Taku Forts

Taku Forts

The Dagu Forts (Chinese: 大沽炮台; pinyin: Dàgū Pàotái; literally "Taku batteries"), also called the Peiho Forts (Chinese:白河碉堡; pinyin: Báihé Diāobǎo) are forts located by the Hai River (Peiho River) estuary, in Tanggu District, Tianjin municipality, in northeastern China. They are located 60 km southeast of the Tianjin urban center.

Contents

History

The first fort was built during the reign of the Ming Jiajing Emperor between 1522 and 1527. Its purpose was to protect Tianjin from attack by wokou sea raiders.

Later, in 1816, the Qing government built the first two forts on both sides of the Haihe estuary in response to increased concerns about seaborne threats from the West. By 1841, in response to the First Opium War, the defensive system in Dagukou was reinforced into a system of five big forts, 13 earthen batteries, and 13 earthworks. In 1851, Imperial Commissioner Sengge Rinchen carried out a comprehensive renovation of the forts, building 6 large forts: two on the south of the estuary, called "Wēi" (威-Might) and "Zhèn"(震-Thunder, Tremor, Quake), three to the north, "Hǎi"(海-sea), "Mén"(门-gate) "Gāo" (高-high), and the sixth, the "Shitoufeng" (石头缝-Stone Seam) Fort, was built on a small ridge on the northern shore. Each fort had 3 large guns and 20 small caliber guns. Forts were constructed of wood, brick and an external curtain of two feet of concrete, the layering designed to avoid spalling and minimize artillery rounds' penetration. The forts were around 10 to 15m high, which located as they were in an exceedingly flat landscape, provided a critical vantage point.

Second Opium War

In 1856, Chinese soldiers boarded The Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship registered in Hong Kong flying the British flag and suspected of piracy, smuggling and of being engaged in the opium trade. They captured 12 men and imprisoned them. Though the certificate allowing the ship to fly a British flag had expired, there was still an armed response. The British and French sent gunboats under the command of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour to capture the Taku Forts in May 1858. In June 1858, at the end of the first part of the Second Opium War, the Treaties of Tianjin were signed, which opened Tianjin to foreign trade.

In 1859, after China refused to allow the setting up of foreign legations in Beijing, a naval force under the command of British Admiral Sir James Hope attacked the forts guarding the mouth of the Peiho river. During the action Commodore Josiah Tattnall came to the assistance of the British gunboat Pei Tang on August 1, and a successful assault on the Taku Forts on August 21 after which Hospital Apprentice A. Fitzgibbon of the Indian Medical Establishment became the youngest recipient of the Victoria Cross at the age of 15 years and 3 months.[2]. The forts were severely mauled and General Sengge Rinchen's troops were forced to withdraw. On September 26, the force arrived at Beijing and had captured the city by October 13.

Soldiers and sailors who took part in Taku Forts assaults include

Boxer Rebellion

After the Battle of Taku Forts (1900), most of the forts were dismantled when the Eight-Nation Alliance Forces invaded China during the Boxer rebellion (1899–1901). Two forts remain today, one on the southern bank (the former "Wei" fort) and the other on the northern bank of the Haihe (the former "Hai" fort). Dagu Fort (on the southern bank) was repaired in 1988 and opened to the public in June 1997. Land reclamation has left it some considerable distance from the modern shoreline. Its restoration has not returned it to anything like the appearance it would have had when it was an active gun battery (see photo of the aftermath of the 1860 attack), but a number of cannons have been placed in the reconstructed gun embrasures to hint at its former use. An exhibition in Chinese recounts the history of the Opium Wars and the forts' role in them. Unrestored forts are visible to its north from Haifang Road.

Gallery

References

  1. ^ memorial paid for by fellow officers is in Eastbourne Parish Church, E Sussex, UK
  2. ^ "The Victoria Cross". Imperial War Museum. http://collections.iwm.org.uk/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.941&navId=00g003. Retrieved April 18, 2011. 

External links

Coordinates: 38°58′29.500″N 117°42′43.800″E / 38.974861°N 117.712167°E / 38.974861; 117.712167


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Taku-Forts — Detailansicht im Jahr 2006 Die Taku Forts (chinesisch 大沽炮台; Pinyin Dàgū Pàotái, wörtlich Taku Batterien; auch Peiho Forts genannt, chinesisch 白河碉堡; Pinyin: Báihé Diāobǎo) sind Forts an der Mündung des Flusses Hai He (Peiho), im Stadtbezirk Tanggu …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Battle of Taku Forts — Infobox Military Conflict conflict=Battle of Taku Forts caption= partof=Boxer Rebellion date=16 17 June, 1900 place=Taku Forts, China result=Allied victory combatant1=Eight Nation Alliance combatant2= commander1=Commander Craddock flagicon|German …   Wikipedia

  • Taku (Begriffsklärung) — Taku steht für: Taku, eine Stadt der Präfektur Saga in Japan Taku (Volk), eine Gruppe der Tlingit Indianer Taku Gletscher, einen Gletscher des Juneau Icefields in Alaska Taku River, einen Fluss in Alaska Taku Inlet, einen Fjord in Alaska 9574… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Taku — can refer to: * Taku, an Orca (killer whale) that once lived at SeaWorld * Taku, Saga, a city located in Saga prefecture on the island of Kyūshū, Japan * Taku, India, a town in India * Taku Forts, forts on the south bank of the Hai He, in Tanggu… …   Wikipedia

  • Forts de Taku — 38°58′29.500″N 117°42′43.800″E / 38.97486111, 117.71216667 Les Forts de Taku (Sinogramme simplifié …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Taku-Fort — Die Rückseite des Taku Forts. Man kann links die französische Fahne und rechts die Britische erkennen Nördlich gelegenes Taku Fort nach der Erstürmung im Zweiten Opiumk …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Taku — Taku, chines. Dorf in der Provinz Tschili an der Mündung des als Zufahrt für Tiëntsin und Peking wichtigen Paiho (s. d.) in das Gelbe Meer, bekannt durch die zum Schutze der Mündung angelegten Forts, die 1858 und 1860 von den Engländern und… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Taku — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Fort sud de Taku, Tanggu, Tianjin, Chine Taku peut faire référence …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Dagu-Forts — Die Rückseite des Taku Forts. Man kann links die französische Fahne und rechts die Britische erkennen Nördlich gelegenes Taku Fort nach der Erstürmung im Zweiten Opiumkri …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • SMS Taku — Flagge Die aufgelaufene SMS Taku während der Ebbe Übersicht Typ Als Hai Jing: Zerstörer als Taku: Torpedoboot Namensgeber …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”