CHINA'S STRUGGLE FOR NAVAL DEVELOPMENT TRADITIONAL CHINESE WATER FORCE eral at Nanking,was sent to Chekiang as imperial commissioner guns.4 The invaders feared no grand cooperation between the with orders to retake Tinghai.45 scattered parts of the traditional water force. Before learning of his demotion,Wu-er-kung-o asked the em- The organizational fragmentation of the traditional water force peror to order Teng T'ing-chen to send Fukien troops into Cheki- suggests a further problem:the force had no over-all strategy, ang,and to order I-li-pu (still at Nanking)to send water force or tradition of far-ranging,purposive missions.In Ch'ing times, units.Teng replied to the emperor's order that he could spare the water force was strictly an antipiratical force.Some very im- no troops,but had ordered recruitment of 1o00 "water-braves" pressive antipiratical missions were led by Shih Lang (1621- for Chekiang's relief.After Wu-er-kung-o was removed,Teng 16g6)and his son Shih Shih-p'iao (d.1721),and also by Li again memorialized that he could not meet the ex-governor's Ch'ang-keng (1750-1808).In 1721,Shih Shih-p'iao,as Fukien request for 2000 Fukien mariners.46 In September,Yu Pu-yun, admiral,led 6o0 ships to defeat rebels on Taiwan.Li Ch'ang- now in Chekiang,asked for naval reinforcements from Kwang- keng,as Chekiang admiral,persistently fought Annamese and tung and Fukien.This request the emperor referred to I-li-pu, Chinese pirates around the turn of the nineteenth century,al- who was now at Ningpo.I-li-pu himself asked for troops,and Yu though his ships were usually smaller than those of the pirates, Pu-yun,seeing no result to his earlier request,repeated his plea.47 and he sometimes had to build his own larger vessels with special Tinghai was not retaken by force,but was returned to China funds which he persuaded provincial authorities to give him.50 in connection with the abortive Chuenpi Convention of January On the other hand,pirates were often merely ignored,or they 1841 (it was retaken by the British on their second northern. were bought over.What was lacking was a tradition of meeting expedition in 1842).The interesting thing about the requests an enemy far offshore.Perhaps antipiratical activity can produce and orders noted above is that they reveal a command situation no blue-water strategy-although in early Ming times,when the in which the governor approached his own governor-general only pirates were Japanese,it was said that "the Wako come by sea by way of the emperor,and a general on special assignment and should be fought at sea,"for "to repel them at sea is easy, bypassed not only both of these superior civilian officials,but [but]to repel them after they are ashore is hard."The Ch'ing also the Chekiang admiral,under whose orders the Chekiang dynasty in the 166o's,however,deemed it more prudent to general was supposedly placed,s and all of this was to request parry the Taiwan-based Ming loyalist Coxinga by clearing the military reinforcements for Chekiang which were to come at coasts of population than by meeting the raider at sea. least in part from the paired province of Fukien.Even I-li-pu, After the founding of the Ch'ing dynasty,the maritime chal- an imperial commissioner with rank of governor-general,did lenge came predominantly from the West.In the eighteenth not move troops on his own authority,even though the emperor century occasional armed foreign ships appeared.British warships sought his opinion on troop movements undertaken by the Min- were among them,and they were not always heedful of the im- Che governor-general.Evidently the designation of an imperial perial exclusion of foreign men-of-war from the inner waterways commissioner did no more than open another channel of com- of Canton,which after 1757 was the only port open to Western munications to the emperor,where there were already too many. trade.We may see the Chinese naval strategy by looking at the No water force concentration was produced. Chinese responses to these thrusts.There was no massive effort Further evidence of the prevalent disorganization is the fact made to exclude the intruder,or to improve Chinese war junks that the British usually left only one ship,and not more than so that they could match the obstreperous foreigners'ships.The two,to blockade the ports they entered and reduced on their five volumes of H.B.Morse,The Chronicles of the East India northern expeditions.In their final thrust up the forbidden Company Trading to China,contain but a dozen or so references Yangtze in the summer of 1842 they left the guarding of the to the water force,none of which show the water force in a lower estuary to the solitary North Star,which bore twenty-six favorable light as an enforcer of imperial regulations.52 Often the 12 13
CHINA'S STRUGGLE FOR NAVAL DEVELOPMENT TRADITIONAL CHINESE WATER FORCE principal weapon used to bring the "barbarians"into line was rulers en route and the exaction of tribute missions,these deep the suspension of the trade which brought them to China's waters. expeditions were cut off.Various explanations of this curious For example,in response to the blatant violation of China's lapse have been advanced,and the Confucian mentality of the neutrality in the War of 1812 by the H.M.S.Doris,which seized Ming officialdom figures largely in them,along with economic an American prize ship right at Canton itself,local authorities troubles and the revival of a threat on the inner Asian frontiers.57 cut off the trade.53 It was the tribute-system mentality of official Cheng Ho did not lay down a strategy.In the nineteenth century, China,with its condescension toward all non-Chinese,which set China's water force men had only a certain tactical sense,which the pattern of enforcement. was invoked when a maritime enemy came within sight of the Since British naval policy in the nineteenth century generally home ports of China.For this kind of activity,no "far-distant, showed a considerable respect for China's regulations,this non- storm-beaten ships"(to use Mahan's description of the British martial approach worked fairly well.Even after the abolition in fleet which defeated Napoleon)were needed.Forts and guns a- 1884 of the East India Company's monopoly-which brought shore better symbolized China's defenses than did the war junk more friction,as thereafter many more British ships entered the itself. Canton trade and were no longer subject to Company restraint- The forts at Canton were an example of the best Chinese British navy ships were ordered to show "great caution and dis- river and shore fortifications.The Bogue (the Bocca Tigris,or cretion"in their "occasional"visits to Canton.4 On no account Tiger's Mouth)was the primary fortified area,about twenty- were they to force the guarding forts.With few exceptions,the five miles below Canton on the Pearl estuary.Outside of this British navy did not challenge the Chinese water force until narrow pass lay Chuenpi and Tycocktow Islands,both fortified. the Opium War itself.But the choice always lay in the hands The three-quarter-mile Bogue channel was braced by heavy forts of the British.In 1834,when Lord Napier called two Royal on Anunghoy and Wantung Islands.Inside were Little Tycock- Navy vessels to Canton to support his efforts to regularize Anglo- tow and Tiger Islands,with minor works.Between the Bogue and Chinese relations after abolition of the Company's monopoly, Canton were numerous other forts,some on remote deltaic side the ships fought their way in through the Bogue forts and found passages and very old.Guns were of various descriptions,some that defending cannon balls merely bounced off their sides and being of Ming Jesuit provenance.Lin Tse-hsti made great efforts at times hardly tumbled from the forts'guns.s5 Gutzlaff's ac- to strengthen the whole system during his tenure at Canton count of the illegal cruise of the Amherst in the mid-18go's is in 1839 and 1840,as did his successor,Ch'i-shan.Early in 1841 full of comic-opera references to war junks at the various ports, the British confiscated about 1goo guns from the whole river which fled at the lifting of a British spy-glass(mistaken for the system-although some of this number were still unmounted,so lifting of a gun),or dispersed from a close watch of the intruder hasty had been the preparation,and some were by Chinese ad- when the irritated British command sent a long-boat to cut the mission liable to overheat and blow up.58 Canton's granite-faced cable of the Chinese flagship,or contented themselves with set- forts were not typical.In many ports taken by the British up the ting off firecrackers.50 coast,the forts were decayed,or consisted of sandbags,mud,and Probably the explanation for the absence of a clear-cut strategic overturned boats,whose slimy bottoms,it was held,would cause tradition in the Chinese water forces was that China had no the enemy's shots to slip harmlessly away.5 Amoy had a well- wide-flung maritime colonial system.In the fifteenth century the built battery,and in August 1841,when the British re-entered Ming admiral Cheng Ho took ships of great size repeatedly into the port,one of them wrote that "every island,every projecting the Indian Ocean and as far as Africa,long before Europe entered headland,whence guns could be made to bear,was occupied and her Age of Discovery.But he was not searching for a New strongly armed."The Chinese admiral,however,the writer went World,or spices,or colonies.After the capturing of a few petty on,had"suddenly been seized with a burning zeal to cruise after 14 15
CHINA'S STRUGGLE FOR NAVAL DEVELOPMENT TRADITIONAL CHINESE WATER FORCE pirates elsewhere."After a fruitless bombardment of the massive adjunct to fixed defenses.This paralyzing passivity is illustrated fort,the British simply landed and walked into the keep,some by the tale of the Cambridge.Early in 1841,after the breakdown troops entering through the very embrasures.90 It was not always of the Chuenpi talks,the British retook the river defenses of so easy,and at Chapu in the spring of 1842,the British found stiff Canton.On their way upstream beyond the Bogue,they were resistance on the land.This was characteristic.What real resist- blocked by an immense raft,stretching about 500 yards from bank ance there was,was fort-to-ship,or ashore. to bank.Behind this barrier they found the Cambridge,a large Forts were supplemented by other defenses.One of these was Western merchantman,well armed,which had been purchased the fire raft,of great antiquity in China.Fire rafts,designed to drift aflame down through enemy fleets,were used during the by Lin Tse-hsui from American owners early in 1840.Lin might have put the 1080-ton craft to good use,but she was moored Opium War,and were sometimes elaborately prepared.In 1842, behind the raft,and at that in such a way that only her bow the British seized thirty-seven of them near Ningpo,each filled guns could be brought into play.She mounted thirty-four English with combustibles and powder,and fitted with"leather caps and guns;her decks were clean and orderly;fire buckets were in fire-proof dresses for the men,"whose escape was ensured by sampans.2 orthodox array.There were a number of war junks moving about behind the barrier also.There was an exchange of fire, Other supplements were fixed.In 1889,two massive chains but when the steamer Nemesis was reinforced by the British were trussed across the Bogue channel,so floated as to permit Light Division (six unrated armed sailing vessels),resistance them to be winched up or down.Some 1go swimmers were as- ceased.The British boarded the Cambridge by her starboard signed to man this water-gate.Unfortunately,these chains gave ladder as the Chinese crew exited by way of the larboard one. way easily under the weight of advancing British men-of-war (the defenders claimed that they were unlinked by enemy"water- The Englishman W.D.Bernard,an eyewitness,wrote that "the devils").98.Canton's approaches were also in places blocked by Chinese are not sufficiently acquainted with naval tactics to be able to make the best use even of the resources at their com- stakes,which caused some delay.At Chenhai the British simply mand."co landed to one side of the stakes at that Chekiang port.River ap- Given their outmoded equipment,disorganization,haphazard proaches might also be choked by sunken junks,boulders,or by personnel system,and passive defense concepts,it is no wonder shore-to-shore rafts or booms.4 that the Chinese were massively defeated by Britain in the Opium China's defenders had implicit faith in these defenses.In 1839 a Canton official confidently memorialized: War.Imperial vacillation and frequent changes in leadership worsened the situation.An inadequate financing system was When the several gates are installed,additional war junks and fire- another factor.In imperial China there was no real central boats will be despatched to the upper stream at critical times.Although budget.The provincial officials collected the revenues,sending the barbarians are extremely stubborn,we don't think they will put quotas to the capital and retaining the rest for their accustomed themselves into the trap...Once they get in,the chains and stakes expenses.Much of this money was diverted to personal use.Green will impede them if they seek to advance;wind and water will check them if they seek to retreat.Meanwhile guns from our forts will fire Banner units were financed by the provinces.On occasion,the at them from all directions,one after another.Our fireboats will central government ordered special subsidies for certain ship- push at them,and our war boats will follow suit.Even though the yards.97 Once for economy the entire Tientsin water force unit barbarian ships are as sturdy as iron and rocks,they will become was eliminated.8 But the court had little influence in determin- ashes at once. ing priorities within the provinces.Most of the defense problems had to be worked out on the spot,at the expense of local mer- A significant feature of this tactical formula is the secondary chants,who suffered numerous special levies.The Canton hong role assigned to war junks.They were to be used upriver,as an merchants had raised most of the money for the forts and chains 16 17
CHINA'S STRUGGLE FOR NAVAL DEVELOPMENT described;in January 1840 Lin Tse-hsui reported gathering a volunteer fleet supported by funds raised by merchants;later in II 1840 Lin,I-liang,and Yu-k'un (the Hoppo)memorialized that the hong merchants had volunteered heavy sums for three years.99 On occasion,an official might even meet some cost from his own CHINA'S DELAYED RESPONSE purse,as did Canton admiral Kuan T'ien-p'ei in 1839 when he pawned personal effects to make up back pay due to his men.70 TO THE WESTERN If China was to defend itself against the West,it had to make NAVAL CHALLENGE radical changes in the equipment,organization,training,and underlying concepts of the old water force.This,however,was to be more than a technical problem. A defeat in war can serve as a stimulus to reform.China did not begin a real naval reform,however,until twenty years after the Opium War.Given the organization and values of the Confucian political system,it took repeated shocks and some fortuitous changes in leadership to bring some officials to a realization of the need. There was some activity during and immediately after the Opium War which may be variably linked to a discussion of naval reform.It has been noted that Commissioner Lin Tse-hsui bought the Cambridge in 1840.He also bought two twenty-five- ton sailing vessels,and a small paddle ship.In the eyes of some Westerners,Lin was planning a new navy to drive out the in- vaders.In any event,all of his ships were captured. Of greater interest are the Chinese wartime experiments in the building of improved ships and guns.These efforts were fairly widespread,ranging through Kwangtung,Chekiang,and Kiangsu. Apart from the improvement of ordnance,much of this interest centered on the building of"wheel-boats,"or man-powered pad- dle vessels,which resembled the Nemesis and her kind at least in that they could be independent of the wind. One wheel-boat builder was Kung Ch'en-lin,who in the year 1840 was appointed magistrate at Ningpo.It is not clear when he began his experiments.Possibly it was not until the arrival in Chekiang of Lin Tse-hsui in the spring of 1841,after Lin had been removed from his position as Canton governor-general for failure to cope with the British.Lin in his turn may have been influenced by the experiments at Canton with a wheel-boat of Ch'ang Ch'ing,a petty official in the salt administration of Kwang- tung.In any event,Lin,who was interested in naval reform and 18 19
CHINA'S STRUGGLE FOR NAVAL DEVELOPMENT DELAYED RESPONSE TO THE WEST not deterred by his disgrace,brought with him to Chekiang pic- The lack of machine tools at Canton forced him to drop this tures of eight fighting ship types.Most were pictures of traditional promising work.s small vessels,but one was of a two-decked,three-masted,thirty- That this most significant kind of experimentation-with four-gun Western vessel,and one was of a wheel-boat.He talked steam power-was not general is shown by the fact that when with Kung Ch'en-lin,and possibly enlisted the support of the the British took Woosung in June 1842,the Nemesis easily cap- Chekiang governor Liu Yun-k'o.Yui-ch'ien,imperial commis- tured five man-powered wheel boats.These new traditionally- sioner for the retaking of Tinghai in the spring of 1841,was also armed vessels developed only about three knots,but at least interested.However,Lin Tse-hsui was sent to Ili after about a the hard-working human "engines"were below deck and pro- month in Chekiang,in punisliment for his original dereliction. tected.Behind this Kiangsu building effort stood Niu Chien, Whether for lack of sustained support or lack of time,the wheel- the Nanking governor-general. boats were not completed,and when the British took Ningpo Late in 1842,after the end of the war,there were other in October 1841,they found interesting but unassembled cogs, promising experiments.In Canton,P'an Shih-yung hired foreign shafts,and water-wheels.2 workers and built a small steamer.At about the same time Kung Kung Ch'en-lin was also interested in guns,and evolved an Ch'en-lin and two colleagues,Ting Shou-ts'un and Cheng Fu- iron-molding technique which was more advanced than that kuang,had started work on a steam engine,writing a detailed found in the contemporary West.s At Ningpo in 1841 the British description of their progress.10 Another ambitious but perhaps also found new brass tube guns,of about three-pound caliber, not so farsighted post-war experimenter was Admiral Wu Chien- each fitted with handles for two men and "curiously bound with hstin at Canton,who took the lines of an American three-master catgut..”4 and caused to be built a ship of about 150 feet over all,with Canton also saw experimentation.Ch'ang Ch'ing worked with foreign rig as well as foreign hull,mounting fifty guns.u Yi Ch'ang-hua,a prefect at Canton,and Hsti Hsiang-kuang,a Yet all of this work,whether new or traditional,remained member of the Canton gentry,although largely with small craft only a collection of largely isolated incidents.The explanation of traditional type,so that perhaps the efforts of these men show is not that China did not have enough money to sustain experi- more public spirit than real experimentation.s P'an Shih-ch'eng, mentation;nor is it that China lacked skills,although,relatively also of the Canton gentry,was more of an innovator.Besides speaking,she was not well equipped with steamer-builders.13 being interested in Ch'ang Ch'ing's wheel-boat,he cast guns The main problem was that official attitudes militated against "somewhat in imitation of the foreign style"in 1841,and in 1842 experimentation.Most of the recommendations of China's high created his"water-thunder,"an underwater explosive with which officials during the Opium War indicated no awareness of the he hoped to rip open foreign warships.P'an also built a warship need for naval reform.Wartime memorials were in the main with native rig but with a foreign-style coppered hull,with two florid elaborations on traditional themes:the weapon of trade gun decks and "regular port-holes,"and thirty-six Liverpool- suspension might be advantageously used;the bestial barbarians, made guns.Although Bernard called this ship a coppered junk, although bold,could be defeated by China's existing weapons he still concluded that China had taken"the grand step of begin- and moral superiority;the barbarians should be wiped out on ning a change of some sort or other."7 land after having come ashore;more forts should be built,or Another Canton innovator was Ting Kung-ch'en,a Fukien busi- junks sunk in harbors,or troops gathered;fishermen should in- nessman in Canton.With P'an Shih-ch'eng he worked with guns filtrate enemy fleets to spy,or to sabotage them;divers might bore and sights,and in 1841 became interested in steam propulsion, holes in the bottoms of enemy ships,and so on.1s building working models of a paddle ship and a railroad engine. A few exceptions do appear in the record,all before the re- 20 21