The Black Flag Army (; , chữ Nôm: 軍旗𬹙) was a splinter remnant of a bandit group recruited largely from soldiers of ethnic
Zhuang background, who crossed the border in 1865 from
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
into
northern Vietnam
Northern Vietnam ( vi, Bắc Bộ) is one of three geographical regions within Vietnam. It consists of three administrative regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng S ...
, then during the
Nguyễn dynasty
The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...
. Although
brigands
Brigandage is the life and practice of highway robbery and plunder. It is practiced by a brigand, a person who usually lives in a gang and lives by pillage and robbery.Oxford English Dictionary second edition, 1989. "Brigand.2" first recorded usa ...
, they were known mainly for their fights against the invading French forces, who were then moving into
Tonkin
Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain ''Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includi ...
(
northern Vietnam
Northern Vietnam ( vi, Bắc Bộ) is one of three geographical regions within Vietnam. It consists of three administrative regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng S ...
). The Black Flag Army is so named because of the preference of its commander,
Liu Yongfu
Liu Yongfu () (1837–1917) was a Chinese warlord and commander of the celebrated Black Flag Army. Liu won fame as a Chinese patriot fighting against the French Empire in northern Vietnam (Tonkin) in the 1870s and early 1880s. During the Sino-F ...
, for using black command flags.
The army was officially disbanded in 1885 as a result of the
Treaty of Tientsin
The Treaty of Tientsin, also known as the Treaty of Tianjin, is a collective name for several documents signed at Tianjin (then Postal Map Romanization, romanized as Tientsin) in June 1858. The Qing Empire, Qing dynasty, Russian Empire, Secon ...
between
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. However, remnants of the army continued to wage a guerilla war against
French colonial authorities for years. With the sanction of both Vietnamese and Chinese authorities, the Black Flags joined the Vietnamese irregular forces, stemming French encroachment beyond the
Red River Delta.
The rise and fall of the Black Flag Army
In 1857,
Liu Yongfu
Liu Yongfu () (1837–1917) was a Chinese warlord and commander of the celebrated Black Flag Army. Liu won fame as a Chinese patriot fighting against the French Empire in northern Vietnam (Tonkin) in the 1870s and early 1880s. During the Sino-F ...
, a
Hakka
The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...
soldier of fortune, commanded a group of about 200 men within a larger bandit group in
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
province headed by Huang Sihong (Chinese:
黃
Radical 201 or radical yellow () meaning "yellow" is one of the 4 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals in total) composed of 12 strokes.
In the ''Kangxi Dictionary'', there are 42 characters (out of 49,030) to be found under this radical.
The ''xin zix ...
思 宏). He defected with his men to the band of Wu Yuanqing (Chinese:
吳
吳 or 呉 is an East Asian character for a word or morpheme.
It may refer to:
*Kure, Hiroshima, a city in Japan
*O (surname), a common Korean surname
*Wu (surname), the pinyin transliteration of a common Chinese surname
*Ng (name) Ng (pronounced ...
元
Yuan may refer to:
Currency
* Yuan (currency), the basic unit of currency in historic and contemporary mainland China and Taiwan
**Renminbi, the current currency used in mainland China, whose basic unit is yuan
** New Taiwan dollar, the current ...
清) under his own black flag. Liu organized a ceremony reminiscent of the
tiandihui (天地会) rituals and what became known as the Black Flag Army was born. The "army" operated as an independent unit under Wu Yuanqing and under his son and successor, Wu Yazhong (Chinese:
吳
吳 or 呉 is an East Asian character for a word or morpheme.
It may refer to:
*Kure, Hiroshima, a city in Japan
*O (surname), a common Korean surname
*Wu (surname), the pinyin transliteration of a common Chinese surname
*Ng (name) Ng (pronounced ...
亞 終) or Wu Hezhong. Although not part of the
Taiping
__NOTOC__
Taiping, Tai-p’ing, or Tai Ping most often refers to:
Chinese history
* Princess Taiping (died 713), Tang dynasty princess
* Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864), civil war in southern China
** Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851–1864), the re ...
forces, both Wu Yuanqing and Wu Yazhong laid claim to be Taiping "princes".
After Qing forces crushed the
Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted fr ...
in 1864 in
Nanking, the Qing army proceeded to destroy systematically the many armed bands of south-eastern provinces. Hotly pursued, the desperate Wu Yazhong, with Liu and his Black Flag Army, crossed into Upper Tonkin in 1865.
The Black Flags demonstrated their usefulness to the Vietnamese court by helping the suppression of the indigenous tribes populating the mountainous terrain between the
Red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
and
Black Rivers
Black Rivers are an English rock band composed of twin brothers Jez and Andy Williams, who form two-thirds of the bands Sub Sub and Doves.
History
Jez Williams and Andy Williams are multi-instrumentalists in the band Doves, which went on hi ...
, and for this Liu was rewarded with an official military title.
Secured with the backing of the Vietnamese court, Liu Yongfu established a profitable extortion network along the course of the Red River, "taxing" river commerce between
Sơn Tây
''Toxicodendron succedaneum'', the wax tree, Japanese Hazenoki tree (Sumac or wax tree), sơn in Vietnam or charão in Portuguese, is a flowering plant species in the genus ''Toxicodendron'' found in Asia, although it has been planted elsewhere, ...
and
Lào Cai
Lào Cai () is a city in the Northwest region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Lào Cai Province. The city borders Bảo Thắng District, Bát Xát District, Sa Pa and the city of Hekou Yao Autonomous County, in Yunnan province of southwes ...
at a rate of 10%. The profits accrued from this venture were so great that Liu's army swelled in numbers in the 1870s, attracting to its ranks adventurers from all over the world. Although most of the Black Flag soldiers were Chinese, the junior officers included American and European soldiers of fortune, some of whom had seen action in the Taiping Rebellion. Liu used their expertise to transform the Black Flag Army into a formidable fighting force. Under his command in Tonkin he had 7,000 soldiers from Guangdong and Guangxi.
The harassment of European vessels trading on the Red River triggered the dispatch of the French expeditionary force to Tonkin under Commandant
Henri Rivière in 1882. The resulting clashes between the French and the Black Flag Army (the latter abetted by the regular Vietnamese and Chinese forces) escalated, resulting eventually in the
Sino-French War
The Sino-French War (, french: Guerre franco-chinoise, vi, Chiến tranh Pháp-Thanh), also known as the Tonkin War and Tonquin War, was a limited conflict fought from August 1884 to April 1885. There was no declaration of war. The Chinese arm ...
(August 1884–April 1885). The Black Flags assisted the Chinese forces during this war, best known for the fierce
Siege of Tuyên Quang
The siege of Tuyên Quang was an important confrontation between the French and the Chinese armies in Tonkin (northern Vietnam) during the Sino-French War (August 1884 – April 1885). A French garrison of 630 men, including two companies of ...
when the joint Black Flags-Chinese armies holed up a battalion of the
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...
defending the citadel. The Black Flag Army formally disbanded at the end of the Sino-French War, though many of its members continued to harass the French for years afterwards as freelance bandits.
Remarkably, Liu Yongfu revived the Black Flag Army again in 1895 in response to the
Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1895). Liu Yongfu crossed to Taiwan at the appeal of his old friend
Tang Jingsong, the island's former governor-general and now president of the short-lived
Republic of Formosa
The Republic of Formosa was a short-lived republic that existed on the island of Taiwan in 1895 between the formal cession of Taiwan by the Qing dynasty of China to the Empire of Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki and its being taken over by ...
. Liu was to command the Formosan resistance forces against the Japanese. Liu took a number of aging Black Flag veterans back into service to join the fight against the Japanese, but the reconstituted Black Flag Army was swept aside with ease by the
Japanese Imperial Guards Division. Liu himself was obliged to disguise himself as an old woman to escape capture.
An entry on the Black Flags in "Appletons' Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events, Volume 8; Volume 23":
The Black Flag Army in action
Killing of Lieutenant Francis Garnier, December 1873
In 1873, the Vietnamese government enlisted the help of the Black Flag Army to face an attempt to conquer Tonkin by French naval lieutenant
Francis Garnier
Marie Joseph François Garnier ( vi, Ngạc Nhi; 25 July 1839 – 21 December 1873) was a French officer, inspector of Indigenous Affairs of Cochinchina and explorer. He eventually became mission leader of the Mekong Exploration Commission in 19th ...
, who was acting without orders after having been sent there on a diplomatic mission. On 21 December 1873, Liu Yongfu and around 600 Black Flags (french: pavillons noirs, drapeaux noirs), marching beneath an enormous black banner, approached the west gate of the Hanoi Citadel. A large Vietnamese army followed in their wake. Garnier ordered the shelling of the Black Flags with a field piece mounted above the gate, and when they were repulsed, he led a party of 18 French marine infantrymen out of the gate in pursuit. Garnier and three of his men charged uphill in a bayonet attack on a party of Black Flags but was speared to death after stumbling in a watercourse. The youthful ''enseigne de vaisseau'' Adrien-Paul Balny d’Avricourt led a similar small column to reinforce Garnier but was also killed in front of his men. Three other French soldiers were also killed in these sorties, and the others fled back to the citadel after their officers fell.
Despite Garnier's death though, the attempt to retake Hanoi had failed and the French remained in control of the greater part of the Red River Delta. However, the French government disapproved the unauthorized conquest and lieutenant
Paul Philastre was sent to remove Garnier's men from the cities they occupied and repatriate them back to Saigon in February 1874.
Defeat of Henri Rivière's invasion of Tonkin, May 1883
Ten years later, with France again pushing into Tonkin, undeclared hostilities broke out in 1883 and the first half of 1884 as a prelude to the
Sino-French War
The Sino-French War (, french: Guerre franco-chinoise, vi, Chiến tranh Pháp-Thanh), also known as the Tonkin War and Tonquin War, was a limited conflict fought from August 1884 to April 1885. There was no declaration of war. The Chinese arm ...
. The Black Flags fought several engagements against French forces in Tonkin. The first major clash was at the
Battle of Paper Bridge
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
(19 May 1883), in which the French naval captain
Henri Rivière was
ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactics, military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbru ...
ed and killed. It was a swift and striking victory for the Black Flag Army.
Indecisive clashes, summer 1883
In the
Battle of Phủ Hoài
The Battle of Phu Hoai (15 August 1883) was an indecisive engagement between the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps and Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army during the early months of the Tonkin campaign (1883–1886). The battle took place during the period of ...
(15 August 1883), the Black Flag Army successfully defended its positions against a French attack launched by General Alexandre-Eugène Bouët, though it took considerably higher casualties than the French. In the
Battle of Palan
The Battle of Palan (1 September 1883) was one of several clashes between the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps and Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army during the Tonkin campaign (1883–1886).
Background
The Battle of Palan was fought two weeks after the Ba ...
(1 September 1883) the Black Flags did less well, being driven from a key position on the
River Đáy.
Disaster at Sơn Tây, December 1883
In December 1883, the Black Flag Army suffered a major defeat at the hands of Admiral
Amédée Courbet in the
Sơn Tây Campaign
''Toxicodendron succedaneum'', the wax tree, Japanese Hazenoki tree (Sumac or wax tree), sơn in Vietnam or charão in Portuguese, is a flowering plant species in the genus ''Toxicodendron'' found in Asia, although it has been planted elsewhere, ...
. Despite fighting with fanatical courage in the engagements at Phù Sa on 14 December and Sơn Tây on 16 December, the Black Flags were unable to prevent the French from storming Sơn Tây. Even with large Chinese and Vietnamese regular contingents at Sơn Tây, the Black Flag Army bore the brunt of the fighting, and took very heavy casualties. In the opinion of the British observer
William Mesny
General William Mesny (1842 – 11 December 1919) was an adventurer and writer born on the island of Jersey but spent most of his childhood in Alderney, the family home of the Mesnys. He was the eldest of three children of William Mesny and Mary ...
, a senior officer in the Chinese army, the fighting at Sơn Tây broke the power of the Black Flag Army, though the stubborn defence put up by the Black Flags in the Battle of Hòa Mộc fifteen months later does not bear out this assessment.
Loss of Hưng Hóa, April 1884
The Black Flag Army took no part in the
Bắc Ninh Campaign (March 1884). After the French capture of Bac Ninh, the Black Flags retreated to Hưng Hóa. In April 1884 the French advanced on Hưng Hóa with both brigades of the
Tonkin Expeditionary Corps
The Tonkin Expeditionary Corps (french: corps expéditionnaire du Tonkin) was an important French military command based in northern Vietnam (Tonkin) from June 1883 to April 1886. The expeditionary corps fought the Tonkin Campaign (1883–86) taki ...
. The Black Flags had thrown up an impressive series of fortifications around the town, but General
Charles-Théodore Millot
Charles-Théodore Millot (28 June 1829 – 17 May 1889) was a French general who distinguished himself in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) and the Tonkin Campaign (1883–86). His victories at Bắc Ninh (March 1884) and Hưng Hóa brought to ...
, the French commander-in-chief, took it without a single French casualty. While General François de Négrier's 2nd Brigade pinned the Black Flags frontally from the east and subjected Hung Hoa to a ferocious artillery bombardment from the Trung Xa heights, General
Louis Brière de l'Isle's 1st Brigade made a flank march to the south to cut Liu's line of retreat. On the evening of 11 April, seeing Brière de l'Isle's Turcos and marine infantry emerging behind their flank at Xuân Đông, the Black Flags evacuated Hưng Hóa before they were trapped inside it. They set alight the remaining buildings before they left, and on the following morning the French found the town completely abandoned.
Loss of Tuyen Quang, June 1884
The Black Flag Army retreated up the Red River to Thanh Quan, only a few days march from the frontier town of
Lào Cai
Lào Cai () is a city in the Northwest region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Lào Cai Province. The city borders Bảo Thắng District, Bát Xát District, Sa Pa and the city of Hekou Yao Autonomous County, in Yunnan province of southwes ...
. Several hundred Black Flag soldiers, demoralised by the ease with which Courbet and Millot had defeated the Black Flag Army, surrendered to the French in the summer of 1884. One of Millot's final achievements was to advance up the
Lô River
The Lô River ( vi, Sông Lô) is a major river of Vietnam. It flows through Hà Giang Province, Tuyên Quang Province and Phú Thọ Province for 470 kilometres and has a basin area of 39,000 km² and originates in Yunnan, China.World an ...
and throw the Black Flag Army out of Tuyên Quang in the first week of June, again without a single French casualty. If the French had seriously pursued Liu Yongfu after the capture of Tuyên Quang, the Black Flags would probably have been driven from Tonkin there and then. But French attention was diverted by the sudden crisis with China provoked by the
Bắc Lệ ambush
The Bắc Lệ ambush (french: guet-apens de Bac-Lé, Vietnamese: ''trận Bắc Lệ'' or ''trận cầu Quan Âm'') was a clash during the Tonkin Campaign in June 1884 between Chinese troops of the Guangxi Army and a French column sent to occu ...
(23 June 1884), and during the eventful summer of 1884 the Black Flags were left to lick their wounds.
Alliance with the Chinese, September 1884 to April 1885
The fortunes of the Black Flag Army were transformed by the outbreak of the
Sino-French War
The Sino-French War (, french: Guerre franco-chinoise, vi, Chiến tranh Pháp-Thanh), also known as the Tonkin War and Tonquin War, was a limited conflict fought from August 1884 to April 1885. There was no declaration of war. The Chinese arm ...
in August 1884. The
Empress Dowager Cixi responded to the news of the destruction of China's
Fujian Fleet at the
Battle of Fuzhou
The Battle of Fuzhou, or Battle of Foochow, also known as the Battle of the Pagoda Anchorage (French: Combat naval de Fou-Tchéou, Chinese: , 馬江之役 or 馬尾海戰, literally Battle of Mawei), was the opening engagement of the 16-month ...
(23 August 1884) by ordering her generals to invade Tonkin to throw the French out of Hanoi.
Tang Jingsong, the commander of the Yunnan Army, knew that Liu's services would be invaluable in the war with France, and Liu agreed to take part with the Black Flag Army in the forthcoming campaign. The Black Flags helped the Chinese forces put pressure on Hưng Hóa and the isolated French posts of Phủ Doãn and Tuyên Quang during the autumn of 1884.
The battle of Hòa Mộc, March 1885
![Soldier Black-Flag](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Soldier_Black-Flag.jpg)
In the winter and spring of 1885 3,000 soldiers of the Black Flag Army served during the
Siege of Tuyên Quang
The siege of Tuyên Quang was an important confrontation between the French and the Chinese armies in Tonkin (northern Vietnam) during the Sino-French War (August 1884 – April 1885). A French garrison of 630 men, including two companies of ...
. At the
Battle of Hòa Mộc
The Battle of Hòa Mộc (2 March 1885) was the most fiercely fought action of the Sino-French War (August 1884 – April 1885). At heavy cost, Colonel Giovanninelli's 1st Brigade of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps defeated forces of the Black Flag ...
(2 March 1885), the Black Flag Army inflicted heavy casualties on a French column marching to the relief of Tuyên Quang. French casualties at Hòa Mộc were 76 dead and 408 wounded, the highest casualty rate and the heaviest loss in a single day's fighting sustained by the French during the Sino-French War. Many French officers at Hòa Mộc said that the carnage was even worse than at Sơn Tây fifteen months earlier.
Disbandment of the Black Flag Army, June 1885
One of the conditions of the peace treaty between France and China that ended the Sino-French War was that Liu Yongfu should leave Tonkin. By the end of the war Liu had only around 2,000 troops under his command and was in no position to resist pressure from Tang Jingsong and the other commanders of the Yunnan Army to remove the Black Flag Army. Liu crossed into China with some of his most loyal followers, but the bulk of the Black Flag Army was disbanded on Tonkinese soil in the summer of 1885. Unpaid for months and still in possession of their rifles, most of the unwanted Black Flag soldiers immediately took to banditry, under cover of the
Cần Vương resistance movement against the French. It took months for the French to reduce them, and the route between Hưng Hóa and the border town of Lào Cai was only secured in February 1886. In 1887, Black Flag bandits remained sufficiently powerful to ransack and pillage
Luang Prabang
Luang Phabang, ( Lao: ຫລວງພະບາງ/ ຫຼວງພະບາງ) or ''Louangphabang'' (pronounced ), commonly transliterated into Western languages from the pre-1975 Lao spelling ຫຼວງພຣະບາງ (ຣ = silent r) ...
.
Flags of the Black Flag Army
Liu Yongfu evidently had a personal preference for the colour black, having dreamt in his youth that he would one day become a 'general of the black tiger'. The Black Flag Army is named from the colour of Liu's command flags.
French sources invariably mention that Liu Yongfu's personal command flags were very large, black in colour, and rectangular. In December, 1873, when Liu Yongfu confronted
Francis Garnier
Marie Joseph François Garnier ( vi, Ngạc Nhi; 25 July 1839 – 21 December 1873) was a French officer, inspector of Indigenous Affairs of Cochinchina and explorer. He eventually became mission leader of the Mekong Exploration Commission in 19th ...
outside Hanoi, the Black Flag Army was described as marching under enormous black flags. At the
Battle of Palan
The Battle of Palan (1 September 1883) was one of several clashes between the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps and Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army during the Tonkin campaign (1883–1886).
Background
The Battle of Palan was fought two weeks after the Ba ...
(September 1, 1883), Liu Yongfu's headquarters was marked with seven identical black flags that were bordered in silver. In the
Sơn Tây Campaign
''Toxicodendron succedaneum'', the wax tree, Japanese Hazenoki tree (Sumac or wax tree), sơn in Vietnam or charão in Portuguese, is a flowering plant species in the genus ''Toxicodendron'' found in Asia, although it has been planted elsewhere, ...
(December, 1883), Liu Yongfu ordered three large black flags to be flown above the main gate of the citadel of Sơn Tây, bearing Chinese characters in white.
Individual Black Flag units flew a variety of flags, some rectangular and others triangular. In the afternoon of August 15, 1883, during the
Battle of Phủ Hoài
The Battle of Phu Hoai (15 August 1883) was an indecisive engagement between the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps and Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army during the early months of the Tonkin campaign (1883–1886). The battle took place during the period of ...
, several units of the Black Flag Army emerged from their defences and advanced across open ground to attack the French left wing; according to a French eyewitness, the advancing Black Flag units bore numerous black banners decorated with Chinese characters in either red or white.
[, 174]
Surviving Black Flag banners include a black triangular banner with a representation in white of the seven stars of the
Great Bear. The reconstruction shown here displays the Chinese character
令, which, translated to English, currently means "order" or "command".
See also
*
Haw wars
Notes
*
References
* , ''Trente cinq mois de campagne en Chine, au Tonkin'' (Paris, 1899)
* Forbes, Andrew, and Henley, David: ''Vietnam Past and Present: The North'' (Chapter on Liu Yungfu and the Black Flags in Tonkin). Chiang Mai. Cognoscenti Books, 2012. ASIN: B006DCCM9Q.
* , ''La guerre du Tonkin'' (Paris, 1887)
* Lung Chang
章 ''Yueh-nan yu Chung-fa chan-cheng''
南與中法戰爭, Vietnam and the Sino-French War(Taipei, 1993)
* 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)
External link
*
{{Tonkin campaign (1883-86)
Military history of Guangxi
Sino-French War
Tonkin campaign
Zhuang people