Guan Tianpei

Guan Tianpei

Guan Tianpei ( Chinese  關 天 培  /  关 天 培 , Pinyin Guān Tiānpéi , W.-G. Kuan ¹ T'ien ¹ -p'ei ² , Jyutping Gwaan ¹ Tin ¹ pui ⁴ , Zi 仲 因 , Hao 滋 圃 ; * August 1, 1781 in Shanyang County, today Huai'an , Jiangsu Province ; † February 26, 1841 in Humen , China ) was Admiral of the Coastal Defense Fleet of Guangdong Province during the First Opium War . He died in battle during the Battle of the Humen in February 1841.

Origin and career

Guan came from the historic Shanyang County - now a municipality in Huai'an - in Jiangsu Province . He got through a "military exam" - 武 舉  /  武 举 - at the provincial level in the officer career of the Qing armed forces. After 20 years of service he was deputy regional commander in Wusong - now a town in Shanghai . By successfully organizing a large delivery of grain from the Yangtze delta to the north, he was commended by Emperor Daoguang and promoted to regional commander. After the fighting in Guangzhou (Canton) as part of the Napier affair , he replaced Li Zengjie as commander of the coastal defense navy of Guandong in 1834 on the orders of the Emperor .

First opium war

Even before the Opium War, due to the increasing tensions with Great Britain, Guan had reinforced the defense of the Humen, which was based on forts, lightships and junks . Guan commanded the Qing naval forces in the first and second battles of Chuenpi . In February, after unsuccessful negotiations at the Battle of the Humen, the British set out to completely conquer the coastal fortifications of Guan off Canton . Guan Tianpei died in battle on his flagship. His personal bravery has been highlighted by both Chinese and British sources. The removal of his remains by Chinese troops was accompanied by the British with a gun salute .

literature

• Denis Crispin Twitchett, John King Fairbank: The Cambridge History of China . Cambridge University Press, New York , London 1978, ISBN 978-0-521-22029-3 (English, worldcat.org - e-book ).
• Julia Lovell: Yapian Zhanzheng = The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China . 1st edition. Picador, London 2011, ISBN 978-0-330-45747-7 (English, worldcat.org ).
• Mao Haijian: The Qing Empire and the Opium War: The collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty . Ed .: Joseph Lawson. 1st edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2016, ISBN 978-1-107-06987-9 (English, uni-heidelberg.de - introduction by Julia Lovell).

Miscellaneous

The sinologist Yu-chien Kuan is a descendant of Guan Tianpei.

Web links

• Julia Lovell : The Opium War , 2011 London. - RTHK interview on the book as a podcast (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Julia Lovell: The Opium War. Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China. Picador Imprint by Macmillan Publishers , London 2011, ISBN 978-0-330-45747-7 , p. 362 , Principal Characters (English, full text in the Google book search).
2. ^ Denis Crispin Twitchett, John King Fairbank: The Cambridge History of China . Late Ch'ing, 1800-1911, Part 2. In: John K. Fairbank, Kwang-Ching Liu (Ed.): The Cambridge History of China. Cambridge University Press, New York , London 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-22029-3 , pp. 146 , Chinese View of Western Relations, 1840–95 (English, full text in Google book search).
3. ↑ Mao Haijiang - 茅 海 建 : The Qing Empire and the Opium War . The Collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty. Ed .: Joseph Lawson. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2016, ISBN 978-1-108-45541-1 , pp. 116–118, 198–204 , The Unexpected War (English, full text in the Google book search - Chinese: "The Collapse of the Celestial Empire - New Study of the Opium War" - Tianchao de bengkui - Yapian Zhanzhen zai Janjiu - 天朝 的崩溃 - 鸦片战争 再 研究 . Beijing 1995. Translated by Craig Smith, Peter Lavelle, first published by SDX Joint Publishing).
4. ↑ Mao Haijiang - 茅 海 建 : The Qing Empire and the Opium War - The Collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty. Cambridge 2016, pp. 205-211, The Battle of Humen

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Guan is the family name here, Tianpei is the first name.