Bao'an County , formerly named Xin'an County is a historical region of South China. It is the predecessor of the modern city of Shenzhen.
During the Han Dynasty, and at the time of the Three Kingdoms, the later Bao'an County, together with those of Dongguan and Boluo, formed only one large district, bearing the name of Boluo .
In 331, the Eastern Jin Dynasty established Bao'an County, which was one of the six counties under Dōngguān Prefecture. This prefecture's area covered modern Shenzhen and Dongguan. Since the second year of the Zhide of of the Tang Dynasty , Dōngguān was renamed to Dōngguǎn . Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dynasty , found it necessary in the 27th year of his reign to appoint an officer with the title "Shou-yu-suo" - ''Protector of the region'', in order to protect the population, which was rapidly increasing, against the bands of robbers and vagabonds which infested the district.
During the age in Ming Dynasty, Bao'an County was renamed to Xin'an County in 1573 AD. Its areas covers modern Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
In Qing Dynasty, the Xin'an County, to which the mainland opposite to the Island of Hong Kong belongs, was one of the fourteen districts of the department of Guangdong. From 1842 to 1898, 1055.61 km2 out of 3076 km2 of Xin'an County was ceded to United Kingdom to form Hong Kong.
After the Republic of China was founded, the name of Xin'an was changed back to Bao'an in 1913.
In 1979, Bao'an County was renamed to Shenzhen City and became a Special Economic Zone.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Wanshan Archipelago Campaign
Campaign was a campaign fought between the communist and the forces during the Chinese Civil War for the control of Wanshan Archipelago , and resulted in communist victory. The archipelago consists of 48 islands strategically located at the mouth of the Pearl River, a chokepoint on the communication lines to Hong Kong and Macau. The largest island is the Laurel Mountain Island, which was formerly known as Trash Tail Island. Other major islands included Outer Linding Island, Dong’ao Island, Tri-gate Island, Greater Ten-thousand Mountain Island, Lesser Ten-thousand Mountain Island, Burden Pole Islands, and Jianpeng Islands.
After Hainan Island had fallen into the communist hands, the 3rd Fleet withdrew to Wanshan Archipelago and together with the various nationalist units as the local garrison, the nationalists planned to blockade the mouth of the Pearl River and cutting off the maritime links between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macau. The naval commander-in-chief Gui Yongqing organized the Wanshan Defense Command, and named commander-in-chief of the 3rd Fleet Qi Hongzhang as the commander, who set up his headquarter on board the frigate Taihe , the largest warship among more than three dozen naval vessels in the region, and the flagship of the 3rd Fleet. In response, the communist force decided to take the archipelago and eliminate the threat and crush the blockade of the mouth of the Pearl River. The communist deputy corps commander Hong Xuezhi was named as the commander of the Riverine Defense Force of the Cantonese Military Region to be in charge of the incoming operation, and the commander of force began to mass at Zhongshan on May 8, 1950 after a joint command headquarter was setup.
order of battle
Around 4,000, including:
*1 Marine regiment
*1 battalion from the 208th Division of the Youth Army
*6 infantry companies of various units
*Units of the Cantonese Assault Army
*The 3rd Fleet
**More than 30 naval vessels, later increased to more than 40.
Communist order of battle
Around 10,000 total, including:
*2 regiments from the 131st Division of the 44th Army
*1 Artillery battalion of the 132nd Division
*1 Artillery company of the 130th Division
*1 Artillery company of the South-central Military Region with 100 long range cannons
*1 Artillery company from the 50th Army with recoilless guns
*1 Artillery regiment of the Pearl River sub-Military Region
*Riverine Defense Force of the Cantonese Military Region
**5 gunboats
**1 Landing ship
**10 Landing craft
**8 Transports
The communist task force sailed to Wanshan Archipelago at the dawn of May 25, 1950. Shortly before dawn, the advance guard of the communist force in charge of fire support reached the anchorage at the Laurel Mountain Island. The communist gunboat Liberation, a former gunboat named Dancing Phoenix defected to the communist side commanded by its former commander, Captain Lin Wenhu , a brilliant naval officer, launched a surprise attack on the naval force at the anchorage under the cover of darkness. Fully aware that his 25-ton gunboat was completely incapable of sinking its large opponents each displaced over a thousand tons, Captain Lin skillfully ordered his crew to concentrate fire on the superstructures of larger enemy ships. Nearly every large warship in the anchorage had its bridge struck, and the flagship, the frigate Taihe suffered the most: nearly everyone on the bridge was either killed or wounded, and Qi Hongzhang , the commander-in-chief was severely wounded himself. With the commander-in-chief severely wounded and most of his staff killed, the command in charge of both land and naval defense was thus effectively paralyzed. The confined space of the anchorage severely limited the maneuverability of the warships for fearing collision in the darkness, and the communist gunboat was able to utilizing the blind spots of the larger naval guns by fighting at extremely close quarter when engaging the larger enemy ships after sinking a gunboat. In the meantime, two other communist gunboats, Vanguard and Struggle, managed to sunk two gunboats east of Ox Head Island, while two battalions of the communist landing force took Green Islet and Triangle Island.
After the sunrise, the fleet discovered that there was only a single small communist gunboat fighting them, and as the enraged sailors attempted to avenge the deaths of their comrades-in-arms, every naval vessel available joined the chase of the communist 25-ton gunboat Liberation. However, unbeknown to the fleet, it was drawn to a temporary but carefully and skillfully designed trap devised by the communist gunboat captain, who was luring his opponent away from the islands, thus opening the way for the communist landing force. Once the fleet realized its mistake, it was too late: although the fleet managed to severely damage the communist landing ship Guishan in the chase, the communist landing ship nonetheless successfully beached itself and unloaded all of the landing force it carried.
The fleet was soon faced another dilemma: continue fighting the two communist naval vessels or saving the dying sailors, including the severely wounded commander-in-chief, who was out of consciousness by already this time. The loyal subordinates of the commander-in-chief chose not to let their commanding officer to die like many other wounded sailors, and speed away from the battlefield to seek better medical help in attempting to save those who were dying. Fearing additional communist naval units that may launch another round of attack, all other naval vessels retreated from the battlefield around an hour after the first shot was fired, protecting the wounded flagship from possible enemy attacks, thus enabling the 25-ton communist gunboat Liberation to safely return to its mainland base in a hero’s welcome, but naval force nonetheless succeeded in killing the communist deputy political commissar of the flotilla on board the gunboat.
Unfortunately for the s, due to the chaos of the battle and the damage to the communication gears on board most of its naval vessels, the decision for the naval units to retreat from the battlefield to save the dying sailors and commanders was not relayed to force on the island, where the defenders interpreted such retreat as fleeing and abandoning them, and the morale of the land force collapsed as a result. In the meantime, the communist troops landed on the island believed the same and their morale was drastically boosted and their pressure on the defenders intensified. The demoralized defenders had managed to hold on their positions until the nightfall, and then asked and was allowed retreated from the island under the cover of darkness.
Once the main anchorage of the Wanshan Archipelago , the Laurel Mountain Island fell into the enemy hands, many other islands fell in a domino effect. From May 25, 1950 thru May 28, 1950, Ox Head island, Spider Islet , Dalu , Large Head Islet and other small islets fell into the enemy hands.
On May 28, 1950, the naval force at the region was reinforced by 3 frigates, 2 landing ships, 4 , and several gunboats newly arrived from Taiwan. The naval force cruised in waters north of Little Green Islet and Ox Head island, attempted to bombard the enemy positions on lands and the transport fleet. As the enemy gunboats came out to meet them, the force still weary of previous naval engagement three days ago withdrew to open ocean, where the conditions favored the larger fleet because there was more space to maneuver. However, the enemy gunboats did not pursuit because the communists were fully aware their meek naval strength and once the mission of preventing the naval fleet from bombarding the communist assets was completed, the communists gunboats withdrew.
Although the bombardment mission ended early and thus was not a success, the s were quick to devise a plan based on the experience to counterattack by wiping out the enemy naval force after luring it out to the open ocean, and then retake the islands from the enemy who would not have any naval support of their own. However, the enemy also learned from earlier experience and reached the conclusion of not to engaging the much stronger naval force in the open ocean where the condition favored the latter. In attempt to search the enemy, a detachment of the fleet ventured too close to shore and three ships suffered damages from enemy shore batteries on the Large Head Islet and Triangle Island on May 30, 1950. The s consequently changed their tactics by letting the enemy come to them at the waters favored the s, instead of going to the enemy’s turf to seek out the enemy in the coastal regions that favored the enemy.
However, the enemy had learned from the engagement as well and correctly deducted the objective, and thus made a plan of their own to counter that of the : instead of falling into the trap by fighting the way s had wanted, the best way to engage the superior naval fleet was to utilize the long range shore batteries, and the much weaker naval force would act as auxiliary to the shore batteries.
On June 5, 1950, the enemy force adopted the leapfrog tactic under the cover of shore batteries on adjacent islands and islets close by, succeeding in taking Dong’ao Island, Greater Ten-thousand Mountain Island, and Lesser Ten-thousand Mountain Island, forcing the to withdrew to Outer Linding Island, Burden Pole Island and other outlaying islands. At the night of June 26, 1950, the enemy had secretly set up the long range shore batteries on Tri-gate Island under the cover of darkness, and the enemy gunboats were also deployed accordingly.
Unaware the enemy’s plan, the naval fleet carried out their original plan with the help of three more warships newly arrived from Taiwan, including destroyers. More than a dozen warships were deployed in waters near Outer Linding Island, Burden Pole Islands, attempting to lure out the enemy naval units. In the early morning of June 27, 1950, the hidden enemy shore batteries suddenly opened up on the unsuspecting fleet, and defenders on the held islands, the fierce fight lasted for more than five hours.
After numerous extraordinarily brave but completely futile attempts to approach the shore to support the defenders on land which resulted in one gunboat sunk, one destroyer, two large patrol craft two and two gunboats damaged, it was painfully clear that the outgunned fleet must withdraw to the open waters further away in order to avoid annihilation by the superior enemy artillery on land. The enemy’s tactic of using numerically superior land artilleries with greater range than that of naval guns proved to be a great success and prevented any naval attempt to support their comrades-in-arms on lands. With the cover of superior firepower from the lands, the enemy was able to deploy the leapfrog tactic to take the remaining islands in the hands. By July 1, 1950, the Outer Linding Island fell into the enemy hands, and by August 3, 1950, Burden Pole Islands also fell. On August 4, 1950, Direct Bay , Northern Sharp , and Temple Bay and other islands fell into the enemy hands. Finally, on August 7, 1950, the communist campaign to take the Wanshan Archipelago ended in total victory after taking the Mosquito Tail Islet
The communist takeover of the Wanshan Archipelago eliminated the threat to its vital shipping lines to Hong Kong and Macau and crushed blockade of mouth of the Pearl River. The Wanshan Archipelago Campaign was the first combined army and naval operation for the communists and in addition to damaging and sinking enemy ships, eleven enemy ships were captured and they provided valuable local defense asset once they were completely repaired and returned to the active service in the communist fleet. One of the major contributor to the success was the correct tactics of not engaging the overwhelmingly superior opposing naval fleet, but instead, utilizing the numerically and technically superior shore batteries that the communists did enjoy to engage opposing naval targets that were outgunned. The largest island, the Trash Tail Island, was renamed Laurel Mountain Island, in honor of the landing ship Laurel Mountain , the largest communist naval vessel participated in the conflict.
The control of the Wanshan Archipelago was mostly symbolic for political propaganda and the battle for the control of thearchipelago was destined to fail for the same simple reason just like the earlier Battle of Nan'ao Island: the location was just too far away from any friendly bases and thus it was difficult to support in war, and when the support was available, it was rather costly. Although the largest island provided a relatively good anchorage, there was just not enough land to build any comprehensive facilities and infrastructures to support a fleet. As a result, many of the repairs that could be done locally had the comprehensive facilities and infrastructures been available would require traveling back to the distant friendly bases, thus greatly increased cost. When a major damage occurred, tugs were needed to tow the damaged vessel, and in the event of war when tugs could not be available, the damaged vessels had to be abandoned. In contrast, the enemy had comprehensive facilities and infrastructures on the mainland and since the archipelago at the enemy’s doorstep, they could simply recover the abandoned vessels and repair them after taking them back to the mainland, and put them back into service to fight against the former owners of these vessels, as the case of the eleven naval vessels abandoned by the s after the battle.
As for the blockade of the mouth of the Pearl River, it certainly caused difficulties for the enemy. However, these difficulties could be overcame because there were and still are link between the mainland and Hong Kong, and Macau via land, and for the maritime traffic, the naval force could only cover the coastal region outside the effective range of the enemy’s land batteries and the enemy could simply move a little deeper into the Pearl River to avoid the naval force. Though this did indeed increased the cost for the enemy, the price tag for the operation of the naval task force performing this duty so far away from any support base was far greater comparatively speaking, because enemy transportation was mostly by wooden that only required wind, while the modern navy required much more, such as fuel and maintenance supplies. Many strategist and naval commanders had pointed out this disadvantage and along with the geographically disadvantage , wisely and correctly suggest to withdraw from the Wanshan Archipelago in order to strengthen the defense elsewhere, but their requests were denied because holding on something at the enemy’s door step would have a significant symbolic meaning of great political propaganda value, but when the inevitable fall had finally occurred, the resulting disaster had negated any previous gains in political and psychological propaganda.
Prelude
After Hainan Island had fallen into the communist hands, the 3rd Fleet withdrew to Wanshan Archipelago and together with the various nationalist units as the local garrison, the nationalists planned to blockade the mouth of the Pearl River and cutting off the maritime links between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macau. The naval commander-in-chief Gui Yongqing organized the Wanshan Defense Command, and named commander-in-chief of the 3rd Fleet Qi Hongzhang as the commander, who set up his headquarter on board the frigate Taihe , the largest warship among more than three dozen naval vessels in the region, and the flagship of the 3rd Fleet. In response, the communist force decided to take the archipelago and eliminate the threat and crush the blockade of the mouth of the Pearl River. The communist deputy corps commander Hong Xuezhi was named as the commander of the Riverine Defense Force of the Cantonese Military Region to be in charge of the incoming operation, and the commander of force began to mass at Zhongshan on May 8, 1950 after a joint command headquarter was setup.
Order of battle
order of battle
Around 4,000, including:
*1 Marine regiment
*1 battalion from the 208th Division of the Youth Army
*6 infantry companies of various units
*Units of the Cantonese Assault Army
*The 3rd Fleet
**More than 30 naval vessels, later increased to more than 40.
Communist order of battle
Around 10,000 total, including:
*2 regiments from the 131st Division of the 44th Army
*1 Artillery battalion of the 132nd Division
*1 Artillery company of the 130th Division
*1 Artillery company of the South-central Military Region with 100 long range cannons
*1 Artillery company from the 50th Army with recoilless guns
*1 Artillery regiment of the Pearl River sub-Military Region
*Riverine Defense Force of the Cantonese Military Region
**5 gunboats
**1 Landing ship
**10 Landing craft
**8 Transports
First stage
The communist task force sailed to Wanshan Archipelago at the dawn of May 25, 1950. Shortly before dawn, the advance guard of the communist force in charge of fire support reached the anchorage at the Laurel Mountain Island. The communist gunboat Liberation, a former gunboat named Dancing Phoenix defected to the communist side commanded by its former commander, Captain Lin Wenhu , a brilliant naval officer, launched a surprise attack on the naval force at the anchorage under the cover of darkness. Fully aware that his 25-ton gunboat was completely incapable of sinking its large opponents each displaced over a thousand tons, Captain Lin skillfully ordered his crew to concentrate fire on the superstructures of larger enemy ships. Nearly every large warship in the anchorage had its bridge struck, and the flagship, the frigate Taihe suffered the most: nearly everyone on the bridge was either killed or wounded, and Qi Hongzhang , the commander-in-chief was severely wounded himself. With the commander-in-chief severely wounded and most of his staff killed, the command in charge of both land and naval defense was thus effectively paralyzed. The confined space of the anchorage severely limited the maneuverability of the warships for fearing collision in the darkness, and the communist gunboat was able to utilizing the blind spots of the larger naval guns by fighting at extremely close quarter when engaging the larger enemy ships after sinking a gunboat. In the meantime, two other communist gunboats, Vanguard and Struggle, managed to sunk two gunboats east of Ox Head Island, while two battalions of the communist landing force took Green Islet and Triangle Island.
After the sunrise, the fleet discovered that there was only a single small communist gunboat fighting them, and as the enraged sailors attempted to avenge the deaths of their comrades-in-arms, every naval vessel available joined the chase of the communist 25-ton gunboat Liberation. However, unbeknown to the fleet, it was drawn to a temporary but carefully and skillfully designed trap devised by the communist gunboat captain, who was luring his opponent away from the islands, thus opening the way for the communist landing force. Once the fleet realized its mistake, it was too late: although the fleet managed to severely damage the communist landing ship Guishan in the chase, the communist landing ship nonetheless successfully beached itself and unloaded all of the landing force it carried.
The fleet was soon faced another dilemma: continue fighting the two communist naval vessels or saving the dying sailors, including the severely wounded commander-in-chief, who was out of consciousness by already this time. The loyal subordinates of the commander-in-chief chose not to let their commanding officer to die like many other wounded sailors, and speed away from the battlefield to seek better medical help in attempting to save those who were dying. Fearing additional communist naval units that may launch another round of attack, all other naval vessels retreated from the battlefield around an hour after the first shot was fired, protecting the wounded flagship from possible enemy attacks, thus enabling the 25-ton communist gunboat Liberation to safely return to its mainland base in a hero’s welcome, but naval force nonetheless succeeded in killing the communist deputy political commissar of the flotilla on board the gunboat.
Unfortunately for the s, due to the chaos of the battle and the damage to the communication gears on board most of its naval vessels, the decision for the naval units to retreat from the battlefield to save the dying sailors and commanders was not relayed to force on the island, where the defenders interpreted such retreat as fleeing and abandoning them, and the morale of the land force collapsed as a result. In the meantime, the communist troops landed on the island believed the same and their morale was drastically boosted and their pressure on the defenders intensified. The demoralized defenders had managed to hold on their positions until the nightfall, and then asked and was allowed retreated from the island under the cover of darkness.
Once the main anchorage of the Wanshan Archipelago , the Laurel Mountain Island fell into the enemy hands, many other islands fell in a domino effect. From May 25, 1950 thru May 28, 1950, Ox Head island, Spider Islet , Dalu , Large Head Islet and other small islets fell into the enemy hands.
Second stage
On May 28, 1950, the naval force at the region was reinforced by 3 frigates, 2 landing ships, 4 , and several gunboats newly arrived from Taiwan. The naval force cruised in waters north of Little Green Islet and Ox Head island, attempted to bombard the enemy positions on lands and the transport fleet. As the enemy gunboats came out to meet them, the force still weary of previous naval engagement three days ago withdrew to open ocean, where the conditions favored the larger fleet because there was more space to maneuver. However, the enemy gunboats did not pursuit because the communists were fully aware their meek naval strength and once the mission of preventing the naval fleet from bombarding the communist assets was completed, the communists gunboats withdrew.
Although the bombardment mission ended early and thus was not a success, the s were quick to devise a plan based on the experience to counterattack by wiping out the enemy naval force after luring it out to the open ocean, and then retake the islands from the enemy who would not have any naval support of their own. However, the enemy also learned from earlier experience and reached the conclusion of not to engaging the much stronger naval force in the open ocean where the condition favored the latter. In attempt to search the enemy, a detachment of the fleet ventured too close to shore and three ships suffered damages from enemy shore batteries on the Large Head Islet and Triangle Island on May 30, 1950. The s consequently changed their tactics by letting the enemy come to them at the waters favored the s, instead of going to the enemy’s turf to seek out the enemy in the coastal regions that favored the enemy.
However, the enemy had learned from the engagement as well and correctly deducted the objective, and thus made a plan of their own to counter that of the : instead of falling into the trap by fighting the way s had wanted, the best way to engage the superior naval fleet was to utilize the long range shore batteries, and the much weaker naval force would act as auxiliary to the shore batteries.
Third stage
On June 5, 1950, the enemy force adopted the leapfrog tactic under the cover of shore batteries on adjacent islands and islets close by, succeeding in taking Dong’ao Island, Greater Ten-thousand Mountain Island, and Lesser Ten-thousand Mountain Island, forcing the to withdrew to Outer Linding Island, Burden Pole Island and other outlaying islands. At the night of June 26, 1950, the enemy had secretly set up the long range shore batteries on Tri-gate Island under the cover of darkness, and the enemy gunboats were also deployed accordingly.
Unaware the enemy’s plan, the naval fleet carried out their original plan with the help of three more warships newly arrived from Taiwan, including destroyers. More than a dozen warships were deployed in waters near Outer Linding Island, Burden Pole Islands, attempting to lure out the enemy naval units. In the early morning of June 27, 1950, the hidden enemy shore batteries suddenly opened up on the unsuspecting fleet, and defenders on the held islands, the fierce fight lasted for more than five hours.
After numerous extraordinarily brave but completely futile attempts to approach the shore to support the defenders on land which resulted in one gunboat sunk, one destroyer, two large patrol craft two and two gunboats damaged, it was painfully clear that the outgunned fleet must withdraw to the open waters further away in order to avoid annihilation by the superior enemy artillery on land. The enemy’s tactic of using numerically superior land artilleries with greater range than that of naval guns proved to be a great success and prevented any naval attempt to support their comrades-in-arms on lands. With the cover of superior firepower from the lands, the enemy was able to deploy the leapfrog tactic to take the remaining islands in the hands. By July 1, 1950, the Outer Linding Island fell into the enemy hands, and by August 3, 1950, Burden Pole Islands also fell. On August 4, 1950, Direct Bay , Northern Sharp , and Temple Bay and other islands fell into the enemy hands. Finally, on August 7, 1950, the communist campaign to take the Wanshan Archipelago ended in total victory after taking the Mosquito Tail Islet
Outcome
The communist takeover of the Wanshan Archipelago eliminated the threat to its vital shipping lines to Hong Kong and Macau and crushed blockade of mouth of the Pearl River. The Wanshan Archipelago Campaign was the first combined army and naval operation for the communists and in addition to damaging and sinking enemy ships, eleven enemy ships were captured and they provided valuable local defense asset once they were completely repaired and returned to the active service in the communist fleet. One of the major contributor to the success was the correct tactics of not engaging the overwhelmingly superior opposing naval fleet, but instead, utilizing the numerically and technically superior shore batteries that the communists did enjoy to engage opposing naval targets that were outgunned. The largest island, the Trash Tail Island, was renamed Laurel Mountain Island, in honor of the landing ship Laurel Mountain , the largest communist naval vessel participated in the conflict.
The control of the Wanshan Archipelago was mostly symbolic for political propaganda and the battle for the control of thearchipelago was destined to fail for the same simple reason just like the earlier Battle of Nan'ao Island: the location was just too far away from any friendly bases and thus it was difficult to support in war, and when the support was available, it was rather costly. Although the largest island provided a relatively good anchorage, there was just not enough land to build any comprehensive facilities and infrastructures to support a fleet. As a result, many of the repairs that could be done locally had the comprehensive facilities and infrastructures been available would require traveling back to the distant friendly bases, thus greatly increased cost. When a major damage occurred, tugs were needed to tow the damaged vessel, and in the event of war when tugs could not be available, the damaged vessels had to be abandoned. In contrast, the enemy had comprehensive facilities and infrastructures on the mainland and since the archipelago at the enemy’s doorstep, they could simply recover the abandoned vessels and repair them after taking them back to the mainland, and put them back into service to fight against the former owners of these vessels, as the case of the eleven naval vessels abandoned by the s after the battle.
As for the blockade of the mouth of the Pearl River, it certainly caused difficulties for the enemy. However, these difficulties could be overcame because there were and still are link between the mainland and Hong Kong, and Macau via land, and for the maritime traffic, the naval force could only cover the coastal region outside the effective range of the enemy’s land batteries and the enemy could simply move a little deeper into the Pearl River to avoid the naval force. Though this did indeed increased the cost for the enemy, the price tag for the operation of the naval task force performing this duty so far away from any support base was far greater comparatively speaking, because enemy transportation was mostly by wooden that only required wind, while the modern navy required much more, such as fuel and maintenance supplies. Many strategist and naval commanders had pointed out this disadvantage and along with the geographically disadvantage , wisely and correctly suggest to withdraw from the Wanshan Archipelago in order to strengthen the defense elsewhere, but their requests were denied because holding on something at the enemy’s door step would have a significant symbolic meaning of great political propaganda value, but when the inevitable fall had finally occurred, the resulting disaster had negated any previous gains in political and psychological propaganda.
Wa Sau Toi
Wa Sau Toi was a monastery on the sacred mountain Luofushan.
It was destroyed in 1949.
The teacher and Dragon Kung Fu master Tai Yuk was a monk at Wa Sau Toi.
Lai Chi, the founder of the Wu Jo An nunnery in Guangzhou, was 35th generation in the Caodong school of Buddhism from Wa Sau Toi.
It was destroyed in 1949.
The teacher and Dragon Kung Fu master Tai Yuk was a monk at Wa Sau Toi.
Lai Chi, the founder of the Wu Jo An nunnery in Guangzhou, was 35th generation in the Caodong school of Buddhism from Wa Sau Toi.
Swatow Operation
The Swatow Operation, was part of a campaign by Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War to blockade China to prevent it from communicating with the outside world and importing needed arms and materials. Control of would provide a base to make the blockade of Guangdong province more effective.
Part of Goto Detachment and a part of Sasebo 9th landed on the east coast on June 21st near the airfeild east Swatow. Other Japanese troops in more than ten motor boats
proceaded up the Han river and landed at Mei-hsi cutting the road between Swatow north to . A coordiated attack by the Japanese drove the Chinese defenders, Hua Chen-chung's Brigade and local militia units, from the city of Swatow. They fell back to a line Yenfu–Meihsi on June 23rd.
The Japanese also had landed at Jiao Yu, the island south of Swatow, on June 22nd. They occupied whole island on June 24th. The Chinese fell back to on the 24th to block the approaches to Chao-chow as the Japanese landed reinforcements.
Proceading north in pursuit the Japanese also sent forces up the river and landed to the Chinese rear, part of the Chinese force then fell back into the city while the remainder moved into the mountains northwest of the city. The Japanese advancing from the west captured Chao-chow by June 27th after heavy street fighting. Later the Chinese sent reinforcements of the 5th Reserve Division, and 1st Advance Column to block the Japanese from further advances and conduct guerrilla warfare on their positions and lines of communications.
Sources
*Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War 2nd Ed. ,1971. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung , Chung Wu Publishing; 33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China. Pg. 492-493
* 中国抗日战争正面战场作战记 China's Anti-Japanese War Combat Operations
** Author : Guo Rugui, editor-in-chief Huang Yuzhang
** Press : Jiangsu People's Publishing House
** Date published : 2005-7-1
** ISBN 7214030349
** Online in Chinese
*** Shantou battles
*
Order of battle Swatow Operation
Part of Goto Detachment and a part of Sasebo 9th landed on the east coast on June 21st near the airfeild east Swatow. Other Japanese troops in more than ten motor boats
proceaded up the Han river and landed at Mei-hsi cutting the road between Swatow north to . A coordiated attack by the Japanese drove the Chinese defenders, Hua Chen-chung's Brigade and local militia units, from the city of Swatow. They fell back to a line Yenfu–Meihsi on June 23rd.
The Japanese also had landed at Jiao Yu, the island south of Swatow, on June 22nd. They occupied whole island on June 24th. The Chinese fell back to on the 24th to block the approaches to Chao-chow as the Japanese landed reinforcements.
Proceading north in pursuit the Japanese also sent forces up the river and landed to the Chinese rear, part of the Chinese force then fell back into the city while the remainder moved into the mountains northwest of the city. The Japanese advancing from the west captured Chao-chow by June 27th after heavy street fighting. Later the Chinese sent reinforcements of the 5th Reserve Division, and 1st Advance Column to block the Japanese from further advances and conduct guerrilla warfare on their positions and lines of communications.
Sources
*Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War 2nd Ed. ,1971. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung , Chung Wu Publishing; 33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China. Pg. 492-493
* 中国抗日战争正面战场作战记 China's Anti-Japanese War Combat Operations
** Author : Guo Rugui, editor-in-chief Huang Yuzhang
** Press : Jiangsu People's Publishing House
** Date published : 2005-7-1
** ISBN 7214030349
** Online in Chinese
*** Shantou battles
*
Punti-Hakka Clan Wars
Punti-Hakka Clan Wars or Hakka-Punti Clan Wars refers to battles or conflicts between the Hakka and the Punti in Guangdong , China, between 1855 and 1867, during the Qing Dynasty. The wars were particularly fierce in the area around Pearl River Delta, especially Taishan of Sze Yup. The war's estimated death toll was roughly about a million, with many more fleeing for their lives.
Hakka literally means guest family, and Punti literally means original land. The Punti are also referred to by the dialect they speak, which is . The basis of these bloody conflicts were the Punti’s resentment against the Hakka that they were increasing dramatically in number, and encroaching on their land. From the Hakka’s point of view, they were marginalized, discriminated against, and had to farm left-over or unwanted, hilly land.
When the Ming Dynasty was overthrown by the Qing Dynasty, Ming loyalists, notably Zheng Chenggong , fled to Taiwan to raise troops in the hope of eventually retaking China for the Ming. The Qing emperor, in order to stymie these efforts, twice commanded all residents of the coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian Provinces to move inland by 50 ''li'', approximately 30 km, resulting in a large number of deaths amongst the Punti people. After the rebels in Taiwan were pacified, the Qing emperor rescinded these edicts.
However far fewer Punti people returned than expected, so the Qing emperor provided incentives to repopulate these areas. The most visible of those who responded were the Hakka people. For some time the Punti and Hakka lived together peacefully, the population of Guangdong Province soared, life became increasingly difficult and unrest broke out.
In 1851, the Taiping Rebellion, led by a Hakka Chinese, Hong Xiuquan, erupted in Guangxi Province and quickly spread throughout Southern China. The rebellion was finally suppressed in 1864. In 1854, during the rebellion, a local anti-Qing took the opportunity and rebelled, attacking Heyuan and Foshan. This Red Turban Rebellion was finally suppressed in 1857.
During the rebellion, the Hakka in the Pearl River Delta had helped the imperial army to suppress the rebellion; the imperial official decided to keep the area clear of rebellion participants and raided the Punti villages. This caused hostility between the Hakka and the Punti, and the Punti attacked Hakka villages in revenge.
Bloody battles raged, with both sides fortifying their villages with walls, and raising armies as best as they could. Of course, entire villages would be involved in the fighting, and all able-bodied men were called on to fight against the other side. For the Punti, money for armaments was forthcoming from their relatives in Hong Kong, and abroad.
The conflicts escalated into large-scale clan wars.
The clan war is related to the Chinese Diaspora in the 19th century. Some of those who lost in the clan wars were sold to Cuba and South America as coolies via Hong Kong and Macau, and some females were sold to Macau as prostitutes.
The war reached devastating scales and large number of people died, fled, and were sold. Thousands of houses were destroyed.
Because the population of Punti outnumbered the Hakka's, the Hakka suffered more losses in the clan war. The Qing government implemented the strategy of segregation to cool the conflict, and the Hakka were relocated to Guangxi Province. After the clan war, the population share of Hakka in the Sze Yup area dropped to 3%.
The hostility between the Hakka and the Punti could be found also in overseas communities in the early 20th century.
Hostility was also present in Taiwan; the Hoklo people from Fujian and the Hakkas from Guangdong frequently fought against each other. Although much alleviated, the hostility between the Hoklo and the Hakka is still present in the community of Taiwan.
Hakka literally means guest family, and Punti literally means original land. The Punti are also referred to by the dialect they speak, which is . The basis of these bloody conflicts were the Punti’s resentment against the Hakka that they were increasing dramatically in number, and encroaching on their land. From the Hakka’s point of view, they were marginalized, discriminated against, and had to farm left-over or unwanted, hilly land.
Background
When the Ming Dynasty was overthrown by the Qing Dynasty, Ming loyalists, notably Zheng Chenggong , fled to Taiwan to raise troops in the hope of eventually retaking China for the Ming. The Qing emperor, in order to stymie these efforts, twice commanded all residents of the coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian Provinces to move inland by 50 ''li'', approximately 30 km, resulting in a large number of deaths amongst the Punti people. After the rebels in Taiwan were pacified, the Qing emperor rescinded these edicts.
However far fewer Punti people returned than expected, so the Qing emperor provided incentives to repopulate these areas. The most visible of those who responded were the Hakka people. For some time the Punti and Hakka lived together peacefully, the population of Guangdong Province soared, life became increasingly difficult and unrest broke out.
In 1851, the Taiping Rebellion, led by a Hakka Chinese, Hong Xiuquan, erupted in Guangxi Province and quickly spread throughout Southern China. The rebellion was finally suppressed in 1864. In 1854, during the rebellion, a local anti-Qing took the opportunity and rebelled, attacking Heyuan and Foshan. This Red Turban Rebellion was finally suppressed in 1857.
Clan war
During the rebellion, the Hakka in the Pearl River Delta had helped the imperial army to suppress the rebellion; the imperial official decided to keep the area clear of rebellion participants and raided the Punti villages. This caused hostility between the Hakka and the Punti, and the Punti attacked Hakka villages in revenge.
Bloody battles raged, with both sides fortifying their villages with walls, and raising armies as best as they could. Of course, entire villages would be involved in the fighting, and all able-bodied men were called on to fight against the other side. For the Punti, money for armaments was forthcoming from their relatives in Hong Kong, and abroad.
The conflicts escalated into large-scale clan wars.
The clan war is related to the Chinese Diaspora in the 19th century. Some of those who lost in the clan wars were sold to Cuba and South America as coolies via Hong Kong and Macau, and some females were sold to Macau as prostitutes.
End of the war
The war reached devastating scales and large number of people died, fled, and were sold. Thousands of houses were destroyed.
Because the population of Punti outnumbered the Hakka's, the Hakka suffered more losses in the clan war. The Qing government implemented the strategy of segregation to cool the conflict, and the Hakka were relocated to Guangxi Province. After the clan war, the population share of Hakka in the Sze Yup area dropped to 3%.
The hostility between the Hakka and the Punti could be found also in overseas communities in the early 20th century.
Similar conflicts in Taiwan
Hostility was also present in Taiwan; the Hoklo people from Fujian and the Hakkas from Guangdong frequently fought against each other. Although much alleviated, the hostility between the Hoklo and the Hakka is still present in the community of Taiwan.
Nanyue
Nanyue was an ancient kingdom that consisted of parts of the modern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and much of modern northern Vietnam. The kingdom was established by the Han Chinese general Zhao Tuo of the Qin dynasty who assimilated the customs of the and central China in his territory. Its capital was named Panyu , in today's Guangzhou, . In Vietnam, the name Tri?u Dynasty is used to refer to the lineage of kings of Nanyue, and by extension the era of Nanyue rule.
The record of the kingdom are in Chinese characters. As all Chinese characters do not reflect their pronunciation and the actual pronunciation at the time of kingdom is not known, the modern transcription of 南越國 in Latin letters might vary greatly from language to language.
The history of Nanyue was written in Records of the Grand Historian by Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian, between 109 BC to 91 BC.
After the first Emperor of China Qin Shi Huang united China by conquering all six kingdoms in 219 BC, he ordered his generals to conquer the regions of present-day Guangdong and Guangxi. The conquest was completed in 214 BC. A new administrative unit, Nanhai Commandery was formed to rule the area corresponding approximately to present-day Guangdong. Zhao Tuo was appointed to manage a Longchuan , a strategic place in the military. He asked Qin Shi Huang to send 500 thousand people from Central China to Nanhai to assimilate the culture of Central China and Yue.
After the death of Qin Shi Huang, a wave of anti-Qin riots swept across central China and the Qin Dynasty soon capitulated. In 208 BC, the head of Nanhai Commandery, Ren Xiao , appointed Zhao Tuo to succeed his position and suggested that Zhao establish a country in the south and take advantage of the mountainous boundary with northern China. Zhao soon reinforced the defences in the mountain passes north and replaced the Qin officials with his own followers. In 203 BC, he conquered another two commanderies, Guilin and Xiang ''"Elephant"'' , at the south of the mountain. The new kingdom of Nanyue was born, with as the capital; Zhao Tuo declared himself Wu Wang of Nanyue.
Liu Bang, after years of war with his rivals, established the Han dynasty and reunified Central China in 202 BC. Liu and his successors adopted a policy of peace to give his empire time to regenerate. In 211 BC, the emperor Liu sent Lu Jia to Nanyue to appoint Zhao Tuo as the King of Nanyue. Trade relations were established at the border between Nanyue and the Han kingdom of Changsha. Although formally a Han subject state, Nanyue retained a large measure of effective autonomy.
After the death of Liu Bang in 195 BC, the government was put in the hands of his wife, Empress Lu Zhi, who served as empress dowager over their son Emperor Hui of Han and then Emperor Hui's sons Liu Gong and Liu Hong. Zhao Tuo believed that Wu Chen , the Prince of Changsha, had made false accusations against him to get Empress Dowager Lu to block the trade between the states and to prepare to conquer the Nanyue to merge into his principality of Changsha. In revenge, he then declared himself the emperor of Nanyue and attacked the principality of Changsha. Lu sent general Zao to punish Zhao Tuo. The hot and humid weather made soldiers fall ill and the army unable to go south of the mountains. The army withdrew. With the military success, Zhao Tuo took in the surrounding states of Minyue in the east and Ouluo in the west as subject kingdoms. The empress dowager then killed some of Zhao's clan members within Han territory and damaged his ancestors' tombs.
In 179 BC, Liu Heng ascended the Emperor of Han. He reversed the policy of the empress. He ordered officials to visit the family town Zhending , garrison the town and make offerings to his ancestors regularly. His prime minister Chen Ping suggested sending Lu Jia to Nanyue as they were familiar with each other. Zhao Tuo felt surprised on Lu's arrival. He then withdrew his title of emperor and Nanyue became Han's subject state.
In 137 BC, Zhao Tuo died. His grandson Zhao Mo succeeded the king of Nanyue. Ying Xing , the king of Minyue, attacked Nanyue. Zhao Mo asked the Emperor Liu Che to send troops to halt the attack of Minyue. The emperor sent two generals to Minyue. Before Han's advancing to Minyue, Ying Xing's younger brother Yu Shan killed Ying Xing and surrendered.
The emperor Liu Che sent Zhuang Zhu to Nanyue. Zhao Mo thanked the Emperor and sent his son Zhao Yingqi to the Han capital, Chang'an. He also wanted to go Chang'an but was stopped by his minister for fear that he could not return and it would be the end of the kingdom. He thus pretended to be sick and stayed in Nanyue. He really fell sick later for over 10 years and died. He got his posthumous name Wen Di .
Zhao Yingqi returned to Nanyue and succeeded the king. He married a woman of family Jiu from Handan and born a son Zhao Xing when he was in Chang'an. He asked the Emperor to appoint Jiu as his queen and Zhao Xing his crown prince. He sent his second son to Chang'an. Zhao Yingqi died with posthumous name Ming Wang .
Zhao Xing succeeded Zhao Yingqi as king. As the king was young, the king's mother Jiu took control of the kingdom. In 113 BC, the Emperor sent Anguo Shaoji to Nanyue ask the king and the king's mother to visit the Emperor. Anguo Shaoji was in fact Jiu's lover when she was in Chang'an. They renewed their affair which made the subjects mistrust the king's mother. To secure their positions, the king and his mother wanted Nanyue to be a kingdom within the Han Empire. The king, his mother, and Anguo Shaoji tried to persuade Lu Jia and other ministers to follow. Lu Jia stood and left. The king's mother tried to kill him but stopped by the king.
Lu Jia refused to meet the king and planned to revolt. As he knew the king had no intention to kill him, the plan was not carried out for months.
The minister Lu Jia revolted and killed the king and the king's mother. He named Zhao Jiande , the eldest son of Zhao Yingqi, to be the king of Nanyue. In autumn 112 BC the emperor sent a navy of a hundred thousand strong to attack Nanyue. In winter 111 BC the capital Panyu fell and many surrendered. Lu Jia and Zhao Jiande fled out to sea but were captured soon. Nanyue was officially incorporated into Han.
In June 1983, The tomb of Zhao Mo , the second king, was found in Guangzhou. Thousands of artifacts were found, including bronze ritual utensils, musical instruments, weapons, farming utensils, lacquer, silk, and jewelry of jade, gold, silver, and ivory. Others were also found buried with the king. In addition, the gold seal of Wen Di was unearthed.
Nán/Nam means in the south and Yuè/Yuet/Vi?t means Yue/Yuet/Viet people and the place of Yue/Yuet/Viet people. Nam Yuet/Viet is a southern country in the place of Yuet/Viet people.
The Chinese character 越 and its homonym variant 粤 , were used in ancient times to refer to people or peoples inhabiting southern China: see Yue for details. Today, the former character refers either to the people, culture, and languages of Zhejiang province or Vietnam, while the latter character refers to those of Guangdong province.
After the Han Chinese controlled the Nanyue area for nearly 1000 years, people in northern Vietnam were partly sinicized while the areas of present-day Guangdong and Guangxi were largely .
The people in what is now northern Vietnam broke away from China in 938 AD after their victory at the . They formed their own kingdom and called it ??i Vi?t . This kingdom grew stronger; it expanded south and conquered the Champa kingdom and most of the Khmer empire , forcing the Khmer to migrate. In 1800s, Nguyen Anh, a Vietnamese king, wanted to change his kingdom's name from Dai Viet to Nam Viet. However the Qing Emperor at that time did not want to confuse it with the ancient kingdom thus changing the name to Viet Nam . The people form the modern majority ethnic group of Vietnam.
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The record of the kingdom are in Chinese characters. As all Chinese characters do not reflect their pronunciation and the actual pronunciation at the time of kingdom is not known, the modern transcription of 南越國 in Latin letters might vary greatly from language to language.
History
The history of Nanyue was written in Records of the Grand Historian by Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian, between 109 BC to 91 BC.
After the first Emperor of China Qin Shi Huang united China by conquering all six kingdoms in 219 BC, he ordered his generals to conquer the regions of present-day Guangdong and Guangxi. The conquest was completed in 214 BC. A new administrative unit, Nanhai Commandery was formed to rule the area corresponding approximately to present-day Guangdong. Zhao Tuo was appointed to manage a Longchuan , a strategic place in the military. He asked Qin Shi Huang to send 500 thousand people from Central China to Nanhai to assimilate the culture of Central China and Yue.
Establishment
After the death of Qin Shi Huang, a wave of anti-Qin riots swept across central China and the Qin Dynasty soon capitulated. In 208 BC, the head of Nanhai Commandery, Ren Xiao , appointed Zhao Tuo to succeed his position and suggested that Zhao establish a country in the south and take advantage of the mountainous boundary with northern China. Zhao soon reinforced the defences in the mountain passes north and replaced the Qin officials with his own followers. In 203 BC, he conquered another two commanderies, Guilin and Xiang ''"Elephant"'' , at the south of the mountain. The new kingdom of Nanyue was born, with as the capital; Zhao Tuo declared himself Wu Wang of Nanyue.
Liu Bang, after years of war with his rivals, established the Han dynasty and reunified Central China in 202 BC. Liu and his successors adopted a policy of peace to give his empire time to regenerate. In 211 BC, the emperor Liu sent Lu Jia to Nanyue to appoint Zhao Tuo as the King of Nanyue. Trade relations were established at the border between Nanyue and the Han kingdom of Changsha. Although formally a Han subject state, Nanyue retained a large measure of effective autonomy.
After the death of Liu Bang in 195 BC, the government was put in the hands of his wife, Empress Lu Zhi, who served as empress dowager over their son Emperor Hui of Han and then Emperor Hui's sons Liu Gong and Liu Hong. Zhao Tuo believed that Wu Chen , the Prince of Changsha, had made false accusations against him to get Empress Dowager Lu to block the trade between the states and to prepare to conquer the Nanyue to merge into his principality of Changsha. In revenge, he then declared himself the emperor of Nanyue and attacked the principality of Changsha. Lu sent general Zao to punish Zhao Tuo. The hot and humid weather made soldiers fall ill and the army unable to go south of the mountains. The army withdrew. With the military success, Zhao Tuo took in the surrounding states of Minyue in the east and Ouluo in the west as subject kingdoms. The empress dowager then killed some of Zhao's clan members within Han territory and damaged his ancestors' tombs.
In 179 BC, Liu Heng ascended the Emperor of Han. He reversed the policy of the empress. He ordered officials to visit the family town Zhending , garrison the town and make offerings to his ancestors regularly. His prime minister Chen Ping suggested sending Lu Jia to Nanyue as they were familiar with each other. Zhao Tuo felt surprised on Lu's arrival. He then withdrew his title of emperor and Nanyue became Han's subject state.
Zhao Mo
In 137 BC, Zhao Tuo died. His grandson Zhao Mo succeeded the king of Nanyue. Ying Xing , the king of Minyue, attacked Nanyue. Zhao Mo asked the Emperor Liu Che to send troops to halt the attack of Minyue. The emperor sent two generals to Minyue. Before Han's advancing to Minyue, Ying Xing's younger brother Yu Shan killed Ying Xing and surrendered.
The emperor Liu Che sent Zhuang Zhu to Nanyue. Zhao Mo thanked the Emperor and sent his son Zhao Yingqi to the Han capital, Chang'an. He also wanted to go Chang'an but was stopped by his minister for fear that he could not return and it would be the end of the kingdom. He thus pretended to be sick and stayed in Nanyue. He really fell sick later for over 10 years and died. He got his posthumous name Wen Di .
Zhao Yingqi
Zhao Yingqi returned to Nanyue and succeeded the king. He married a woman of family Jiu from Handan and born a son Zhao Xing when he was in Chang'an. He asked the Emperor to appoint Jiu as his queen and Zhao Xing his crown prince. He sent his second son to Chang'an. Zhao Yingqi died with posthumous name Ming Wang .
Zhao Xing
Zhao Xing succeeded Zhao Yingqi as king. As the king was young, the king's mother Jiu took control of the kingdom. In 113 BC, the Emperor sent Anguo Shaoji to Nanyue ask the king and the king's mother to visit the Emperor. Anguo Shaoji was in fact Jiu's lover when she was in Chang'an. They renewed their affair which made the subjects mistrust the king's mother. To secure their positions, the king and his mother wanted Nanyue to be a kingdom within the Han Empire. The king, his mother, and Anguo Shaoji tried to persuade Lu Jia and other ministers to follow. Lu Jia stood and left. The king's mother tried to kill him but stopped by the king.
Lu Jia refused to meet the king and planned to revolt. As he knew the king had no intention to kill him, the plan was not carried out for months.
Zhao Jiande
The minister Lu Jia revolted and killed the king and the king's mother. He named Zhao Jiande , the eldest son of Zhao Yingqi, to be the king of Nanyue. In autumn 112 BC the emperor sent a navy of a hundred thousand strong to attack Nanyue. In winter 111 BC the capital Panyu fell and many surrendered. Lu Jia and Zhao Jiande fled out to sea but were captured soon. Nanyue was officially incorporated into Han.
Kings
Archaeological findings
In June 1983, The tomb of Zhao Mo , the second king, was found in Guangzhou. Thousands of artifacts were found, including bronze ritual utensils, musical instruments, weapons, farming utensils, lacquer, silk, and jewelry of jade, gold, silver, and ivory. Others were also found buried with the king. In addition, the gold seal of Wen Di was unearthed.
Guangdong and Vietnam
Nán/Nam means in the south and Yuè/Yuet/Vi?t means Yue/Yuet/Viet people and the place of Yue/Yuet/Viet people. Nam Yuet/Viet is a southern country in the place of Yuet/Viet people.
The Chinese character 越 and its homonym variant 粤 , were used in ancient times to refer to people or peoples inhabiting southern China: see Yue for details. Today, the former character refers either to the people, culture, and languages of Zhejiang province or Vietnam, while the latter character refers to those of Guangdong province.
After the Han Chinese controlled the Nanyue area for nearly 1000 years, people in northern Vietnam were partly sinicized while the areas of present-day Guangdong and Guangxi were largely .
The people in what is now northern Vietnam broke away from China in 938 AD after their victory at the . They formed their own kingdom and called it ??i Vi?t . This kingdom grew stronger; it expanded south and conquered the Champa kingdom and most of the Khmer empire , forcing the Khmer to migrate. In 1800s, Nguyen Anh, a Vietnamese king, wanted to change his kingdom's name from Dai Viet to Nam Viet. However the Qing Emperor at that time did not want to confuse it with the ancient kingdom thus changing the name to Viet Nam . The people form the modern majority ethnic group of Vietnam.
Gallery
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Miss Macao
Miss Macao was a seaplane, owned by Cathay Pacific and operated by a subsidiary. On 16 July 1948 she became the victim of the first of a commercial aircraft.
The ''Miss Macao'' was on a routine flight from Macau to Hong Kong. She was hijacked a few minutes after take off by four men carrying guns, one of whom demanded that the co-pilot surrender the controls. The co-pilot refused and was shot. The pilot, Dale Warren Cramer, who had been up in the dome of the PBY, jumped down to see what was going on and was shot five times in the back by a Chinese man with a machine gun. He then collapsed onto the flight controls. The plane went into an uncontrolled dive and crashed into the sea. Twenty-six of the 27 people aboard died in the crash. The only survivor was the leader of the hijackers . The motives of the hijackers are not known. They may have been Chinese s, with an economic rather than political motive .
The lone survivor, Huang Yu , was brought to court by the Macau police, but the Macau court suggested that the prosecution should be brought in Hong Kong instead, since the plane was registered in Hong Kong and most of the passengers were from there. However, the British colonial government in Hong Kong stated that the incident happened over Chinese territory in which the British have no jurisdiction. In the end, Huang was acquitted.
The ''Miss Macao'' was on a routine flight from Macau to Hong Kong. She was hijacked a few minutes after take off by four men carrying guns, one of whom demanded that the co-pilot surrender the controls. The co-pilot refused and was shot. The pilot, Dale Warren Cramer, who had been up in the dome of the PBY, jumped down to see what was going on and was shot five times in the back by a Chinese man with a machine gun. He then collapsed onto the flight controls. The plane went into an uncontrolled dive and crashed into the sea. Twenty-six of the 27 people aboard died in the crash. The only survivor was the leader of the hijackers . The motives of the hijackers are not known. They may have been Chinese s, with an economic rather than political motive .
The lone survivor, Huang Yu , was brought to court by the Macau police, but the Macau court suggested that the prosecution should be brought in Hong Kong instead, since the plane was registered in Hong Kong and most of the passengers were from there. However, the British colonial government in Hong Kong stated that the incident happened over Chinese territory in which the British have no jurisdiction. In the end, Huang was acquitted.
Guangzhouwan
Kwang-Chou-Wan was a small enclave on the south coast of China ceded by China to France as a leased territory. The territory did not experience the rapid growth in population that other parts of coastal China experienced, only rising from 189,000 in 1911 to 209,000 in 1935. Industries included shipping and coal mining. The colony was invaded and taken over by Japan in February 1943, taken back by France in 1945, and finally returned to China in 1946, at which point its original name of Zhanjiang was restored.
The leased territory was situated in Guangdong Province on the east side of the Leizhou Peninsula, north of Hainan, around a bay then called Kwang-Chou-Wan , now called Zhanjiang Gang . The bay forms the estuary of the Maxie River . The Maxie is navigable as far as 19 km inland even by large warships. The territory ceded to France included the islands lying in the bay, which enclosed an area 29 km long by 10 km wide and a minimum water depth of 10 metres. The islands were recognized at the time as an admirable natural defense. The limits of the concession inland were fixed in November 1899; on the left bank of the Maxie, France gained from Gaozhou prefecture a strip of territory 18 km by 10 km, and on the right bank a strip 24 km by 18 km from Leizhou prefecture . The total land area of the colony was 842 km?. The town of Zhanjiang was named ''Fort Bayard'' by the French and developed as a port.
Kwang-Chou-Wan was annexed by France on 27 May 1898 as ''Territoire de Kouang-Tchéou-Wan'', to counter the growing commercial power of British Hong Kong and Portuguese Macau. Their colony was described as "commercially unimportant but strategically located"; most of France's energies went into their administration of French Indochina, and their main concern in China was the protection of , rather than the promotion of trade. Following the annexation, a 99 year lease to France was formally conceded by imperial China in 1900; Kwang-Chou-Wan was effectively placed under the authority of the French in Tonkin ; the French Resident was represented locally by Administrators. In addition to the territory acquired, France was given the right to connect the bay by railway with the city and harbour situated on the west side of the peninsula; however, when they attempted to take possession of the land to build the railway, forces of the provincial government offered armed resistance. As a result, France demanded and obtained exclusive mining rights in the three adjoining prefectures. The population in 1911 was recorded as 189,000. The return of the colony to China was promised at the Washington Naval Conference of 1921-1922, but this plan was in fact never realised.
By 1931, the population of Kwang-Chou-Wan had reached 206,000, giving the colony a population density of 245 persons per km?; virtually all were Chinese, and only 266 French people and four other Europeans were recorded as living there. Industries included shipping and coal mining. The port was also popular with smugglers; prior to the 1928 cancellation of the American ban on export of commercial airplanes, Kuang-Chou-Wan was also used as a stop for Cantonese smugglers transporting military aircraft purchased in Manila to China, and US records mention at least one drug smuggler who picked up opium and to be smuggled into the United States from there.
After the to Nazi Germany in 1940, the Republic of China recognised the London-exiled as Guangzhouwan's sovereign rulers and established diplomatic relations with them; from June 1940 until February 1943, the colony remained under the administration of Free France. During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Guangzhouwan was often used as a stop on an escape route for civilians fleeing Hong Kong and trying to make their way to ; Patrick Yu, a prominent trial lawyer, recalled in his memoirs how a helped him to escape in this way. However, the escape route would not remain open for long; in collaboration with German-controlled Vichy France, which relinquished the concession to the Japanese-sponsored , the Imperial Japanese Army would invade and occupy the area in February 1943.
Just prior to the Japanese surrender which ended World War II, the National Revolutionary Army, having recaptured Liuzhou, Guilin, and , as well as Lashio and Mandalay in Burma, was planning to launch a large-scale assault on Guangzhouwan; however, due to the end of the war, the assault never materialised. The French lease over Guangzhouwan would soon be terminated regardless, under an agreement concluded on February 28, 1946. In exchange for a withdrawal of Chinese forces from northern Vietnam, the French not only returned Guangzhouwan to the government, but also gave up extraterritorial rights in Shanghai, Hankou, and Guangzhou, sold the Yunnan Rail Line to China, and agreed to provide special treatment for and Chinese goods exported to Vietnam. After the handover, the Zhanjiang City Government was formally established to administer the city.
A French school, ''?cole Franco-Chinoise de Kouang-Tchéou-Wan'', as well as a branch of ''Banque de l'Indochine'', were set up in Fort Bayard. In addition, a Catholic church constructed during the colonial period is still preserved today.
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Geography
The leased territory was situated in Guangdong Province on the east side of the Leizhou Peninsula, north of Hainan, around a bay then called Kwang-Chou-Wan , now called Zhanjiang Gang . The bay forms the estuary of the Maxie River . The Maxie is navigable as far as 19 km inland even by large warships. The territory ceded to France included the islands lying in the bay, which enclosed an area 29 km long by 10 km wide and a minimum water depth of 10 metres. The islands were recognized at the time as an admirable natural defense. The limits of the concession inland were fixed in November 1899; on the left bank of the Maxie, France gained from Gaozhou prefecture a strip of territory 18 km by 10 km, and on the right bank a strip 24 km by 18 km from Leizhou prefecture . The total land area of the colony was 842 km?. The town of Zhanjiang was named ''Fort Bayard'' by the French and developed as a port.
History
Annexation and early development
Kwang-Chou-Wan was annexed by France on 27 May 1898 as ''Territoire de Kouang-Tchéou-Wan'', to counter the growing commercial power of British Hong Kong and Portuguese Macau. Their colony was described as "commercially unimportant but strategically located"; most of France's energies went into their administration of French Indochina, and their main concern in China was the protection of , rather than the promotion of trade. Following the annexation, a 99 year lease to France was formally conceded by imperial China in 1900; Kwang-Chou-Wan was effectively placed under the authority of the French in Tonkin ; the French Resident was represented locally by Administrators. In addition to the territory acquired, France was given the right to connect the bay by railway with the city and harbour situated on the west side of the peninsula; however, when they attempted to take possession of the land to build the railway, forces of the provincial government offered armed resistance. As a result, France demanded and obtained exclusive mining rights in the three adjoining prefectures. The population in 1911 was recorded as 189,000. The return of the colony to China was promised at the Washington Naval Conference of 1921-1922, but this plan was in fact never realised.
By 1931, the population of Kwang-Chou-Wan had reached 206,000, giving the colony a population density of 245 persons per km?; virtually all were Chinese, and only 266 French people and four other Europeans were recorded as living there. Industries included shipping and coal mining. The port was also popular with smugglers; prior to the 1928 cancellation of the American ban on export of commercial airplanes, Kuang-Chou-Wan was also used as a stop for Cantonese smugglers transporting military aircraft purchased in Manila to China, and US records mention at least one drug smuggler who picked up opium and to be smuggled into the United States from there.
World War II
After the to Nazi Germany in 1940, the Republic of China recognised the London-exiled as Guangzhouwan's sovereign rulers and established diplomatic relations with them; from June 1940 until February 1943, the colony remained under the administration of Free France. During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Guangzhouwan was often used as a stop on an escape route for civilians fleeing Hong Kong and trying to make their way to ; Patrick Yu, a prominent trial lawyer, recalled in his memoirs how a helped him to escape in this way. However, the escape route would not remain open for long; in collaboration with German-controlled Vichy France, which relinquished the concession to the Japanese-sponsored , the Imperial Japanese Army would invade and occupy the area in February 1943.
Just prior to the Japanese surrender which ended World War II, the National Revolutionary Army, having recaptured Liuzhou, Guilin, and , as well as Lashio and Mandalay in Burma, was planning to launch a large-scale assault on Guangzhouwan; however, due to the end of the war, the assault never materialised. The French lease over Guangzhouwan would soon be terminated regardless, under an agreement concluded on February 28, 1946. In exchange for a withdrawal of Chinese forces from northern Vietnam, the French not only returned Guangzhouwan to the government, but also gave up extraterritorial rights in Shanghai, Hankou, and Guangzhou, sold the Yunnan Rail Line to China, and agreed to provide special treatment for and Chinese goods exported to Vietnam. After the handover, the Zhanjiang City Government was formally established to administer the city.
French cultural and economic influence
A French school, ''?cole Franco-Chinoise de Kouang-Tchéou-Wan'', as well as a branch of ''Banque de l'Indochine'', were set up in Fort Bayard. In addition, a Catholic church constructed during the colonial period is still preserved today.
Sources
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Foshan bridge disaster
The Foshan bridge disaster refers to the partial collapse of a freeway bridge in the city of Foshan, in Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China on June 15 2007. The bridge, which spans the Xijiang River, collapsed at approximately 5:30 AM. A freighter "Nanguiji 035" with a cargo of sand strayed from the navigation channel and struck one of the main pillars, causing approximately 200m of the bridge to fall into the river. It is believed that four cars on the highway, carrying 9 passengers, were submerged in the river as a result. Since then, 8 bodies have been recovered. All ten crew members of the boat were rescued.
China Southern Airlines Flight 3456
Flight 3456 was a flight from Chongqing to Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, Guangdong, People's Republic of China. On May 8, 1997 it crashed on its third landing attempt in severe weather, killing 33 passengers and 2 crew members on board. The pilot had warned the passengers to prepare for a crash landing.
* Model: Boeing 737-31B
* Registration:
* Serial Number: 27288
* Engine: CFM International
* Year of Delivery: 1994
The aircraft crashed on its third landing attempt in a thunderstorm, in which the aircraft skidded off the runway, broke into three pieces, and caught fire. 33 passengers and 2 crew members died.
Aircraft
* Model: Boeing 737-31B
* Registration:
* Serial Number: 27288
* Engine: CFM International
* Year of Delivery: 1994
Accident
The aircraft crashed on its third landing attempt in a thunderstorm, in which the aircraft skidded off the runway, broke into three pieces, and caught fire. 33 passengers and 2 crew members died.
Canton Operation
The Canton Operation was part of a campaign by Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War to blockade China to prevent it from communicating with the outside world and importing needed arms and materials. Control of Canton and the Pearl River Delta would provide a base to make the blockade of Guangdong province more effective by seizing southern China's major port and isolate the British port of Hong Kong.
Order of battle for Guangdong Operation
Order of battle for Guangdong Operation
Battle of Nanpeng Island
Battle of Nanpéng Island was a battle fought between the s and the communists during the Chinese Civil War and resulted in the communist victory. After Guangdong fell into communist hands, a detachment of the troops held out on Nanpéng Island of Yangjiang. This remnant of the force proved to be a major headache the communists because the island is strategically located between the Pearl River mouth and the Qiongzhou Strait, controlling the shipping line that was vital to the local economy.
The communists decided to rid of the force and take the island. In the morning of August 9, 1950, the third battalion of the 364th regiment of the 41st Army of the People’s Liberation Army attacked the island. After two hours of fighting, the entire garrison of Nanpéng Island of 421 was lost and the island was firmly in the communist hands. The communist succeeded in capturing one motorized vessels, twenty , one artillery piece, ten machine guns, and another 194 firearms.
The s did not have any chance against the overwhelming enemy because the island is located too far away from any friendly bases, and in the event of breaking out of the battle, no reinforcement could reach the island in time. The local commanders had repeatedly asked the permission to withdraw to Taiwan but their pleas were ignored due to political reasons because holding out at the enemy’s doorstep far away from any friendly bases had very significant symbolic meaning, but in doing so, the fate of the local defenders were sealed.
The communists decided to rid of the force and take the island. In the morning of August 9, 1950, the third battalion of the 364th regiment of the 41st Army of the People’s Liberation Army attacked the island. After two hours of fighting, the entire garrison of Nanpéng Island of 421 was lost and the island was firmly in the communist hands. The communist succeeded in capturing one motorized vessels, twenty , one artillery piece, ten machine guns, and another 194 firearms.
The s did not have any chance against the overwhelming enemy because the island is located too far away from any friendly bases, and in the event of breaking out of the battle, no reinforcement could reach the island in time. The local commanders had repeatedly asked the permission to withdraw to Taiwan but their pleas were ignored due to political reasons because holding out at the enemy’s doorstep far away from any friendly bases had very significant symbolic meaning, but in doing so, the fate of the local defenders were sealed.
Battle of Nanpeng Archipelago
Battle of Nanpēng Archipelago was a battle fought between the s and the communists over the islands of Nanpēng Archipelago off the coast during the Chinese Civil War and resulted in communist victory. Nanpēng Archipelago is located off coast of Shantou, and named after the largest island, Nanpēng island , the home of fishing community of more than 400 people. The archipelago was deemed not important for most part of the Chinese Civil War and the therefore did not deploy any troops on any of the island, and when Guangdong fell into the communist hands, the archipelago also fell. The communists believed the same thing the s had believed and did not deploy any troops to the archipelago either after the withdraw, but small patrol teams of 2 to 3 were regularly sent to many of the islands.
As the s launched their insurgent strikes against the communists, the strategists believed that archipelago may serve as a steppingstone to launch assaults against mainland and decided to take the archipelago. On September 20, 1952, over 150 strike force members riding in four large speedboats launched a surprise attack on the main island, the Nanpēng island . The token communist force patrolling the island was consisted of only three members: a deputy naval infantry platoon commander with last name Zhang , who was the patrol team leader, a sailor named Qiu An , and a militiaman named Lin Xiaofa . After a futile resistance, all three were killed by the overwhelming enemy force.
The communists would not let the have the opportunity to set up a forward base at their doorstep and immediately began to plan a counterattack. However, due to the urgent defense needs from other parts of the vast coastal regions, the job of retaking the archipelago was given to the ground force, and a strengthened battalion of the communist 41st Army was assigned the mission. However, it was soon discovered that the unit was illprepared for an amphibious landing and as a result, the schedule had to be pushed back to first allow more than 20 days of training to be completed.
Once the training was complete, the communist battalion rode in and departed on October 19, 1952 at 5:00 pm. At 10:00 pm, the communist force landed successfully on Nanpēng island and after two hours of fierce battle, the resistance on the island ceased and the survivors attempted to hide. The mop up operation and skirmishes on other islands completely stopped the next day at 4:00 am, with the archipelago firmly back in the hands of the communists. The communists managed to kill 79 enemy troops on the main island of Nanpēng , including the commander, major general Huan Songsheng , and his deputy commander, also a major general. 37 troops were captured alive on the main island of Nanpēng , and the highest ranking prisoner of war was the director of the political directorate, Major Gao Xueqian . Another 27 troops were killed and more than a dozen captured alive from other islands and islets of the archipelago. The communists suffered 86 fatalities and more than 300 wounded, almost all soldiers in the battalion reported as casualties.
The defeat proved that it was impractical to setup forward base at the enemy’s doorstep while the base is far away from the strongholds, because it was impossible to reinforce the distant base in time during combats. The communists, on the other hand, had paid a heavy price in its attempt to retake the archipelago because they have gravely underestimated the enemy and although the mission was a success, it was a very costly victory, resulting in almost every task force member becoming a casualty. The communist only had numerical superiority but infantry armed only with rifles, light machine guns and hand grenades had a very difficult time in exterminating the numerically inferior enemy that was much better armed with superior weaponry.
First Stage
As the s launched their insurgent strikes against the communists, the strategists believed that archipelago may serve as a steppingstone to launch assaults against mainland and decided to take the archipelago. On September 20, 1952, over 150 strike force members riding in four large speedboats launched a surprise attack on the main island, the Nanpēng island . The token communist force patrolling the island was consisted of only three members: a deputy naval infantry platoon commander with last name Zhang , who was the patrol team leader, a sailor named Qiu An , and a militiaman named Lin Xiaofa . After a futile resistance, all three were killed by the overwhelming enemy force.
Second Stage
The communists would not let the have the opportunity to set up a forward base at their doorstep and immediately began to plan a counterattack. However, due to the urgent defense needs from other parts of the vast coastal regions, the job of retaking the archipelago was given to the ground force, and a strengthened battalion of the communist 41st Army was assigned the mission. However, it was soon discovered that the unit was illprepared for an amphibious landing and as a result, the schedule had to be pushed back to first allow more than 20 days of training to be completed.
Third Stage
Once the training was complete, the communist battalion rode in and departed on October 19, 1952 at 5:00 pm. At 10:00 pm, the communist force landed successfully on Nanpēng island and after two hours of fierce battle, the resistance on the island ceased and the survivors attempted to hide. The mop up operation and skirmishes on other islands completely stopped the next day at 4:00 am, with the archipelago firmly back in the hands of the communists. The communists managed to kill 79 enemy troops on the main island of Nanpēng , including the commander, major general Huan Songsheng , and his deputy commander, also a major general. 37 troops were captured alive on the main island of Nanpēng , and the highest ranking prisoner of war was the director of the political directorate, Major Gao Xueqian . Another 27 troops were killed and more than a dozen captured alive from other islands and islets of the archipelago. The communists suffered 86 fatalities and more than 300 wounded, almost all soldiers in the battalion reported as casualties.
Outcome
The defeat proved that it was impractical to setup forward base at the enemy’s doorstep while the base is far away from the strongholds, because it was impossible to reinforce the distant base in time during combats. The communists, on the other hand, had paid a heavy price in its attempt to retake the archipelago because they have gravely underestimated the enemy and although the mission was a success, it was a very costly victory, resulting in almost every task force member becoming a casualty. The communist only had numerical superiority but infantry armed only with rifles, light machine guns and hand grenades had a very difficult time in exterminating the numerically inferior enemy that was much better armed with superior weaponry.
Battle of Nan'ao Island
The Battle of Nan’ao island was a battle fought between the s and the communists during the Chinese Civil War and communists emerged as the victor. Nan’ao island of Shantou remained in the hands after Guangdong fell into communist hands. On March 3, 1950, the 121st of the 41st Army of the People’s Liberation Army attacked the island. Faced with such overwhelming enemy, the defenders stood no chance and after 8 hours of fighting, the communists succeeded in wiping out the entire garrison and thus taking the island. 27 s troops were killed, and 1348 were captured, including the local commander, the deputy commander-in-chief of the 1st Cantonese Column Wu Qijun , and the deputy commander of the 58th Guo Mengxiong . A total 1304 pieces of firearms were also captured.
The defeat proved that it was impractical to hold on to the outlaying islands that were at the doorstep of the enemy but far away from any friendly bases, just like the Wanshan Archipelago Campaign would have done later. As the battle had shown, once the defenders learned that it was impossible to have any reinforcement, the morale completely collapsed and most of the defenders abandoned their weapons and attempted to hide after merely suffering 27 fatalities, and the enemy spend most of the 8 hour fighting in mop up operations to round up the demoralized defenders. Although holding on to a distant island may have the propaganda value, any initial political and psychological gains would be negated by the fallout after the inevitable defeat and the loss.
The defeat proved that it was impractical to hold on to the outlaying islands that were at the doorstep of the enemy but far away from any friendly bases, just like the Wanshan Archipelago Campaign would have done later. As the battle had shown, once the defenders learned that it was impossible to have any reinforcement, the morale completely collapsed and most of the defenders abandoned their weapons and attempted to hide after merely suffering 27 fatalities, and the enemy spend most of the 8 hour fighting in mop up operations to round up the demoralized defenders. Although holding on to a distant island may have the propaganda value, any initial political and psychological gains would be negated by the fallout after the inevitable defeat and the loss.
Battle of Jiulianshan
The Battle of Jiulianshan was an unsuccessful counter-guerrilla operation launched by the against the during the Chinese Civil War in the post-World War II era in the border region of Guangdong, Jiangxi and Hunan.
Jiulianshan , was a communist guerrilla base in the border region of Guangdong, Jiangxi and Hunan. In November, 1948, the nationalist forces from Guangdong consisted of the 13th Security Regiment, the 5th Regiment, and a battalion of the 1st Security Regiment were dispatched to eradicate the local communist guerrilla. The nationalists enjoyed both the technical and numerical superiorities, so they decided to attack on multiple fronts in separate directions. In contrast, the communist guerrilla decided to concentrate their force to achieve numerical superiority in one front against the attacking nationalists, and then fight the enemy at the next front using the same tactic to overcome their own disadvantage.
Order of battle
*Nationalists
**A battalion of the Cantonese 1st Security Regiment
**Cantonese 5th Security Regiment
**Cantonese 13th Security Regiment
*Communists
**3rd Regiment of the communist guerrilla
**4th Regiment of the communist guerrilla
**7th Regiment of the communist guerrilla
**Independent 5th Group of the communist guerrilla
As the nationalists sent their supplies via Dongjiang River upstream from Heyuan on November 15, 1948, the enemy set up an ambush in the section from Yellow Field region to White Horse region. The entire nationalist convoy was lost with over 70 troops killed and over a dozen boats full of supplies fallen into enemy hands.
On November 20, 1948, a group of communist guerrilla faked the attack on Great Lake region, and as the nationalist 1st Security Regiment sent out a company to engage the enemy, the enemy immediately retreated, lured the unsuspecting nationalists into the preset ambush in the Lion’s Brain mountains, where the communist guerrilla 3rd Regiment was waiting, and the entire nationalist company was wiped out.
Due to the previous loss of supplies in the November last year, the nationalists were forced to re-supply. On January 8, 1949, 5 infantry companies and one artillery companies of the nationalist 13th Security Regiment totaling 600 troops organized another convoy consisted of three boats of supplies went upstream again in Dongjiang River. The communist guerilla concentrated its 3rd Regiment, 5th Regiment, 7th Regiment and Independent 5th Group totaling 1,000 to ambush the convoy was when the nationalists were stopping at the riverbank. On January 11, 1949, after a nine-hour long fierce battle that lasted from noon till 9:00 PM, the nationalists managed to successfully breakout, but all of the suppliers had lost to the enemy in addition to suffering over 190 fatalities. After this setback, the nationalists cancelled any further plans to eradicate the communist guerrilla and withdrew all of its deployed forces.
The nationalist failure was mainly caused by the grave underestimation of the enemy’s strength and determination. Although the so-called communist guerrilla regiments were actually only battalion sized, they could still be a sizable and formidable force when they were concentrated together. In contrast, although the nationalist enjoyed both the technical and numerical superiority, they did not have advantage when their forces were deployed separately in smaller numbers.
Jiulianshan , was a communist guerrilla base in the border region of Guangdong, Jiangxi and Hunan. In November, 1948, the nationalist forces from Guangdong consisted of the 13th Security Regiment, the 5th Regiment, and a battalion of the 1st Security Regiment were dispatched to eradicate the local communist guerrilla. The nationalists enjoyed both the technical and numerical superiorities, so they decided to attack on multiple fronts in separate directions. In contrast, the communist guerrilla decided to concentrate their force to achieve numerical superiority in one front against the attacking nationalists, and then fight the enemy at the next front using the same tactic to overcome their own disadvantage.
Order of battle
*Nationalists
**A battalion of the Cantonese 1st Security Regiment
**Cantonese 5th Security Regiment
**Cantonese 13th Security Regiment
*Communists
**3rd Regiment of the communist guerrilla
**4th Regiment of the communist guerrilla
**7th Regiment of the communist guerrilla
**Independent 5th Group of the communist guerrilla
As the nationalists sent their supplies via Dongjiang River upstream from Heyuan on November 15, 1948, the enemy set up an ambush in the section from Yellow Field region to White Horse region. The entire nationalist convoy was lost with over 70 troops killed and over a dozen boats full of supplies fallen into enemy hands.
On November 20, 1948, a group of communist guerrilla faked the attack on Great Lake region, and as the nationalist 1st Security Regiment sent out a company to engage the enemy, the enemy immediately retreated, lured the unsuspecting nationalists into the preset ambush in the Lion’s Brain mountains, where the communist guerrilla 3rd Regiment was waiting, and the entire nationalist company was wiped out.
Due to the previous loss of supplies in the November last year, the nationalists were forced to re-supply. On January 8, 1949, 5 infantry companies and one artillery companies of the nationalist 13th Security Regiment totaling 600 troops organized another convoy consisted of three boats of supplies went upstream again in Dongjiang River. The communist guerilla concentrated its 3rd Regiment, 5th Regiment, 7th Regiment and Independent 5th Group totaling 1,000 to ambush the convoy was when the nationalists were stopping at the riverbank. On January 11, 1949, after a nine-hour long fierce battle that lasted from noon till 9:00 PM, the nationalists managed to successfully breakout, but all of the suppliers had lost to the enemy in addition to suffering over 190 fatalities. After this setback, the nationalists cancelled any further plans to eradicate the communist guerrilla and withdrew all of its deployed forces.
The nationalist failure was mainly caused by the grave underestimation of the enemy’s strength and determination. Although the so-called communist guerrilla regiments were actually only battalion sized, they could still be a sizable and formidable force when they were concentrated together. In contrast, although the nationalist enjoyed both the technical and numerical superiority, they did not have advantage when their forces were deployed separately in smaller numbers.
Battle of Canton
The Battle of Canton was fought on May 21, 1841 between Great Britain and Qing Dynasty, during the First Opium War. The British captured the city with an amphibious attack.
Guangzhou, then known as Canton, was one of the only ports in China opened to foreign countries, mostly European, for trade. In the early stages of trade, foreign countries needed many things from China, like spice, silk and pottery. On the other hand, China needed fewer objects from these foreign powers. As a result a great trade imbalance was created.
The trade imbalance ended when opium was shipped into China. Opium was unknown to China, and it became very popular as soon as it was introduced. Many previously well-off Chinese spent their whole fortune on opium, and they worked less and less. The number of people using opium in China grew rapidly, to the point that the trade imbalance shifted in the foreign countries' favour.
Eventually, Chinese officials tried to end the opium trade altogether by destroying a large amount of opium in the Chinese ports. This triggered the First Opium War.
In January 1841, the Royal Navy started bombarding Chinese ports near Guangzhou, and successfully created many beachheads. Local Chinese officials were forced to surrender, and signed local peace treaties with the British. When the local officials brought these peace treaties to Beijing they were punished for their failures. Qing refused to acknowledge these peace treaties, neither did they acknowledge any China territories were lost. Instead, they sent in more troops to drive back the British.
On May 21 Chinese forces tried a night ambush on the British positions, but they were repelled. The British continued the bombardment and conquest of Chinese coastal cities.
On May 24 the British started to conquer Canton. They successfully took over Tsinghae. They then took over 4 Chinese cannon forts around the cities. This allowed the British to bombard the city at will. The city surrendered afterwards, paying the British 6 million Chinese dollars at the same time. As a result, Canton was not totally destroyed. But afterwards, many civilians were outraged at the looting by the British. Qing forces might also have looted their own people in the chaos.
On May 28 Chinese reinforcements from the other provinces started to retreat out of Canton. At the same time the British also retreated.
On May 30 a Chinese civilian army of around 8,000 men attacked the retreating British forces. Major Beecher died to wounds or sickness. The British managed to regroup and strike back at the Chinese. But heavy rainfall came, greatly limiting the British shooting abilities. The Chinese engaged in melee combat with the British, forcing them to retreat. Eventually, Hadfield and his men were trapped and could not make it back to camp. Finally, the British sent reinforcements and helped Hadfield break though. The British reported only 2 men dead, while Chinese civilians reported over 100 British killed. This incident became known as the "San Yuan Li Incident" .
On May 31 the Guangdong governor met with British commander , and at the same time a civilian army of around 12,000 men arrived from the north. Gough hence concluded that the civilian army was not part of the Qing army. The civilian army departed upon the request from the Guangdong governor.
By June 1 all British forces left the Canton area.
The battle of Canton had a minor effect on the First Opium War, but it had a major effect on the civilians. This is one of the first time that civilians took matters into their own hand, under the decaying Qing.
Stories about this incident started spreading throughout China. Qing showed in this battle that they were powerless at stopping the British invasion. And at the same time, a group of civilians were successful at damaging the British. Whatever the truth is, Chinese civilians began to believe that taking matters into their own hands was a feasible method to protect themselves against any oppressor. These beliefs contributed to the massive rebellions and anti-foreigner movements within the Qing Dynasty later on.
Background
Guangzhou, then known as Canton, was one of the only ports in China opened to foreign countries, mostly European, for trade. In the early stages of trade, foreign countries needed many things from China, like spice, silk and pottery. On the other hand, China needed fewer objects from these foreign powers. As a result a great trade imbalance was created.
The trade imbalance ended when opium was shipped into China. Opium was unknown to China, and it became very popular as soon as it was introduced. Many previously well-off Chinese spent their whole fortune on opium, and they worked less and less. The number of people using opium in China grew rapidly, to the point that the trade imbalance shifted in the foreign countries' favour.
Eventually, Chinese officials tried to end the opium trade altogether by destroying a large amount of opium in the Chinese ports. This triggered the First Opium War.
In January 1841, the Royal Navy started bombarding Chinese ports near Guangzhou, and successfully created many beachheads. Local Chinese officials were forced to surrender, and signed local peace treaties with the British. When the local officials brought these peace treaties to Beijing they were punished for their failures. Qing refused to acknowledge these peace treaties, neither did they acknowledge any China territories were lost. Instead, they sent in more troops to drive back the British.
Battle
On May 21 Chinese forces tried a night ambush on the British positions, but they were repelled. The British continued the bombardment and conquest of Chinese coastal cities.
On May 24 the British started to conquer Canton. They successfully took over Tsinghae. They then took over 4 Chinese cannon forts around the cities. This allowed the British to bombard the city at will. The city surrendered afterwards, paying the British 6 million Chinese dollars at the same time. As a result, Canton was not totally destroyed. But afterwards, many civilians were outraged at the looting by the British. Qing forces might also have looted their own people in the chaos.
On May 28 Chinese reinforcements from the other provinces started to retreat out of Canton. At the same time the British also retreated.
On May 30 a Chinese civilian army of around 8,000 men attacked the retreating British forces. Major Beecher died to wounds or sickness. The British managed to regroup and strike back at the Chinese. But heavy rainfall came, greatly limiting the British shooting abilities. The Chinese engaged in melee combat with the British, forcing them to retreat. Eventually, Hadfield and his men were trapped and could not make it back to camp. Finally, the British sent reinforcements and helped Hadfield break though. The British reported only 2 men dead, while Chinese civilians reported over 100 British killed. This incident became known as the "San Yuan Li Incident" .
On May 31 the Guangdong governor met with British commander , and at the same time a civilian army of around 12,000 men arrived from the north. Gough hence concluded that the civilian army was not part of the Qing army. The civilian army departed upon the request from the Guangdong governor.
By June 1 all British forces left the Canton area.
Aftermath
The battle of Canton had a minor effect on the First Opium War, but it had a major effect on the civilians. This is one of the first time that civilians took matters into their own hand, under the decaying Qing.
Stories about this incident started spreading throughout China. Qing showed in this battle that they were powerless at stopping the British invasion. And at the same time, a group of civilians were successful at damaging the British. Whatever the truth is, Chinese civilians began to believe that taking matters into their own hands was a feasible method to protect themselves against any oppressor. These beliefs contributed to the massive rebellions and anti-foreigner movements within the Qing Dynasty later on.
1990 People's Republic of China airliner collision
On 2 October 1990, Xiamen Airlines Flight 8301, a Xiamen Airlines flight using a Boeing 737-247, was hijacked by Jiang Xiaofeng , a 21-year old Hunan, People's Republic of China purchasing agent seeking political asylum in the Republic of China. He demanded that the aircraft reroute to Taipei, Taiwan.
Prior to the hijacking and shortly after the aircraft took off from Xiamen, Jiang approached the cockpit while holding flowers. The security guards let him in; a '''' article stated that the guards likely let him through because they believed that Jiang was offering flowers to the pilots as a Moon Festival token. The article stated that reportedly, once in the cockpit, he opened his jacket to reveal what appeared to be fifteen pounds of explosives strapped to his chest. The article added that Jiang ordered all crew members except for the pilot out of the cockpit.
The captain of the flight explained to Jiang that the aircraft did not have enough fuel to reach Taipei, and proposed that he reroute to the instead. Jiang refused to listen, and the negotiations went on for some time until the captain, noting that fuel was getting too low for safety, decided that he had no choice but to land.
Moments before landing, Jiang managed to wrest control of the aircraft from the pilot. The plane landed at the former , travelling at an excessive speed, and sideswiped a parked China Southwest Airlines Boeing 707-3J6B, slightly injuring the pilot, who was on the flight deck at the time. Still unable to stop, the out-of-control airliner collided with a China Southern Airlines Boeing 757-21B waiting to depart to Shanghai, before flipping over on its back and skidding to a halt.
On the Xiamen Airlines 737, 7 of 9 crew members and 75 of 93 passengers died. A total of 128 people died in the disaster. Jiang, the hijacker of the Xiamen Airlines aircraft, died.
One American, a passenger of the Xiamen Airlines flight, survived the disaster. A on the China Southern aircraft survived.
Prior to the hijacking and shortly after the aircraft took off from Xiamen, Jiang approached the cockpit while holding flowers. The security guards let him in; a '''' article stated that the guards likely let him through because they believed that Jiang was offering flowers to the pilots as a Moon Festival token. The article stated that reportedly, once in the cockpit, he opened his jacket to reveal what appeared to be fifteen pounds of explosives strapped to his chest. The article added that Jiang ordered all crew members except for the pilot out of the cockpit.
The captain of the flight explained to Jiang that the aircraft did not have enough fuel to reach Taipei, and proposed that he reroute to the instead. Jiang refused to listen, and the negotiations went on for some time until the captain, noting that fuel was getting too low for safety, decided that he had no choice but to land.
Moments before landing, Jiang managed to wrest control of the aircraft from the pilot. The plane landed at the former , travelling at an excessive speed, and sideswiped a parked China Southwest Airlines Boeing 707-3J6B, slightly injuring the pilot, who was on the flight deck at the time. Still unable to stop, the out-of-control airliner collided with a China Southern Airlines Boeing 757-21B waiting to depart to Shanghai, before flipping over on its back and skidding to a halt.
On the Xiamen Airlines 737, 7 of 9 crew members and 75 of 93 passengers died. A total of 128 people died in the disaster. Jiang, the hijacker of the Xiamen Airlines aircraft, died.
One American, a passenger of the Xiamen Airlines flight, survived the disaster. A on the China Southern aircraft survived.
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