Yu Dongchen

Yu Dongchen

Yu Dongchen (1851-1912) was the leader of the anti foreign religion uprising in the Qing Dynasty. He was born in Longshui Town, Dazu County, Chongqing Prefecture, Sichuan Province (now Dazu District, Chongqing city) in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.

Life of the characters

When he was young, he was poor and out of school, so he made a living by carrying coal. Being able to bear heavy loads, he is far more powerful than other people, so he is called "Yu Manzi". At that time, Xishan produced coal. The river was small and there was no boat. It was transported by manpower. Thousands of people carried coal every day. Yu Dongchen was strong and courageous. He was good at holding injustice. Therefore, the coal transporters liked to make friends with him, and even the gentry did not dare to despise him.

Yu Dongchen lived in a time when the Qing Dynasty was decaying after the Opium War. In the name of missionary, imperialism went deep into the mainland of China to carry out cultural aggression. In Sichuan alone, 161 churches and 1239 missionary sites were built in 1892. The French missionaries occupied more than 2700 mu of fertile land in Longxi and Shima, Longshui District, Dazu County. These missionaries in the guise of religion enjoyed diplomatic privileges. They committed crimes on Chinese land, forced good people and recruited local ruffians, hooligans, local tyrants and evil gentry into religion, and cruelly squeezed and exploited the villagers.

On June 19, 1886, the people of Longshui town revolted and destroyed the church. The next year, the church did not allow charcoal workers to sell coal on the humanistic bridge in Longshui town. Yu Dongchen and other workers led Xishan coal mines and paper mills near Longshui to destroy the church again. In collusion with Qian Baotang, the county magistrate, the French missionary Penrose killed and set fire to suppress the common people.

In 1890, the French missionaries colluded with the government to prohibit the people of Longshui town from holding the annual meeting of meeting the gods. On August 4, the church destroyed the new French church and killed the civilian Jiang Xingshun. The foreign missionaries falsely accused Jiang Zan of being a cult hater on the pretext that the Gong had the word "Jiang approve". The magistrate of Dazu County surrendered to the imperialist forces, organized crimes, and summoned Chiang Kai Shek for arrest, which aroused public indignation. On August 8, Yu Dongchen led coal mine workers, paper mill workers and villagers to launch armed movements and stormed into Longshui Town, killing 12 illegal religious people. In addition, he issued a proclamation denouncing the eight crimes of the clergy, such as "the power of fake tiger and Wolf", "bullying China", "burning Yuanmingyuan", and the crime of colluding with missionaries to kill the common people in the Qing Dynasty. In November, the Qing army encircled and suppressed heavily, and the uprising failed. Therefore, Yu Dongchen hid himself in the Western Hills, waiting for an opportunity to rise again.

In the 24th year of Guangxu (1898), Yu Dongchen was trapped by the army and held in Rongchang County prison. The squire Jiang agreed with Tang Cuiping, Zhang Guishan and others to lead people to break the prison and rescue Yu Dongchen back to Longshui town. Thousands of people were welcomed and a banquet was held to comfort them. He delivered a speech to the public: "it is the public indignation of all people to smash the church, not to declare personal enmity by Dongchen alone. Dongchen's two younger brothers yizishi died, and one son yizishi was killed. However, Dongchen has been hungry and homeless for seven years. But the ambition of the people is not enough, and they are willing to get the minister. They will not meet with the public in this life. Today, however, I was lucky to get one. The army will arrive tomorrow. It's not a pity that Dongchen died. I'm afraid that the public will be affected by this. There is a saying that the matter has come to this point, and we should take it up again to seek survival from the dead. " Thousands of people chanted: "anti Therefore, Yu Dongchen raised the banner of anti foreign religion and issued an address, putting forward the slogans of "protecting the people, reforming the religion, eliminating the religion, pacifying the people, cutting off the country's enmity, eliminating the people's harm, clearing up the grievances, so as to drive the dogs and sheep from foreign lands" and "Shun Qing, exterminate the foreign countries" and "swear the national humiliation".

In a few months, the uprising team reached tens of thousands, affecting more than 30 counties. On July 30, he sent Zhang Guishan and others to the Zhengjiawan Catholic Church in Hebao Township, Rongchang County to capture the French missionary Hua Fangji alive and destroy the church. In August, the rebel army defeated the officers and soldiers who came to "suppress" the office, and then took Longshui town as the base to attack in several ways: to attack Anyue, Rongchang, Longchang, Zizhou and Neijiang; to attack Tongliang, Yongchuan, Hechuan, Jiangjin and Bishan; to force Chengdu and Chongqing, shaking the whole Sichuan. The Qing government was very frightened, so it recruited ten new soldiers. With all the forces in Sichuan, it dispatched troops from Hubei, and combined "suppression and pacification" to suppress. In the autumn of the 25th year of Guangxu (1899), the rebel army fought against the Qing army in Zizhong, Neijiang and other places. Tang Cuiping died in the war, and the rebel army was forced to return to Xishan, Dazu County. Later, Yu Dongchen and Jiang agreed to release Hua Fangji, a foreign missionary, under the promise of the Qing government that he would not be imprisoned for life by treason and that he would be generous to support him. Yu Dongchen was detained in Chengdu prison.

Cause of death

After the 1911 Revolution, he was released to Dazu and killed by Zhou Jun, commander of the first division of Sichuan army, at the South Gate of Yongchuan.

Chinese PinYin : Yu Dong Chen