridge. Bocca Tigris was the entry to China's only trading city, Canton.

HMS <i>Wellesley</i> (1815) Ship of the line (1815–1948) of the Royal Navy

HMS Wellesley was a 74-gun third rate, named after the Duke of Wellington, and launched in 1815. She captured Karachi for the British, and participated in the First Opium War, which resulted in Britain gaining control of Hong Kong. Thereafter she served primarily as a training ship before gaining the almost surely unwanted distinction of being the last British ship of the line to be sunk by enemy action and the only one to have been sunk by an air-raid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Battle of Chuenpi</span>

The Second Battle of Chuenpi was fought between British and Chinese forces in the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong province, China, on 7 January 1841 during the First Opium War. The British launched an amphibious attack at the Humen strait (Bogue), capturing the forts on the islands of Chuenpi and Taikoktow. Subsequent negotiations between British Plenipotentiary Charles Elliot and Chinese Imperial Commissioner Qishan resulted in the Convention of Chuenpi on 20 January. As one of the terms of the agreement, Elliot announced the cession of Hong Kong Island to the British Empire, after which the British took formal possession of the island on 26 January.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Kowloon</span> First battle of the First Opium War

The Battle of Kowloon was a skirmish between British and Chinese vessels off the Kowloon Peninsula, China, on 4 September 1839, located in Hong Kong, although Kowloon was then part of the Guangdong province. The skirmish was the first armed conflict of the First Opium War and occurred when British boats opened fire on Chinese war junks enforcing a food sales embargo on the British community. The ban was ordered after a Chinese man died in a brawl with drunk British sailors at Tsim Sha Tsui. The Chinese authorities did not consider the punishment to be sufficient as meted out by British officials, so they suspended food supplies in an attempt to force the British to turn over the culprit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Chinkiang</span>

The Battle of Chinkiang was fought between British and Chinese forces in Zhenjiang (Chinkiang), Jiangsu province, China, on 21 July 1842 during the First Opium War. It was the last major battle of the war. The Chinese force consisted of a garrison of Manchu and Mongol Bannermen. In command of the British forces was Sir Hugh Gough. Leading one brigade was future British field marshal Sir Colin Campbell. The British capture of this stronghold allowed them to proceed to Nanjing. Fought near the confluence of the Grand Canal and Yangtze River, the battle effectively blocked operation of the Caoyun system, a transport network vital for the movement of grain throughout the empire. As a result, the Daoguang Emperor decided to sue for peace and agreed to sign the Treaty of Nanking, which brought hostilities to an end. Mass suicide was committed by the Manchu Bannermen who were defending the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guan Tianpei</span> Chinese admiral of the Qing dynasty

Guan Tianpei, courtesy name Zhongyin (仲因), art name Zipu (滋圃), was a Chinese admiral of the Qing dynasty who served in the First Opium War. His Chinese title was "Commander-in-Chief of Naval Forces". In 1838, he established courteous relations with British Rear-Admiral Frederick Maitland. Guan fought in the First Battle of Chuenpi (1839), the Second Battle of Chuenpi (1841), and the Battle of the Bogue (1841). The British account described his death in the Anunghoy forts during the Battle of the Bogue on 26 February 1841 as follows:

Among these [Chinese officers], the most distinguished and lamented was poor old Admiral Kwan, whose death excited much sympathy throughout the force; he fell by a bayonet wound in his breast, as he was meeting his enemy at the gate of Anunghoy, yielding up his brave spirit willingly to a soldier's death, when his life could only be preserved with the certainty of degradation. He was altogether a fine specimen of a gallant soldier, unwilling to yield when summoned to surrender because to yield would imply treason.

Admiral Sir Henry Smith was a British officer in the Royal Navy. He commanded the Aden Expedition in 1839 which took Aden as the first colonial acquisition of the reign of Queen Victoria. For this service he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath. Smith was then sent to serve on the China Station, where he fired the first shot of the First Opium War at the Battle of Kowloon. He played an important role at the controversial Battle of Chuenpi later in the year, and as senior naval officer on the south coast of China fought the Battle of the Barrier. He later participated in the Battles of Second Chuenpi, the Bogue, and Canton, before forming part of the Amoy garrison after the Battle of Amoy. Having left China in 1843, he went on to command ships in the Mediterranean and then in the Baltic Sea during the Crimean War. Smith never served at sea again after obtaining flag rank in 1855 but became superintendent of the Royal Hospital Haslar and the Royal Clarence Yard. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1873, retiring in the same year.

Yijing was a Manchu prince of the Qing Dynasty. He was a cousin of the Daoguang Emperor. In 1826, he served at Kashgar as a junior officer in the campaign against Jahangir Khoja. During the First Opium War, after the British captured Zhenhai and Ningbo, the emperor ordered Yijing to go to Zhejiang on 18 October 1841 and take command of a counter-offensive. In the Battle of Ningpo on 10 March 1842, Yijing's troops attempted to retake the city, but the British successfully repelled the attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Canton (1857)</span>

The Battle of Canton was fought by British and French forces against Qing China on 28–31 December 1857 during the Second Opium War. The British High Commissioner, Lord Elgin, was keen to take the city of Canton (Guangzhou) as a demonstration of power and to capture Chinese official Ye Mingchen, who had resisted British attempts to implement the 1842 Treaty of Nanking. Elgin ordered an Anglo-French force to take the town and an assault began on 28 December. Allied forces took control of the city walls on 29 December but delayed entry into the city itself until 5 January. They subsequently captured Ye and some reports state they burnt down much of the town. The ease with which the allies won the battle was one of the reasons for the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858.

Frank Sanello is an author and journalist who writes about the entertainment industry, cultural anthropology, politics, social issues, and revisionist history.

Lu Kun, was a Chinese politician of the Qing dynasty. He was a student of politician and scholar Ruan Yuan. He was born in Zhuozhou Prefecture, Shuntian Fu (顺天府).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Destruction of opium at Humen</span> 1839 event starting the First Opium War

The destruction of opium at Humen began on 3 June 1839, lasted for 23 days, and involved the destruction of 1,000 long tons of illegal opium seized from British traders under the aegis of Lin Zexu, an Imperial Commissioner of Qing China. Conducted on the banks of the Pearl River outside Humen Town, Dongguan, China, the action provided casus belli for Great Britain to declare war on Qing China. What followed is now known as the First Opium War (1839–1842), a conflict that initiated China's opening for trade with foreign nations under a series of treaties with the western powers.

PS <i>Madagascar</i> (1838 ship) 19th century British militar paddle steamer

Madagascar was a 19th-century paddle steamer that served the British Empire as a troop transport in the First Opium War, during which conflict an accidental fire destroyed her.

Events from the year 1842 in China.

Events from the year 1841 in China.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.