Dong Fuxiang

Dong Fuxiang

Dong Fuxiang
Born 董福祥 1839
Gansu
Died 1908
Allegiance Qing dynasty
Years of service 1862–1908
Rank general
Unit Kansu braves
Battles/wars Dungan revolt, Dungan Revolt (1895), Boxer Rebellion
Dong Fuxiang
Traditional Chinese 董福祥
Simplified Chinese 董福祥
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Dǒng.

Dong Fuxiang (1839–1908), courtesy name Xingwu (星五),[1] was a Chinese military general who lived in the late Qing dynasty. He was born in the western Chinese province of Gansu. He commanded an army of Hui soldiers, which included the later Ma clique generals Ma Anliang and Ma Fuxiang.[2] According to the Western calendar, his birth date is in 1839.[3]

Religion

Dong Fuxiang was a non-Muslim Han Chinese general who commanded Muslim Hui soldiers. Conflicting accounts were given about his religion and ethnicity. Contemporaneous Western sources claim he was Muslim, which was a mistake, but modern Western sources either say he was not Muslim, or did not mention his religion at all when talking about him, and some mistakenly still say he is Muslim. The only thing that was clear about him was that he was familiar with the Muslim militia of Gansu, and commanded Muslim troops in battle.[4][5] The British consular officer Erich Teichman traveling in Gansu was repeatedly told that Dong Fuxiang was Han Chinese and not a Muslim, but the consular officer insisted on wrongly believing he was a Muslim.[6] The confusion over his religion was cleared up by Jonathan Neamen Lipman who noted that westerners had made the mistake of assuming that Dong was a Muslim since he commanded Muslim soldiers during the Boxer Rebellion, and the mistake was repeated by later western encyclopedias and works on Islam and on the Boxer Rebellion.[7]

The Chinese Muslim armies of Dong Fuxiang were known as the Kansu Braves and they fought against the German Army and the other 8 nation alliance forces, repeatedly at the First intervention, Seymour Expedition, China 1900. It was only on the second attempt in the Gasalee Expedition did the Alliance manage to get through to battle the Chinese Muslim troops at the Battle of Peking. However, Kaiser Wilhelm II was so alarmed by the Chinese Muslim troops that he requested the Caliph Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire to find a way to stop the Chinese Muslim troops from fighting.[8]

Military career

Dong participated in the Dungan revolt, and defected to the Qing dynasty side, along with Ma Zhanao.[9] He was not a fanatic or even interested in rebellion, he merely had gathered a band of followers during the rebellion and fought, just as many others did. He joined the Qing army of Zuo Zongtang in exchange for being appointed Mandarin. He acquired large estates.[10]

In 1890 Dong Fuxiang was stationed at Aksu, Kashgaria and was a Brigadier.[11][12]

Dong Fuxiang, Ma Anliang and Ma Haiyan were originally called to Beijing during the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894, but the Dungan Revolt (1895) broke out and they were subsequently sent to crush the rebels.[13]

In 1895–1896, he led his Muslim troops in crushing a Muslim rebellion called the Dungan Revolt in Gansu and Qinghai. Dong Fuxiang was the Commander in Chief of Kashgaria (kashgar), and he received an order by telegram that he and General Ma Pi-sheng rush their army into rebelling districts via forced marching their troops.[14]

Rebel Muslims had revolted, and his loyalist Chinese Muslim troops led by officers like Ma Anliang, Ma Guoliang, Ma Fuxiang, and Ma Fulu crushed the revolt, reportedly cutting off the heads and ears of rebels.[15] He received the rank of Generalissimo.[10]

In 1898, Dong and 10,000 of his Muslim troops were transferred to Beijing in preparation for war against foreigners, and Dong's troop was renamed: Wuwei Rear Division.[16] While they were stationed there, the Wuwei Rear Division troops repeatedly attacked foreigners in their legations, the railways, and in churches. It was reported that the Wuwei Rear Division troops were going to wipe out the foreigners to return a golden age for China. A Japanese chancellor, Sugiyama Akira, was hacked to death on 11 July by the Kansu soldiers.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23] At the section of railroad at Fungtai, two British engineers were almost beaten to death by the Muslim Kansu troops, and foreign ministers asked that they be pulled back since they were threatening the safety of foreigners.[24] Other Europeans and Westerners were killed as well.[25][26] Ma Anliang, Tongling of Ho-Chou joined him in fighting the foreigners.[10][27] Rumors were flying around that Dong Fuxiang was allegedly going to massacre the foreigners in Beijing.[28] In a letter sent on 14 May 1899, Robert Hart wrote about the rumors of an alleged impending massacre at the hands of Dong Fuxiang's troops in June.[29] In a letter on 4 June 1899, Robert Hart wrote of the influence Dong Fuxiang was exerting over the Empress Dowager Cixi's policy towards foreigners.[30]

Dong attended multiple audiences with the Empress Dowager Cixi from May 27–29, 1900 to affirm in her his belief that he could defeat and expel the foreigners from China. He was so anti-foreign that he used an old Chinese instrument, Sheng Jia, instead of modern brass bands,[31] and had his troops wear traditional Chinese uniforms instead of western military uniforms.

The Boxer Rebellion broke out in 1900, and Dong and his Wuwei troops joined the Boxers in declaring war on the Eight-Nation Alliance.[32] They formed the rear division, and the westerners called them the "10,000 Islamic rabble".[33] They were the most effective attackers on the foreign legions, and struck fear into the minds of the westerners. His troops were responsible for so much trouble that the United States Marine Corps had to be called in.

Dong was a sworn brother to Li Lai chung, another Boxer supporter and anti foreigner.[34][35][36]

The Wuwei Rear Division troops were organized into eight battalions of infantry, two squadrons of cavalry, two brigades of artillery, and one company of engineers.[37] The Wuwei Rear Division troops reportedly intimidated the Western forces.[38] The Wuwei Rear Division Troops were reportedly eager to join the Boxers and attack the foreigners.[39] They killed a foreigner outside Yungting gate.[40] At Zhengyang Gate, Wuwei Rear Division troops engaged in combat against British forces.[41][42][43][44]

On 18 June, Wuwei Rear Division troops stationed at Hunting park in southern Beijing, attacked at the Battle of Langfang. The troops were cavalry – about 5,000 men – armed with new, modern magazine rifles.[45] Russian marines in the legations were subjected to a massive attack on June 23 by Dong and his Kansu Muslim troops, who gad merged with the Boxers. A German marine was killed and the next day on June 24 an American marine was also killed.[46]

His mere presence was menacing to the foreigners; some of them considered him to be an ogre. His Wuwei Rear Division troops were also reported to be ferocious.[47]

Battle of Beicang, on the outskirts of Tianjin.

Summary of battles of General Dong Fuxiang: Ts'ai Ts'un, 24 July; Ho Hsi Wu, 25 July; An P'ing, 26 July; Ma T'ou, 27 July.[48] He defeated the Westerners during the Battle of Langfang.

The French Catholic vicar apostolic, Msgr. Alfons Bermyn, wanted foreign troops garrisoned in inner Mongolia, but the Governor refused. Bermyn resorted to lies, and falsely petitioned the Manchu Enming to send troops to Hetao where Prince Duan's Mongol troops and General Dong Fuxiang's Muslim troops allegedly threatened Catholics. It turned out that Bermyn had created the incident as a hoax.[49][50] One of the false reports claimed that Dong Fuxiang wiped out Belgian missionaries in Mongolia and was going to massacre Catholics in Taiyuan.[15][51]

[52]

When the Qing court decided to retreat, the Wuwei Rear Division escorted Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor to safety in Xi'an.[53][54] The westerners suffered so much at the hands of his Wuwei Rear Division troops that they demanded Dong be executed. The Qing court refused to kowtow to the foreigner's demands, and Dong was not executed but instead was exiled to Gansu and all of his positions and honors accorded to him were removed. After Dong lost all of his official positions, he still was permitted to command his personal army of 5,000 men in Gansu.[55]

Aided by his appealing personality, Dong Fuxiang became a national hero in China for combating the foreigners.[56]

Tsai-I Prince Tuan and Tsai Lan Duke Fu-kuo were sentenced to be brought before the autumnal court of assize for execution, and it was agreed that if the Emperor saw fit to grant them their lives, they should be exiled to Turkestan and there imprisoned for life, without the possibility of commutation of these punishments.1

1 Prince Tuan went no farther than Manchuria for exile, and was heard of there in 1908. Tung Fu-hsiang's sentence was made banishment (to Turkestan, presumably), but he came back to Kansu province in 1906, and lived there in harmless old age.

The Boxer Rebellion: A Political and Diplomatic Review, Paul Henry Clements, p. 201.[57]

During his exile in Gansu, he held a great deal of local political power while protected by his bodyguards, local decisions had to be made with his consent. Two fortresses and many estates were at his disposal. After he died in 1908, all the ranks and honors which were stripped from him due to the foreign demands were restored and he was given a full military burial.[10][58]

Dong Fuxiang's family, his wife Tung Chao-shih (Dong Zhaoshi), nephew Tung Wen (Dong Wen), and grandson Tung Kung (Dong Gong) fought for the Qing dynasty during the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 in Gansu.[59][60]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lipman, Jonathan Neaman (1980). The border world of Gansu, 1895-1935. Stanford University. p. 82. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  2. ↑ Chinese Republican Studies Newsletter, Volumes 1-7. Contributors: University of Connecticut. Dept. of History, Denison University. Dept. of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Center for Asian Studies. Center for Asian Studies, University of Illinois. 1975. p. 171. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  3. ↑ Wood, Frances. "The Boxer Rebellion, 1900: A Selection of Books, Prints and Photographs". The British Library. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  4. ↑ Garnaut, Anthony. "From Yunnan to Xinjiang:Governor Yang Zengxin and his Dungan Generals" (PDF). Pacific and Asian History, Australian National University). Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  5. ↑ Stephen G. Haw (2007). Beijing: a concise history. Routledge. p. 93. ISBN 0-415-39906-8. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  6. ↑ Travels Of A Consular Officer In North-West China. CUP Archive. p. 109. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  7. ↑ Lipman, Jonathan Neaman (1998). Familiar strangers: a history of Muslims in Northwest China. University of Washington Press. p. 156. ISBN 0295800550. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  8. ↑ Abdulhamid II
  9. ↑ Mary Clabaugh Wright (1957). Last Stand of Chinese Conservatism the T'Ung-Chih. Stanford University Press. p. 121. ISBN 0-8047-0475-9. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  10. 1 2 3 4 M. Th. Houtsma; A. J. Wensinck (1993). E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam 1913–1936. Stanford BRILL. p. 850. ISBN 90-04-09796-1. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  11. ↑ The contemporary review, Volume 78. Columbus House 43 and 43a Fetter Lane London E.C.: A. Strahan. 1900. p. 260. Retrieved 2010-06-28.(Original from the University of California)
  12. ↑ Demetrius Charles de Kavanagh Boulger (1898). The history of China, Volume 2. LONDON STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.: W. Thacker & co. p. 443. Retrieved 2010-06-28.(Original from Harvard University)
  13. ↑ 董福祥与西北马家军阀的的故事 - 360Doc个人图书馆
  14. ↑ The Chinese recorder, Volume 26. SHANGHAI: American Presbyterian Mission Press. 1895. p. 452. Retrieved 2010-06-28.(Original from the University of California)
  15. 1 2 Jonathan Neaman Lipman (1 July 1998). Familiar strangers: a history of Muslims in Northwest China. University of Washington Press. pp. 168–. ISBN 978-0-295-80055-4.
  16. ↑ Joseph Esherick (1988). The origins of the Boxer Uprising. Berkeley California: University of California Press. p. 182. ISBN 0-520-06459-3. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  17. ↑ Joseph Esherick (1988). The origins of the Boxer Uprising. Berkeley California: University of California Press. p. 302. ISBN 0-520-06459-3. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  18. ↑ Kelly, John S. (1963). A forgotten conference: the negotiations at Peking, 1900-1901. Librairie Droz. p. 31. ISBN 2600039996. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  19. ↑ Boyd, Julia (2012). A Dance with the Dragon: The Vanished World of Peking's Foreign Colony (illustrated ed.). I.B.Tauris. p. 4. ISBN 1780760523. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  20. ↑ Smith, Shirley Ann (2012). Imperial Designs: Italians in China 1900–1947. The Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Series in Italian Studies. Lexington Books. p. 18. ISBN 1611475023. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  21. ↑ Beals, Zephaniah Charles (1901). China and the Boxers: A short history of the Boxer outbreak, with two chapters on the sufferings of missionaries and a closing one on the outlook. M.E. Munson. p. 73. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  22. ↑ The Boxer Rising: A History of the Boxer Trouble in China (2, reprint ed.). Shanghai Mercury. 1901. p. 59. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  23. ↑ The Boxer Rising: A History of the Boxer Trouble in China. Reprinted from the "Shanghai Mercury." (reprint ed.). Shanghai mercury, limited. 1900. p. 46. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  24. ↑ "THE DEFENCE OF 'PEKING. PREPARING TO RESIST EXPEDITION.". THE WEST AUSTRALIAN. London. 16 June 1900. p. 5. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  25. ↑ Clark, Kenneth G. "THE BOXER UPRISING 1899 – 1900.". Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  26. ↑ "Kansu Soldiers (Tung Fu Hsiang's).". Australian National University. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  27. ↑ James Hastings; John Alexander Selbie; Louis Herbert Gray (1916). Encyclopædia of religion and ethics, Volume 8. EDINBURGH: T. & T. Clark. p. 893. Retrieved 2010-06-28.(Original from Harvard University)
  28. ↑ Dix, Charles Cabry (1905). The World's Navies in the Boxer Rebellion (China 1900). Digby, Long & Company. p. 17. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  29. ↑ Hart, Robert; Campbell, James Duncan (1975). Fairbank, John King; Bruner, Katherine Frost; Matheson, Elizabeth MacLeod, eds. The I. G. in Peking: Letters of Robert Hart, Chinese Maritime Customs, 1868-1907. Harvard University Press. p. 1196. ISBN 0674443209. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  30. ↑ Hart, Robert; Campbell, James Duncan (1975). Fairbank, John King; Bruner, Katherine Frost; Matheson, Elizabeth MacLeod, eds. The I. G. in Peking: Letters of Robert Hart, Chinese Maritime Customs, 1868-1907. Harvard University Press. p. 1199. ISBN 0674443209. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  31. ↑ Xiang, Lanxin (2003). The Origins of the Boxer War: A Multinational Study (illustrated ed.). Psychology Press. p. 207. ISBN 0700715630. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  32. ↑ Lynn E. Bodin (1970). The Boxer Rebellion. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 24. ISBN 0-85045-335-6. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  33. ↑ Peter Harrington; Michael Perry (2001). Peking 1900: the Boxer Rebellion. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 25. ISBN 1-84176-181-8. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  34. ↑ Victor Purcell (2010). The Boxer Uprising: A Background Study. Cambridge University Press. p. 212. ISBN 0-521-14812-X. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  35. ↑ Chung-hua min kuo kuo chi kuan hsi yen chiu so, 中華民國國際關係硏究所 (1967). Issues & studies, Volume 4, Issues 1–12. Institute of International Relations, Republic of China. p. 8. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  36. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Caitlin (2006). "Imperial Intrigue: a background guide for the Boxer Rebellion Chinese Imperial Court" (PDF). COLUMBIA MODEL UNITED NATIONS IN NEW YORK Columbia University. p. 24. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  37. ↑ Peter Harrington; Michael Perry (2001). Peking 1900: the Boxer Rebellion. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 25. ISBN 1-84176-181-8. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  38. ↑ Sterling Seagrave; Peggy Seagrave (1993). Dragon lady: the life and legend of the last empress of China. Vintage Books. p. 318. ISBN 0-679-73369-8. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  39. ↑ Philip Walsingham Sergeant (1910). The great empress dowager of China. LONDON Paternoster Row: Hutchinson & co. p. 231. Retrieved 2010-06-28.(Original from the University of California)
  40. ↑ Ching-shan, Jan Julius Lodewijk Duyvendak (1976). The diary of His Excellency Ching-shan: being a Chinese account of the Boxer troubles. University Publications of America. p. 14. ISBN 0-89093-074-0. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  41. ↑ Michael Dillon (1999). China's Muslim Hui community: migration, settlement and sects. Richmond: Curzon Press. p. 72. ISBN 0-7007-1026-4. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  42. ↑ Lynn E. Bodin (1970). The Boxer Rebellion. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 24. ISBN 0-85045-335-6. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  43. ↑ Picture of Muslim soldier
  44. ↑ picture of general dong fuxiang
  45. ↑ Arthur Henderson Smith (1901). China in convulsion, Volume 2. Albany, N. Y.: F. H. Revell Co. p. 441. Retrieved 2010-06-28.(Original from Harvard University)
  46. ↑ Daugherty III, Leo J. (2009). The Marine Corps and the State Department: Enduring Partners in United States Foreign Policy, 1798-2007. McFarland. p. 44. ISBN 078645301X. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  47. ↑ Peter Fleming (1990). The Siege at Peking: The Boxer Rebellion. Dorset Press. p. 226. ISBN 0-88029-462-0. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  48. ↑ Arthur Henderson Smith (1901). China in convulsion, Volume 2. F. H. Revell Co. p. 393. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  49. ↑ Ann Heylen (2004). Chronique du Toumet-Ortos: looking through the lens of Joseph Van Oost, missionary in Inner Mongolia (1915–1921). Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press. p. 203. ISBN 90-5867-418-5. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  50. ↑ Patrick Taveirne (2004). Han-Mongol encounters and missionary endeavors: a history of Scheut in Ordos (Hetao) 1874–1911. Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press. p. 539. ISBN 90-5867-365-0. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  51. ↑ E. H. Edwards (1903). Fire and sword in Shansi: the story of the martyrdom of foreigners and Chinese Christians. EDINBURGH: Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier. p. 167. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  52. ↑ Hart, Robert; Campbell, James Duncan (1975). Fairbank, John King; Bruner, Katherine Frost; Matheson, Elizabeth MacLeod, eds. The I. G. in Peking: Letters of Robert Hart, Chinese Maritime Customs, 1868-1907. Harvard University Press. p. 1271. ISBN 0674443209. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  53. ↑ Jonathan Neaman Lipman (2004). Familiar strangers: a history of Muslims in Northwest China. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 169. ISBN 0-295-97644-6. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  54. ↑ Patrick Taveirne (2004). Han-Mongol encounters and missionary endeavors: a history of Scheut in Ordos (Hetao) 1874–1911. Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press. p. 515. ISBN 90-5867-365-0. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  55. ↑ Massachusetts Reformatory (Concord, Mass.) (1900). Our paper, Volume 16. Massachusetts Reformatory. p. 795. Retrieved 2011-06-05.(Original from the New York Public Library)
  56. ↑ Jane E. Elliott (2002). Some did it for civilisation, some did it for their country: a revised view of the boxer war. Chinese University Press. p. 204. ISBN 962-996-066-4. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  57. ↑ Clements, Paul Henry (1915). The Boxer Rebellion: A Political and Diplomatic Review. Columbia University. p. 201. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  58. ↑ James Hastings; John Alexander Selbie; Louis Herbert Gray (1916). Encyclopædia of religion and ethics, Volume 8. T. & T. Clark. p. 894. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  59. ↑ University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Center for Asian Studies (1979). Chinese Republican studies newsletter, Volumes 5–7. p. 35. Retrieved 2011-06-06.
  60. ↑ Chinese Republican Studies Newsletter, Volumes 1-7. Contributors: University of Connecticut. Dept. of History, Denison University. Dept. of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Center for Asian Studies. Center for Asian Studies, University of Illinois. 1975. p. 171. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
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