Chen Yue
Chinese style in Nagasaki
Nagasaki, a famous seaport city at the southeastern tip of Japan's Kyushu Island, is a sister city to Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province, China. From the historical origin, Nagasaki and China's transportation history is very long, after the Song and Yuan Dynasties, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a large number of Chinese shippers from Zhejiang, Fujian and other places came to Nagasaki to do business, leaving a lot of traditional Chinese cultural imprints in the local area.
Panoramic view of Nagasaki Port. The bridge on the left side of the photo is the Goddess Bridge, which is necessary for modern times to enter the inner port of Nagasaki from the sea, and has historically been the place where Fujian shippers held the activity of sending off the king ship. The factory area across the central seaport is the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki Shipyard. On the right side of the photo is the Cruise Ship Berth is the Matsueda International Cruise Terminal, and near the photo is a historical European settlement. Photo by Chen Yue
Nagasaki Hokkien Hall Photo by Chen Yue
The plaque given by Zeng Guoquan, the governor of Liangjiang, hanging in the Fujian Guild Hall was photographed by Chen Yue
Nagasaki is one of the most important ports of call on the China-Japan cruise route today. Cruise ships from the open sea, along the waterway between the mountains on both sides of the strait, slowly sailed from under the Goddess Bridge into the inner harbor of Nagasaki, anchored at the Nagasaki Matsueda International Cruise Terminal near the Water's Edge Forest Park, and most of the tourists arrived at the Shinchi Chinatown and Gwanghorba not far away. What modern people rarely notice is that the famous Nagasaki Incident in the modern history of China and Japan occurred in this area in 1886.
To trace the Nagasaki incident, it is first necessary to understand the history of Chinese life in Nagasaki, Japan. Chinese activities in Nagasaki and even overseas Chinese have existed since the Song and Yuan dynasties. In the 15th century, the Japanese Edo shogunate implemented a policy of locking the country, strictly controlling the scope of activities of foreigners at various treaty ports, and the nagasaki local government in 1688 (the first year of the Japanese Yuanlu and the 27th year of the Chinese Kangxi Dynasty) circled an area of about 27,000 square meters of land (later expanded to about 30,000 square meters) in the shizenji township near the harbor, as an activity area for Chinese merchants and sailors, Chinese could live, live, hoard goods, do business, and trade, known as "Tang people Yashiki", commonly known as "Tang people Yashiki" "Tangguan" is similar to the "concession area" Chinese.
At that time, Nagasaki, Tang people Yashiki was an independent world, the main building inside was 20 two-storey townhouses, which could accommodate 2,000 to 3,000 people to live and live, the block was surrounded by a boundary river similar to a moat, and bamboo fences were built along the riverbank, Chinese could only live in Tang House Shiki and sell goods, and could not exceed the scope of Tang People's House Shiki, ordinary Japanese people were not allowed to enter Tang People's House Shiki, only approved Japanese officials, traders and tourist women (prostitutes) could enter, especially the largest number of the latter. It is reported that during the Kangxi Dynasty, thousands of Japanese tourist girls were often active in Nagasaki Tang Dynasty Yashiki. At that time, Tang Dynasty Yashiki was not only a prosperous international trade market, but also a special world of drunken gold fans and night-time songs, Chinese merchants with thousands of dollars, Chinese sailors with generous hands, and Japanese wandering women who indulged in wine and pleasure. Separated by a world, it is not difficult to imagine the mood of the Japanese people outside The Tang Dynasty Yashiki about this scene. At that time, Chinese the scene of life in Nagasaki, the grandeur of spending thousands of dollars, and the details of pleasure-seeking, left a deep memory in the local area, so that there was a special type of ukiyo-e works in the Nagasaki area that expressed the Chinese and the creation themes of the life of the people in Nagasaki, "Tangguan Tu" and "Tang Ren Tu", which reflected the life of Westerners in Nagasaki.
A map of the Tang Pavilion reflecting Chinese's life in Nagasaki
Shinji Chinatown, Nagasaki. The Nagasaki Incident of 1886 occurred near Shinji Chinatown
In 1853, the famous Black Ship Incident occurred in Japan, and under the strong pressure of the Western powers, the Japanese shogunate regime ended the policy of locking up the country, and in 1858 opened the sea gateway to the Western powers. In Nagasaki, many Chinese who originally lived in Tang Dynasty Yashiki also took the opportunity to break through the restrictions and live and trade in the traditional living and storage areas of Westerners such as the Netherlands, mainly scattered in the Shinji (i.e., Shinji Lotus Tibet, an artificial island reclaimed in the Nagasaki Sea in 1704, initially mainly a storage area for foreign merchants), Hiromababa, Ōura, and Naohei area. In 1870, there was a fire in Tang Dynasty Yashiki, and since then, Chinese merchants and expatriates have mainly concentrated in the area of Shinchi and Gwangmaba, and the modern famous Nagasaki Shinji Chinatown has gradually formed since then.
In the middle of the 19th century, China and Japan were both facing the challenge of the West and the East, and China, which experienced two Opium Wars, began the Foreign Affairs Self-Improvement Movement with the main goal of coastal defense and self-improvement in 1861, and Japan entered the era of the meiji Emperor in 1867, and began Japan's modernization movement - the Meiji Restoration. Unlike China's self-preservation modernization reforms aimed at self-preservation, Japan's modernization movement has been aggressive from the beginning, viewing expansionary aggression against neighboring China and North Korea as a shortcut to Japan's rapid rise.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the East Asian world was in the Huayi order centered on China, and Japan was one of the few foreign countries that did not submit to China, and wandered outside the Chinese order. After the 1850s, with the invasion of Western powers in East Asia, the modern international legal order dominated by the West had a violent impact on the original Huayi order in the East Asian world. After Japan's Meiji Restoration, the Meiji government actively planned to sign a treaty of establishing diplomatic relations with China in order to gain equal status with China in the modern international legal order, thus consuming the traditional Huayi order centered on China in East Asia. After negotiations, on September 13, 1871, the Japanese Secretary of The Great Tibetan Emperor Date Zongcheng and the Qing Dynasty's representative Governor Li Hongzhang initialed the "Amendment Regulations" and the attached "Articles of Commerce: Customs Tariff Rules" in Tianjin, and on April 30, 1873, the formal exchange of treaties came into effect, marking the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan in accordance with modern international law. This move also means that in the East Asian world, Japan is on an equal footing with China, which controls all nations, and China's traditional vassal states have become complicated and chaotic in their handling of international relations when facing China and Japan.
Regardless of the political intentions behind Japan's quest to establish diplomatic relations with the Qing Dynasty, judging only from the content of the "Amendment Regulations" itself, it is a treaty of equal diplomatic relations. According to this treaty, China and Japan established equal diplomatic relations, exchanged envoys, and opened up trade port cities to each other, of which Japan opened 8 ports to China, including Yokohama, Osaka, Niigata, Nagasaki, Hakodate, Kobe, Eigami, and Tsukiji. In these port cities, Chinese merchants can freely trade with each other, and the Chinese consular officer exercises consular jurisdiction over the Chinese of the treaty port, that is, Chinese the litigation case arising from the Japanese treaty port is under the jurisdiction of the Chinese consulate, which hears and adjudicates in accordance with China's domestic law (criminal cases are heard by the Chinese consulate in conjunction with the Japanese district court). Since then, Chinese in Nagasaki have been able to live and move in areas other than Tang Dynasty Yashiki.
In addition to the establishment of diplomatic relations and trade, the "Regulations on the Repair of Trade" and its subsidiary "Articles of Trade: Customs Tariff Rules" also stipulate the passage of warships between the Navies of China and Japan to and from trade ports, and Article 14 of the "Amendment Rules" stipulates that warships of the two countries can freely travel to and from the treaty ports of the other country (Wang Tieya: Compilation of the Old Testaments between China and Foreign Countries, Volume I, Life, Reading, and New Knowledge Triptych Bookstore, 1957 edition, p. 319). Paragraph 20 of the Articles of Association for Trade: Customs Tariffs further provides that "the entry and exit of the warships of the two countries into and out of the respective ports of trade shall not be subject to customs declaration for inspection" (ibid., p. 323). This was the basis for the international law that Chinese and Japanese warships appeared at the treaty ports of the other country at that time.
"Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" came
On Monday, August 9, 1886, a group of warships flying the dragon flag sailed into the inner harbor of Nagasaki and anchored in the sea on the opposite side of the Tang Dynasty Yashiki and Shinchi neighborhoods, next to the Nagasaki Shipyard in Tachijin-go. Arriving in Nagasaki on the same day were ding ruchang, commander of the Beiyang Marine Division, and William M Lang, the "Dingyuan" (captain Liu Butou), "Zhenyuan" (captain Lin Taizeng), "Jiyuan" (captain Fang Boqian), and "Weiyuan" (captain Lin Yingqi), a total of 4 warships, which were almost all the main warships of the Chinese Beiyang Marine Division at that time, especially the ironclad ships "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan", which were unmatched in the whole of East Asia at that time.
In 1886, the Beiyang Marine Division entered the harbor at a glance at Nagasaki
Why the Beiyang Admiralty sent warships to Nagasaki, Japan in 1886, especially with a full-force lineup, the common interpretation in modern China is that this move is intended to deter Japan, but this statement is actually not supported in Chinese historical materials.
The Beiyang Admiralty's Dingyuan ironclad ship, which was photographed in Japan
Dingyuan's sister ship of the same type, the Zhenyuan ironclad ship
Cruiser Jiyuan
"Weiyuan" practice ship
In modern times, Both China and Japan began to build navies in the 1860s, and there was no special intersection. In 1874, Japan invaded Taiwan, revealing for the first time the ambitions of this small East Asian country to invade China, causing extreme shock in the Qing Dynasty and the public. After that, the Qing Dynasty adjusted its naval construction strategy and began to prepare for the construction of the North and South Oceans Navy in 1875, with the Beiyang as the focus, aimed at preventing Japan. From the late 1870s to the mid-1880s, China and Japan each built new warships in Europe and engaged in a fierce naval equipment construction competition, which temporarily ended with China's superiority with the delivery of the "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" ironclad ships to China in 1885.
With the naval arms race, China and Japan had several serious diplomatic crises around the 1880s. After the attempted invasion of Taiwan, Japan brazenly annexed the Ryukyu State in 1879, and in 1884, taking advantage of the Sino-French War, it instigated the pro-Japanese faction of Korea to seize power and launch the Koshin Incident, which was later defeated by the Qing Dynasty. After 1885, China and Japan had ostensibly returned to a scene of harmony, and in 1886, when the Beiyang Marine Division arrived in Nagasaki, the Important Diplomatic Opponent of the Qing Dynasty was Russia, not Japan, and did not deter Japan's political and diplomatic background. The reason why the warships of the Beiyang Marine Division came to Nagasaki was actually to maintain the ironclad ships, that is, to "repair ships".
"Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" are large ironclad ships ordered by Li Hongzhang, minister of Beiyang and directly subordinate governors, to the German Voltaire Company through Li Fengbao, the minister in Germany, and belong to the same type of sisters. On July 3, 1885, the "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" and the cruiser "Jiyuan" built by Volzhen sailed from Germany to China and were delivered in Tianjin Dagu on November 8. According to the maintenance procedures of ironclad ships, cruisers and other iron warships, such warships need to be docked once a year, that is, warships sail into the dock, close the gates, empty the water in the dock, inspect the hull of the warship, especially the underwater part, grind off the attached sea creatures and old paint, and polish the rust, and then paint the hull fresh, so as to ensure that the warship will not rust.
"Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" arrived in China after a voyage of 10,000 miles from Germany, and in the first half of 1886, they participated in activities such as the reading of prince Alcohol, the minister of the Navy, and the tracks were very frequent. By the summer of 1886, maintenance of the two treasure-like warships was imminent.
At that time, on the Chinese coastline, the Lushun Dockyard, which was tailor-made for "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan", was still under construction (completed in 1890), and could accommodate 7,000-ton large ships to enter the maintenance dock, only the new Whampoa Dock in Hong Kong was qualified (the Whampoa Dock was 121.92 meters long, 27.43 meters wide and 7.46 meters deep). "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" are 94.5 meters long, 18 meters wide, and have a draft of 6 meters). On June 23, 1886, Ding Ruchang, commander of the Beiyang Marine Division, sent a letter to Detring of the Department of Taxation of Tianjin Customs, informing him that "'Ding' and 'Town' are in urgent need of preparation for entering the dock", hoping that De Pulin would help contact the Hong Kong Huangpu Dockyard. On July 8, De Cuilin informed Ding Ruchang of the investigation, and the Hong Kong dockyard replied that if "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" were to be docked for maintenance, the original construction of the dock might be insufficient and the need to "renovate the dock bottom and keel", which actually meant that it was still impossible to undertake the maintenance projects of "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" ("Zhide Taxation Department" and "Zhide Cuilin", Sun Jianjun collated the annotations: "Ding Ruchang Collection" (Part 1), Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, 2017 edition, pp. 69, 72. Sun Yutang, ed., Materials of Modern Chinese Industrial History, Vol. 1, Science Press, 1957, p. 10).
In addition, Ding Ruchang also contacted the Xiangsheng Shipyard in Shanghai through Luo Fenglu, the general office of the Beiyang Marine Division's Camp Office, and Zhou Fu, Tianjin Daozhou fu, to discuss whether the largest dock in Shanghai built by Xiangsheng could undertake the maintenance project of "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" (the dock was 137.16 meters long, 24.38 meters wide, and 6.4 meters deep). (Part 1), Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, 2017 edition, pp. 70-71. Sun Yutang, ed., Materials of Modern Chinese Industrial History, Vol. 1, Science Press, 1957, p. 23).
As a national weapon, "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" cannot be repaired in time, once rust and other damage occurs, the consequences are unimaginable, and there is no suitable dry dock available on the entire Chinese coastline, if you go to the Singapore dock, not only the voyage is long, it will seriously exceed the maintenance time limit of "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan", and it will also affect the two ships to carry out their tasks in beiyang. At this time, there was only one solution left for the Beiyang Marine Division.
With regard to this problem, Beiyang Minister Li Hongzhang already had a clear understanding of this problem as early as when he returned to China from "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan"; "not only is it forbidden to enter the mouth of the gukou, that is, the mouth of the Shanghai and Fujian is not allowed to enter, and there is no dock in China to repair, and it is impossible to repair the dashiwu in Hong Kong and the dashiwu in Nagasaki in Japan." This is precisely the reason why Li Hongzhang was not active enough in purchasing the big ironclad ships, and he was eager to build the lushun dock.
After excluding the Great Stone Dock in Hong Kong, "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" had no choice but to go to the Nagasaki Dockyard in Japan if they wanted to carry out maintenance on schedule.
At this time, just as China and Britain were negotiating the issue of British occupation of Jumun Island in Korea, in order to prevent Russia from coveting Yongxing Bay in Korea, Li Hongzhang ordered Ding Ruchang to lead the main warships of the Beiyang Marine Division to a cruise to scare the Russian warships, and went to Vladivostok, Russia, to pick up the Sino-Russian boundary survey envoy Wu Dahao to return to China, and to go by Nagasaki, Japan, to repair oil ("The Translation Office Transferred to the Alcohol Residence", The Complete Works of Li Hongzhang, 22, Anhui Education Publishing House, 2008 edition, p. 69). On July 18, 1886, Ding Ruchang led all the main warships of the Beiyang Marine Division, "Dingyuan", "Zhenyuan", "Jiyuan", "Weiyuan", "Chaoyong", and "Yangwei", departed from Weihai, inspected Busan, North Korea on the 21st, arrived at Wonsan on the 23rd, and then cruised in Yongxing Bay, North Korea, and sailed to Vladivostok, Russia on July 31 ("Yu Qing Shuai", Sun Jianjun collated the annotation: "Ding Ruchang Collection" (Part I), Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, 2017 edition, page 77). After that, Ding Ruchang led the fleet to contact Wu Dajie in Vladivostok, and after consultation, the two ships of "Chao Yong" and "Yang Wei" stayed in Vladivostok and listened to the dispatch of wu Da yi, the envoy of the boundary survey, while Ding Ruchang led "Dingyuan", "Zhenyuan", "Jiyuan" and "Weiyuan" to sail directly from Vladivostok to Nagasaki, Japan, on August 7 for a docking overhaul, and arrived smoothly on August 9.
August 13, Jikoyo Yuriai Town
The Nagasaki Grand Dockyard in Japan is subordinate to the official Nagasaki Shipyard (first known as the Nagasaki Iron Androad Institute), which was founded in 1861, and in 1879, a large dry dock was excavated from the rock formations of Nagasaki Ritsujingo, namely the Nagasaki Ritsushin First Dock, which was huge in scale, with a top length of 160.5 meters and a width of 30.8 meters, which was the largest dockyard in East Asia at that time. When the Beiyang Marine Division warships arrived in 1886, they were leased and operated by Mitsubishi Corporation, called Nagasaki Shipyard, and belonged to a private shipyard, so they could undertake maintenance projects for foreign ships.
Nagasaki Ritsushin No. 1 Dockyard
View of The First Dock of Lishin (Dock of no2.Dock marked on the right gate in the photo)
On August 10, the day after Ding Ruchang led the fleet to Nagasaki, Japan, he sent a telegram from Nagasaki to Li Hongzhang reporting on the arrival and the amount of the cost of docking maintenance known after negotiations with the Nagasaki Shipbuilding Institute, and Li Hongzhang immediately ordered Ding Ruchang to send a remittance of ten thousand yuan, and at the same time ordered Ding Ruchang to immediately drive to Incheon, Korea, after completing the dock repair work, to deter the pro-Russian faction within the Korean government, to prevent the DPRK from privately conferring with Russia on the Yongxing Bay issue, and at the same time to deter the Russian navy, "Han Secret sent diplomas to Russia for protection, Yuan (Shi Kai) was arguing with me, and my ship had to go to Russia. Hong. ("Nagasaki handed over to The Chinese Admiral Ding", The Complete Works of Li Hongzhang, 22, Anhui Education Publishing House, 2008, p. 83)
Since Nagasaki was a treaty port opened by Japan to China, according to the treaty powers, Chinese warships entering Nagasaki did not need to inform the Japanese side, so Ding Ruchang led the fleet to arrive purely for ship maintenance, not "visiting Japan" as modern people understand it.
According to the schedule of the Nagasaki Shipyard, the Dingyuan first entered the Ritsushin-1 dock on August 12, while the other three warships anchored in the nearby sea. Some modern scholars believe that the Beiyang Admiralty sent its capital ships to The Docks of Japan for maintenance is a foolish act of sending its own military technology to competitors. This is actually a self-conjecture generated by the lack of understanding of the technical background of the 19th century, in the 19th century, the combat effectiveness of warships is mainly reflected in the design form, as well as the protection and gunfire power, specifically the thickness of the armor, the number and caliber of the guns, etc., there is no more scientific and technological content. These data, along with the naval yearbook and newspaper news reports, are very open and transparent information, on the one hand, countries can use this to boast of their maritime forces, without a fight and surrender, on the other hand, the design and manufacturers of ships can also be used as advertisements. Potential adversaries have this data, and there is no better way to restrain them unless thicker armored and more powerful ships are built.
The design and main data of warships such as "Dingyuan", like the newly built ships in various countries in the world at that time, were published at the time of completion, there was no secret to speak of, and it was purely because China did not have a suitable dock at that time, and the Japanese side scraped the hull and repainted the "Dingyuan" and other warships in the process of physically feeling the hugeness and might of the ironclad ships, and there was no secret technology to spy on.
On August 13, 1886, the day after the Dingyuan was docked, officers and men without operational tasks were allowed to go ashore on holiday. The destination of officers and men on holiday is the usual destination for warships and merchant ships from various countries to vacation in Nagasaki, Japan, and it is also the main sightseeing place for cruise ships to arrive in Nagasaki today, that is, the area around Tangjin Yashiki, Shinji, and Hiromabachi in Nagasaki, which is also a traditional Chinese settlement in Nagasaki.
In the late 19th century, in Maruyama Flower Street, the Beiyang Marine Division saw roughly this scene when it arrived.
Maruyama Yoriai Town Imakei
It is worth noting that the area around Tang Dynasty Yashiki, Shinchi, and Hiromaba was historically the business and living area of foreign merchants in Nagasaki, and a large number of Japanese brothels were formed in the vicinity of this area, especially in the Maruyama area near Singchi. As early as 1642, in order to rectify the city style in the Nagasaki area, the Japanese Edo shogunate concentrated all the brothels scattered in Maruyama Town and the neighboring Jihe Town (the brothels scattered in various places were concentrated together, hence the name), forming the famous Maruyama Yuko, one of the three famous flower streets in Japan. When night falls, Japanese people, as well as sailors and merchants from China, the Netherlands and other countries, flock to the Maruyama neighborhood to buy and laugh. It is also expected that some Japanese people will be jealous of watching foreigners entertain themselves on their own national soil, and there are often brawls and murders against foreigners in this neighborhood. Before the arrival of the Beiyang Admiralty, the most famous such incident in the local area was the killing of sailors from the British naval warship "Icarus", and on the night of July 6, 1867, two British sailors were attacked and killed by local Japanese in Jihe Town, triggering a diplomatic incident.
At nightfall on August 13, 1886, the street lights of Maruyama and Chiro-cho were lit, and laughter was heard in the homes of the houses. On this night, from xindi and Guangmachang, some officers and men of the Beiyang Marine Division successively strolled to the very close Maruyama Flower Street.
It is still the old building of the Maruyama Police Station of the Police Station, and on the evening of August 13, 1886, Wang Fa, a sailor of the Beiyang Marine Division, and Koshiro Kurokawa, a Japanese policeman, fought at this location.
The 19th-century building Near the Maruyama Police Station, the Hanatsuki Building, which has been preserved to this day, was also a brothel restaurant in history.
At 6:30 p.m., five Sailors of the Beiyang Marine Division were summoned to a loan seat called the "Amusement Pavilion" in Jihe Town, and these sailors and their boss, Shinsaburo Nakamura, made an appointment for an hour and then went to dinner elsewhere. At about 8:00 p.m., the then 25-year-old "Dingyuan" warship Tianjin sailor Wang Fa and 4 other sailors came to the "amusement pavilion", the boss Nakamura Shinsaburo came forward to receive, at this time the original reservation of 5 sailors came to the "amusement pavilion", the boss arranged for the nomads (prostitutes) in the store to first receive the reserved sailors, Wang Fa and others thought that they had encountered fraud, and they were furious, and they used the antique Japanese knives bought in The Japanese antique shop, as well as the ashtray in the shop, and the barrier of the "amusement pavilion" (the partition wall made of paper wood in Japanese buildings, Screen) was broken, and the crowds watching the bustle outside the building blocked the road in Jihe town. Boss Shinsaburo Nakamura ran to the nearby Nagasaki Police Station Maruyama Police Station to call the police, and inspector (policeman) Kurokawa Koshiro (23 years old) arrived to disperse the Chinese sailors and the crowd of onlookers.
Probably because of the lack of speech, Wang Fa and others still did not understand the origin of the matter, since they felt the deception and humiliation of the Japanese, at about 9:30 p.m. that night, Wang Fa and the second deputy of the "Dingyuan" ship Feng Xuerong and some other sailors came to the door of the Maruyama police station to quarrel, and finally Wang Fa and the Japanese police officer Kurokawa Koshiro had an armed struggle. In the process, Wang Fa's forehead and the back of his right hand were cut by the Japanese police with a sword, and the Japanese policeman Kurokawa Koshiro's head was slashed twice by the Chinese sailors with a Japanese sword, and the hand was slashed once, and finally took Wang Fa's Japanese sword. After escaping from The town of Shuei in the direction of the nearby town of Funadaigong, Wang Fa was caught by Kurokawa Koshiro and 2 other Japanese policemen who had arrived by the news, tied with hemp rope and taken to the police station for detention.
On August 15, there was a bloody incident in Guangmaba and Schie Bridge
At 11:00 p.m. on August 13, 1886, Japanese policemen Kiaki Tagawa and translator Hetaro sent the captured Chinese sailor King to the Chinese consulate in Nagasaki. Consulate officials Liu Qingfen and Fan Shu, in the presence of the Japanese side, openly interrogated Wang Fa to learn about the general situation of the matter.
On the morning of August 14 of the next day, the Chinese consul in Nagasaki, Cai Xuan, called with Yoshio Hinashita, the governor of Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, and submitted a note of protest to him, according to the treaty on the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, China has consular jurisdiction in Nagasaki, and at the same time, the Beiyang Marine Division arrived in Nagasaki, and the officers and soldiers had immunity. The Japanese side was asked to strictly investigate and punish the police officer Kurokawa Koshiro ([Japanese] Hinoyama Yukio Editor-in-Chief: Ito Hirobumi Documents, vol. 34, (Japan) ゆまに書部書, 2010 edition, p. 65).
In his conversation with Yoshio Hinata, both sides agreed that the incident was accidental, with Tsai expressing his willingness to believe that the Japanese police had not deliberately provoked a fight, while Yoshio Hinata acknowledged that the Japanese police's law enforcement actions were sometimes excessive, and briefed Tsai on the Japanese police fighting with the Japanese Army in Tokyo on November 17, 1885. During the conversation, both of them showed that they did not want to expand the matter. On the same day, after sending Cai Xuan away, Yoshio Hinoshita sent a telegram to minister of internal affairs Yamagata Aritomo and foreign minister Aoki Shuzo on the events of the previous night, giving a brief briefing on the situation, and generally understating: "The patrol was wounded by a knife, and the sailors were slightly injured" (ibid., pp. 11 and 33). As for the complaint of the Chinese consulate against the Japanese police officer Kurokawa, it was independently investigated by the judicial department in Nagasaki.
On the side of the Beiyang Marine Division, after Ding Ruchang learned of the incident that occurred on the evening of August 13, in order to prevent incidents, he immediately forbade the officers and men of the fleet to go ashore for vacation, and August 14 was the Obon Festival in the lunar calendar, and the markets around Shinchi and Maruyama in Nagasaki were very lively, but the situation was stable. On Sunday, August 15, 1886, Ding Ruchang was still not allowed to let the officers and men go ashore for vacation, and the foreigner Lang Weili asked the officers and soldiers to rest on the grounds that the weather was hot and hot, and Ding Ruchang then agreed with Lang Weili's opinion, but strictly ordered that he should not carry weapons ashore.
According to Japanese records, at 1 and 2 o'clock in the afternoon of August 15, officers and men of the Beiyang Marine Division came ashore on sampans and dinghies on the Xindi area, among which the officers still wore European-style long swords, the sailors were mostly bare-handed, and only some soldiers who resembled gendarmes wore wooden batons in order to maintain order. The officers and men who landed on that day came from the 4 ships of "Dingyuan," "Zhenyuan," "Jiyuan," and "Weiyuan," and the Japanese side estimated that the total number of people might be 300 to 500 people, and according to the records of the Beiyang Marine Division, it was "20 percent," that is, 20 percent of all ships, who came ashore on holiday that day. Referring to the later compilation of the "Beiyang Naval Regulations", the total number of crew members of the four ships such as "Dingyuan" was 984, and the second achievement was nearly 200 people.
After landing, the officers and men dispersed in small groups of five or six groups, and the main area of activity was still the neighborhoods around Xindi, Guangmachang and Maruyama, "either going to hotels or shopping in shops" (ibid., p. 117), and many officers and men ate in sifu stacks and baohe halls opened by nearby Fujian people, and for a time the local streets were full of people and bustling (ibid., p. 217). Unexpectedly, a few hours later, a large-scale bloody conflict was about to break out.
Regarding the events that took place in Nagasaki, Japan, on the evening of August 15, 1886, there are many differences in the descriptions between China and Japan.
According to the confessions of Japanese police and citizens after the incident, the incident of the night first occurred in Hiromaba, and then turned into uncontrollable bloodshed in Hiromaba and nearby Siche Bridge.
One of the main places where the Nagasaki Incident occurred on August 15, 1886, was Hiromabachi.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty Chinese hotel was opened in Shinji, Nagasaki, from which we can imagine the market scene in the area around Hiromaba in 1886.
18:30 Broad Racecourse
At 6:30 p.m. on the 15th, Japanese police officers Hanshiro Sakamoto and Kentaro Kawamura stood in the streets of Hiromaba, a Chinese settlement near Shinji, and according to what the two later described, a Chinese sailor passed back and forth between the two twice, as if deliberately, and the Japanese police were very unhappy. Soon, another Chinese sailor came from the direction of Shizenji Township and deliberately bumped into Sakamoto Hanshiro, Sakamoto's police hat fell to the ground, and the two sides had a dispute, at which time some Chinese expatriates persuaded the sailors to leave. The Japanese police said that at the time of the incident, a Chinese sailor pulled out a sailor knife (similar to a modern electric knife, a folding fruit knife, a blunt head, a tool knife for sailors, which can only be used for cutting, does not have a sharp stabbing function) to the police, because the words are not comprehensible, the Japanese police think that it is a gesture to kill the police. After this skirmish, the Japanese police deployed additional police to the Guangmaba area, especially to raise their vigilance against Chinese sailors.
20:30 Wide Racecourse
At 8:30 p.m. on the 15th, the police officers of the Umekazaki Police Station in Japan, Kuroda Uzumaki, Fukumoto Tominaburo, and Kashitamura, were on guard in the area of Hiromaba and encountered a group of drunken Sailors of the Beiyang Marine Division. At this time, sailors tried to seize Fukumoto Tominaburo's baton, the two sides fought, dozens of Chinese sailors in the nearby Sifokusan and Howado Hotels also rushed out to help, the Japanese police force was not supported, Fukumoto Fumiburō fled into a shop in Umekasaki Town, the owner of a shop named Nikunomiya Shintaro, died of his wounds, Kitamura Kao was injured in the head and buttocks, fled into a nearby hotel that Chinese, Kuroda Yunzhang fled to the Umekazaki Police Station for support. Subsequently, a large number of police officers from the Umekazaki Police Station rushed to the police station wearing swords, and the area around Hiromaba became a "battlefield" where the fighting was overwhelming. In addition to the Japanese police, some Japanese civilians also joined the fight, and the sailors of the Beiyang Marine Division, because most of them were unarmed, returned fire with bricks, bamboo sticks, etc., while retreating towards the dock through the direction of Honkagecho, and the incident stopped at about 10 p.m. During the fight, a total of 17 policemen were injured at the Umekasaki Police Station, including Matsuzaki Yumin and Kuroda Yunzhang, one fukumoto Tomizaburo was killed, and the Beiyang Marine Division included Xu Peiyu, Qiao Liansheng, Ming Jingfeng, Li Rong, Liu Yong, Zheng Baoji, and Teng Desheng, and 6 injured sailors were captured by the Japanese side, and 4 Japanese civilians, including Nakamura Kametoshi (ibid., pp. 217-227).
21:00 Schie Bridge
The area around the Schie Bridge
The area around the Nagasaki Schi Bridge in the late 19th century
On the evening of August 15, another major incident occurred in the area of the Siche Bridge, also known as Maruyama Pass and Yamaguchi, at the entrance to Maruyama Flower Street, where the main police officers of the Nagasaki Police Station in Japan clashed bloodily with the officers and men of the Beiyang Marine Division.
When a clash occurred in the Hiromaba area at 8:30 p.m., Several police officers, including Urada Kensuke, who belonged to the Nagasaki Police Station, witnessed the situation and immediately ran back to their own police station and police dormitories to report the situation. Nagasaki Police Station Police Officer Mori Toshihiko led several policemen through the town of Forge and Funa Ōkocho to the direction of Hiromabashi, Mori Toshihiko rushed to the front in the front, and at about 9 o'clock, when he arrived at the entrance of Maruyama Flower Street near the Siche Bridge, he encountered a group of angry Chinese sailors, Whoorihiko was pulled out of the rickshaw, was seriously injured, and hid in an antique shop.
Nakama Wanji, a Japanese shopkeeper at a foreign bar at nearby Funaku-cho No. 3, later confessed that there were originally 4 Chinese sailors drinking at the bar he ran that night, and suddenly a wounded sailor in a red uniform passed outside the store, and these sailors rushed out of the store, blew the sailors' flutes, and gathered dozens of other sailors in the nearby shop, and It is very likely that Mori toshihiko encountered these sailors.
According to the later confession of a Japanese vendor selling burnt cakes at the head of the Sichel Bridge, Hirase Katsuyuki later confessed that a Chinese sailor in a white uniform and wearing a red belt threw a seven- or eight-pound stone at Toshihiko Morisaki.
Shortly after the siege, a large number of Japanese policemen and some Japanese civilians in the surrounding area fought with this group of Chinese sailors in the area of Schiche Bridge, the Japanese police slashed with swords, the sailors had no weapons, resisted with wooden sticks and bamboo poles they found, and threw tiles and stones to fight back, and then the sailors gradually retreated in the direction of Honkagecho, until 11 o'clock in the middle of the night. During the clashes, 1 Chinese officer and 3 Chinese sailors were killed, 8 wounded sailors were captured by the Nagasaki Police Station, 8 police officers at the Nagasaki Police Station in Japan were injured, and Toshihiko Morisaki, who was the first to be seriously injured, died in the hospital.
Regarding the conflict on the night of August 15, the situation described by the Chinese side is different from that described by the Japanese side.
Because the officers and men of the Beiyang Marine Division were unfamiliar with the local geography of Nagasaki and had a very vague description of the street conditions in the area where the incident occurred, most of them believed that it was caused by the Japanese police making unreasonable trouble in the specific circumstances of the incident.
Fang Boqian, the captain of the "Jiyuan" ship, is an important witness to the incident left by the Chinese side. Fang Boqian said that that night, liu butou, the captain of the "Dingyuan" ship, hosted a banquet for his colleagues at a hotel owned by Fujian people in Xindi, Nagasaki, and that Officers Fang Boqian, Lan Jianshu, and other officers landed at noon for a banquet, and after 8 p.m. after dinner, they witnessed the clashes on their way to the docks. Fang Boqian recorded that the situation at that time was "to catch and beat sailors indiscriminately in the face of the day" (Fang Boqian: "Yitang Annals", collection of the China Shipping Culture Museum). Seeing the chaos, Fang Boqian and others immediately hid in a shop opened by Fujian people, waited until 10 p.m. before leaving, went to the Nagasaki consulate, and finally returned to the warship at 11 o'clock. The time of the occurrence and end of the events recorded by Fang Boqian is consistent with the time of the conflict in the Area of Guangmaba as recorded by the Japanese side.
According to the investigation of Ding Ruchang, commander of the Beiyang Marine Division, in the understanding of the officers and men of the Beiyang Marine Division who experienced the events of that night, the situation of the matter was that "buying food in Nagasaki, hundreds of people suddenly came, not only did not let the goods they bought, but also kicked over all the things they had bought, and the Dings and others were very vicious and wanted to escape, and the Japanese people were looking for patrols and rogues, etc., no less than a thousand people, each holding a sharp blade, and committing a crime" (Sun Jianjun collated the school note: "Ding Ruchang Collection" (Part 1), Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, 2017 edition, page 206).
Casualties between China and Japan in the Nagasaki incident
Re-recognition of the Nagasaki incident
Based on the historical data of China and Japan, combined with the relationship between China and Japan before and after this, modern people can gain a more objective understanding of the Nagasaki incident.
After modern Japan entered the Meiji Restoration, the expansionist trend of thought in China, Korea and other neighboring countries sprouted, and under the deliberate clamor of the Meiji government, the envy of Japanese society towards China at that time continued to deepen. Nagasaki, as a treaty port, is a very special location, and in history, Chinese merchants in this place have long formed the impression of high-rollers who "spend thousands of dollars" and "spend a lot of money and wine", and the Japanese are in a complex mixture of inferiority, envy and anger.
After the mid-19th century, this changed dramatically. Under the Qing Dynasty, China's national fortunes were deteriorating, and Japan was gradually getting better in modernization, and the Japanese in Nagasaki showed a sense of superiority and even retaliatory contempt for Chinese. The Japanese police often deliberately interrogated and harassed the streets of Nagasaki Chinese, and their attitude was arbitrary. Since China gained consular jurisdiction in Nagasaki, Chinese in Nagasaki, especially the Chinese sailors who arrived in Nagasaki, often deliberately showed contempt for the Japanese and tit-for-tat confrontation. The Japanese scholar Akira Yasoka made a sharp comment on this: "The people of the two countries scorn each other. ”
In this atmosphere, the largest ironclad ships in Asia at that time, the "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan", arrived in Nagasaki, Japan, and the reaction could be imagined. Faced with the powerful military strength of the Beiyang Marine Division, the Japanese increasingly wanted to show a stronger sense of superiority in order to despise each other. The Chinese, who had an ironclad warship in the back, also showed great contempt in the streets of Nagasaki in front of the Japanese police. "I have insulted the other, and he has insulted me."
On August 13, some officers and men of the Beiyang Marine Division went ashore on holiday. Maruyama Flower Street near Nagasaki Wharf is the main gold cave after sailors and sailors from various countries arrived in Nagasaki, and many of the departing sailors of the Beiyang Marine Division also came to this area. Due to the lack of speech, when Wang Fa and other sailors quarreled with the shopkeeper at the amusement booth, the appearance of the Japanese police complicated the situation, the Chinese sailors felt that the Japanese were arbitrary and unreasonable, and the Japanese police and civilians felt that the Chinese sailors were fierce, and it may be that the first brawl clash occurred under the sentiment of "the two peoples scorn each other".
If we say that the skirmish on August 13 was caused by Wang Fa and other sailors who were now fighting at the amusement booth and then provoking in front of the Maruyama Police Station. In the bloodshed of August 15, the Japanese police were primarily responsible. Because of the incident on the 13th, in fact, the local Japanese police have adopted a special attitude of targeting and finding fault for the Chinese sailors, and after a day of fermentation, the officers and men of the Beiyang Marine Division have also been filled with resentment against the Japanese police. At nightfall, in the streets where most sailors are, especially in the case of drinking, the Japanese police do not adopt a more stable long-distance observation strategy, but instead increase the police force, deliberately approach these blocks, point out the Chinese sailors, and interrogate them, and finally the emotions of both sides are ignited.
Objectively speaking, there is no special intention on both sides of the whole incident, which is not the result of careful design, but belongs to the emergency. Modern commentators have exaggerated this incident too much, whether it is to call the beiyang marine division warship visiting Japan to "show off its might and prestige," which makes Japan feel afraid of China, arouses the hostility of the Japanese, or that the Japanese deliberately designed to murder the Beiyang marine division, which is an exaggeration that does not conform to the actual situation.
Editor-in-Charge: Shanshan Peng
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang