Liu Guanxiong

Liu Guanxiong

Liu Guanxiong (1861-1927) was born in Min County, Fujian Province. In 1875, he was admitted to Fujian shipping school. After graduation, he became an officer of the Beiyang Navy. Later, he went to the Royal Naval Academy of Greenwich, England to study abroad. After returning from his studies, he successively served as the commander of the Jingyuan warship of the Beiyang Navy, the first mate, and the manager of the Haitian warship. In 1912, he served as a consultant to the Navy Department of the Nanjing Provisional Government. During the period of Beiyang government, he was awarded the rank of admiral. He served successively as the chief of the Navy, the governor of Fujian Province, the governor of Fujian Province, the governor of Fujian Province, the defense envoy of Fujian and Guangdong. He was once granted the second-class Duke during Yuan Shikai's reign as emperor. In November 1923, he resigned from the post of Fujian Guangdong frontier defense envoy and settled in Tianjin. He died of illness in 1927.

Youth

When Liu Guanxiong was a child, his family was poor. His father was a Cooper, and his family lived on his father's little income. Liu Guanxiong's father had five sons. Except for four who died early, the other four later served in the Navy. After his sons became famous, Liu Guanxiong's father was brought up at home. He didn't have to worry about food and clothing, but he was reluctant to give up the hoop barrel burden he had used for many years and kept it. His burden can sometimes be used for a special purpose: when his sons are in conflict and persuasion fails, he will shoulder the burden and threaten to go to the street to settle their disputes.

Liu Guanxiong was the youngest of the brothers, and later the highest official. When he was young, like many Fuzhou children, he was admitted to the Fuzhou shipping school in Mawei. Fuzhou shipping school is composed of the former school and the latter school. The former school is specialized in training shipbuilding talents, while the latter school is specialized in training naval officers. Liu Guanxiong is the fourth student in the driving class.

Liu Guanxiong completed a three-and-a-half-year course study and nearly two years of maritime practice in Fuzhou shipping school. After graduation, he was sent to Beiyang navy to become a trainee officer.

Studying Overseas

Ten years later, the British and French Navy sent 1877 students to study in France. The Sino French war from 1884 to 1885 made the Qing government further realize the extreme importance of strengthening the Navy construction. Therefore, as soon as the war was over, the Qing government made the decision of "great navy". At the end of 1885, the Qing government decided to send the third generation of naval students to study in Britain and France. A total of 33 students were selected for this study, including 17 in driving, 2 in wheel management and 14 in manufacturing. Liu Guanxiong is one of the graduates of the driving class of Fuzhou shipping school and Tianjin Naval Academy.

On April 6, 1886, Liu Guanxiong and other 33 naval students left Hong Kong for France. They arrived in Marseille on May 5 after nearly a month's voyage on a French cruise ship. Fourteen students majoring in manufacturing stayed in France, while 17 students majoring in driving and two students majoring in wheel management, including Liu Guanxiong, went to the UK to study.

Upon arrival in the UK, 19 international students were assigned different subjects. Liu Guanxiong and other eight people were sent to "learn to operate the array map of the magnifying gun team, and the first mate also piloted the armored warship". In October of that year, Liu Guanxiong, Huang Mingqiu and Qiu Zhifan were sent to the British warship "egerseland" to learn artillery. In June of the next year, they went to the military artillery factory to learn how to make guns and gunpowder.

In 1887, the Qing government decided to send personnel to Britain and Germany to accept four new cruisers: "Zhiyuan", "Jingyuan", "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan". In order to save hundreds of thousands of yuan, there is no additional insurance for this ship transfer. Therefore, the safety along the way is extremely important. The Beiyang Navy sent the best officers and men to participate in the operation. Each of the four ships is equipped with a driving officer, a chief mate and two foreign students. The officers in charge of the four ships were Deng Shichang, ye ZuGui, Lin Yongsheng and Qiu Baoren. Apart from Deng Shichang, the other three have studied in the UK.

Liu Guanxiong, who is studying abroad, has also been specially recruited to take part in the work of receiving ships. He is the only one of the seventeen students studying to pilot who was specially recruited to take part in the task of taking over ships, because he was an excellent officer before he studied abroad.

Liu Guanxiong was arranged to be the first mate on the cruiser "Jingyuan". The chief inspector of the Beiyang Navy and the Englishman Lang Weili, who was in charge of the operation, were stationed on the ship.

The duties of the officers and men of the "Jingyuan" warship captured in the British bosmud estuary were all carried out in accordance with the relevant regulations of the British navy. According to the division of labor, the officer in charge of the pilot is responsible for "the affairs of the prime minister on the whole ship"; the first mate is responsible for "the affairs inside the ship", and "the merits and demerits of every person are the main ones when the boat goes or stops". Therefore, Liu Guanxiong's responsibility is very important. In September 1887, four cruisers, including Zhiyuan and Jingyuan, and the torpedo boat "left team No.1", which was made in England, set out from Portsmouth Port to return home. After more than two months of hard sailing, they crossed the Atlantic, Mediterranean, red sea and Indian Ocean, and then returned home at the end of the year. Liu Guanxiong ended his study abroad life.

Join the Navy

In April 1888, "Jingyuan" and other four cruisers and "zuodui-1" torpedo boats arrived in Dagu, Tianjin, and joined the Beiyang Navy. Since then, Liu Guanxiong has been in the "Jingyuan" ship to take up the post of bangtong.

In August of that year, Taiwan's lvjiawangfan society besieged the Qing army camp in Beinan. The situation was urgent, and Taiwan's Governor Liu Mingchuan asked for help. After receiving the order, Ding Ruchang, the commander in chief of the Beiyang Navy, immediately led the "Jingyuan" and "Zhiyuan" ships to Taiwan. After arriving in Beinan, Liu Guanxiong and Chen Jinkui, the first mate of the "Zhiyuan" crew, were ordered to lead 60 people to land and carry two six pound naval guns to cooperate with the army. After more than ten days of fighting, the rebellion was finally put down.

After the formation of the Beiyang Navy, Liu Guanxiong was officially appointed as the first mate of the "Jingyuan" ship. In June 1891, Liu Guanxiong, because of his outstanding performance in the fight to pacify the Taiwan rebellion, was reported to the imperial court by Li Hongzhang and promoted to the official rank ahead of time.

The sister ships Zhiyuan and Jingyuan are the fastest cruisers in the Beiyang Navy, so they are often assigned to carry out some urgent tasks. Liu Guanxiong went to Korea, Japan, Russia, Hong Kong, Nanyang and other regions with the ship for many times to carry out the tasks of cruising on the sea, negotiating with foreign countries, welcoming and seeing off distinguished guests, protecting overseas Chinese and so on. He increased his knowledge and accumulated experience.

Sino Japanese War of 1894-1895

In July 1894, the Sino Japanese war broke out. On September 16, the Qing government sent 4000 troops to reinforce the Qing troops stationed in Korea. The reinforcements were escorted by the Beiyang Navy, transported by sea to Dadonggou on the Sino Korean border, landed, and then arrived in North Korea by land. In order to complete the escort mission, all the main warships of the Northern Navy were dispatched. Two of Asia's largest armored ships, ten cruisers, two gunboats and four torpedo boats formed a huge convoy.

On the morning of September 17, the troops to reinforce North Korea successfully landed in Dadonggou, and the Beiyang fleet completed the escort task. At 10 am, the Beiyang Navy preparing to return found the Japanese fleet. Ten Beiyang naval warships, who were on guard ten nautical miles outside the mouth of Dadonggou, immediately formed up to meet the enemy. At 12:50, the Beiyang Navy's flagship Dingyuan took the lead in firing, and a naval battle broke out in the Yellow Sea. This is the first general battle of armored fleet in the history of world naval battle. Liu Guanxiong took part in the famous naval battle with the ship.

During the naval battle, due to the injury of Ding Ruchang, commander in chief of the Beiyang Navy, and the destruction of the signal device on the flagship Dingyuan by Japanese artillery fire, the Beiyang Navy lost its command, and the formation was soon scattered by Japanese warships, all of which fell into the dangerous situation of being divided and surrounded by Japanese warships. After several hours of fierce fighting, four cruisers of the Beiyang Navy, namely "Chaoyong", "Yangwei", "Zhiyuan" and "Jingyuan", were sunk one after another, and two cruisers, Jiyuan and Guangjia, were injured and fled. The "Jingyuan" and other warships that continue to fight are still fighting separately. Without unified command, the situation is becoming more and more unfavorable.

Liu Guanxiong, who has been assisting in commanding the operation of the "Jingyuan" warship, saw that the situation was critical and immediately suggested to Ye ZuGui, "Dingyuan must have been injured and unable to command. Now the situation is urgent. Our warship should immediately take the place of the command and gather all the warships. Otherwise, our army is in danger of being wiped out. "

Ye ZuGui boldly accepted Liu Guanxiong's suggestion and resolutely ordered to raise the flag on the "Jingyuan" warship to take the responsibility of commanding the fleet's operations. The "Jingyuan" ship sent a signal to the scattered ships to gather. Three cruisers, two gunboats and four torpedo boats near the "Laiyuan", "Pingyuan" and "Guangyuan" came to meet one after another when they saw the "Jingyuan" ship raising its flag. Under the command of the "Jingyuan" warship, the ships formed up again to meet the enemy.

At this time, the Japanese fleet, which was already at the end of its tether, saw that the Beiyang navy was gaining momentum and felt that the situation was unfavourable to itself. In addition, it was getting dark and was afraid of being attacked by the Beiyang Navy's torpedo boats, so it withdrew at full speed. "Jingyuan" ship command each stern chase several miles, because the speed is not equal to the Japanese ship, unable to chase, return to Lushun.

In the Yellow Sea naval battle, the "Jingyuan" warship performed very bravely. Although it was shot more than 100 times, the cabin flooded, and dozens of officers and soldiers died, it still persisted in fighting until the end of the naval battle, and severely damaged the Japanese "birui" cruiser, forcing it to withdraw from the battle. Liu Guanxiong, as the most important assistant of the captain, has made great contribution. In particular, he made great contributions to the proposal that the "Jingyuan" warship should raise the flag and gather troops at the critical moment, so that the Beiyang Navy could finally turn the corner. After the Yellow Sea battle, Liu Guanxiong joined the Weihai sea battle with his ship. In this naval battle

Chinese PinYin : Liu Guan Xiong