Tang Ching-sung

Tang Ching-sung (Chinese: 唐景崧; pinyin: Táng Jǐngsōng) (1841-1903)，was a Chinese general and statesman. He commanded the Yunnan Army in the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885), and made an important contribution to China's military effort in Tonkin (northern Vietnam) by persuading the Black Flag leader Liu Yongfu to serve under Chinese command. His intelligent, though ultimately unsuccessful, direction of the Siege of Tuyen Quang (November 1884–March 1885) was widely praised. He later became governor of the Chinese province of Taiwan. Following China's cession of Taiwan to Japan at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) he became president of the short-lived Republic of Formosa.

The Sino-French War

Tang Ching-sung played an important role in the Sino-French War and during the period of undeclared hostilities that preceded it. In 1882 he was sent by the Qing government to Vietnam to assess the ability of the Vietnamese government to resist French expansion in Tonkin. During his stay he was able to persuade Liu Yongfu to take the field against the French with the Black Flag Army. Liu's intervention resulted in the French defeat in the Battle of Paper Bridge on 19 May 1883, in which the French "commandant supérieur" Henri Rivière was killed, and forced the French to commit substantial military and naval forces to Tonkin. [Bastard, "Bazeilles", 171–89; Challan de Belval, "Au Tonkin", 131–2; de Marolles, "La dernière campagne du Commandant Rivière", 193–222; Duboc, "Trente cinq mois de campagne", 123–39; Huard, "La guerre du Tonkin", 6–16; Nicolas, "Livre d’or de l’infanterie de la marine", 257–62; Thomazi, "Histoire militaire de l’Indochine française", 55–8; Thomazi, "La conquête de l’Indochine", 152–7]

Tang was the only senior Chinese commander to take part in the Son Tay Campaign (December 1883). Although Liu Yongfu and his Vietnamese and Chinese allies failed to hold Son Tay against the French, Tang's loyalty to Liu on that occasion was never forgotten by the Black Flag leader. In September 1884 Tang led the Yunnan Army down the Red River from Lao Cai to threaten the French post of Tuyen Quang, and Liu Yongfu took service with him as a subordinate general. Although he ultimately failed to capture the French post, Tang's intelligent and methodical conduct of the Siege of Tuyen Quang was praised both by the French and by many of his Chinese colleagues, including Tsen Yu-ying, the governor-general of Yunnan and Kweichow. [De Lonlay, "Au Tonkin", 363–437; Grisot and Coulombon, "La légion étrangère de 1831 à 1887", 448–52; Harmant, "La vérité sur la retraite de Lang-Son", 159–64; Thomazi, "Histoire militaire de l’Indochine française", 102–3 and 107–8; Thomazi, "La conquête de l’Indochine", 237–41 and 246–8]

The Republic of Formosa

Tang was inaugurated as the President of the Republic of Formosa on May 25, 1895 and then issued a declaration of independence from the Qing dynasty. The declaration was made not to fulfill any separatist intentions, but in an attempt to stave off a Japanese invasion: the new Republic of Formosa was declared a tributary of the Qing empire and was established to make the argument that the Qing had no legal authority to cede Taiwan. The republic lasted no longer than the time it took the Japanese to invade and occupy Taiwan. The Japanese invaded northern Taiwan on May 29, 1895 and President Tang Ching-sung disguised himself as an old woman and fled to mainland China on June 4. He was succeeded by Liu Yongfu on the next day. The Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1895) was completely successful, and the republican government collapsed when the Japanese occupied Tainan in October 1895.

Notes

References

* Duboc, E., "Trente cinq mois de campagne en Chine, au Tonkin" (Paris, 1899)
* Eastman, L., "Throne and Mandarins: China's Search for a Policy during the Sino-French Controversy" (Stanford, 1984)
* Huard, "La guerre du Tonkin" (Paris, 1887)
* Lung Chang [龍章] , "Yueh-nan yu Chung-fa chan-cheng" [越南與中法戰爭, Vietnam and the Sino-French War] (Taipei, 1993)
* Marolles, Vice-amiral de, "La dernière campagne du Commandant Henri Rivière" (Paris, 1932)
* McAleavy, H., "Black Flags in Vietnam: The Story of a Chinese Intervention" (New York, 1968)
* Thomazi, A., "La conquête de l'Indochine" (Paris, 1934)
* Thomazi, A., "Histoire militaire de l'Indochine français" (Hanoi, 1931)

ee also

*Japanese Invasion of Taiwan (1895)