The , also known as the Nagasaki―Qing Navy Incident (長崎清国水兵事件), was an August 1886 riot involving Chinese

Beiyang Fleet The Beiyang Fleet (Pei-yang Fleet; , alternatively Northern Seas Fleet) was one of the four modernized Chinese navies in the late Qing dynasty. Among the four, the Beiyang Fleet was particularly sponsored by Li Hongzhang, one of the most trust ...

sailors in

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

Outline

On 1 August 1886 ( Meiji 19), the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

, consisting of four warships, the ''Dingyuan'', the ''Zhenyuan'', the ''Jiyuan'', and ''Weiyuan'', entered the Nagasaki harbor port during a visit to various major Asian harbours. At that time, the Qing dynasty was much stronger than Japan. The ''Dingyuan'' was a heavier ship than the heaviest Japanese cruisers, due to Japan's policy of following the

Jeune École The ''Jeune École'' ("Young School") was a strategic naval concept developed during the 19th century. It advocated the use of small, heavily armed vessels to combat larger battleships, and the use of commerce raiders to cripple the trade of the r ...

naval strategy, which emphasized small rapid assault craft. In addition, Japan had suffered a setback during the

Gapsin Coup The Gapsin Coup, also known as the Gapsin Revolution, was a failed three-day coup d'état that occurred in Korea during 1884. Korean reformers in the Enlightenment Party sought to initiate rapid changes within the country, including eliminatin ...

in which 400 outnumbered Japanese soldiers were defeated by 2000 Qing-Joseon soldiers. On August 13, 500 Chinese troops took part in shore leave. They went to the

red-light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are particu ...

, where during an altercation with locals, damaged fixtures were blamed on the soldiers. Locals also claimed that drunken Chinese soldiers went around the city pursuing women and children, causing outrages. Nagasaki Prefecture Police Department tried to intervene together with a large number of local civilians. As a result, the policemen and Chinese sailors, using swords purchased from stores, began to fight hand-to-hand in sword battles within the city, causing at least 80 deaths. As a result, a sense of unrest thus pervaded. On August 14, at a conference between the governor of Nagasaki prefecture, Kusaka Yoshio, and the Qing consulate Xuan Cai, the Qing navy prohibited its soldiers from going on land as a group for one day, and agreed that when soldiers are on leave, they would be overseen by an officer. On August 15, at around 1:00 PM, about 300 Chinese troops went ashore, following the cessation of the agreement. Some were armed with clubs. Some Chinese sailors attacked three police officers, resulting in one death. A driver of a

rickshaw A rickshaw originally denoted a two- or three-wheeled passenger cart, now known as a pulled rickshaw, which is generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term was in 1879. Over time, cycle rickshaws (also ...

(''jinrikisha'') who saw this was indignant about this, and tried to punch a Chinese sailor. In response, the Chinese sailors began to riot. Thus, another big incident began as the policemen who came to stop this and the Chinese sailors once again began fighting, with various casualties. On the Qing side, 1 officer died and 3 were injured, and 3 soldiers died and at least 50 were injured. On the Japanese side, 3 police officers were injured, 2 constables were killed, and 16 were injured. Several tens of Japanese civilians were also injured.

Effects of the incident

Combined with the

Gapsin coup The Gapsin Coup, also known as the Gapsin Revolution, was a failed three-day coup d'état that occurred in Korea during 1884. Korean reformers in the Enlightenment Party sought to initiate rapid changes within the country, including eliminatin ...

of 1884 (Meiji 17), this incident stirred up anti-Qing sentiment and was a distant cause to the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the po ...

. Also, Toyoma Mitsuru created the political association called the Genyosha, which was the first turning away from civil rights theory to sovereign rights theory. After the incident, the Qing did not apologize to Japan, and behaved with confidence believing in the superiority of their navy. At that time, the Qing possessed the newest model of navy battleships, the '' Dingyuan''. It was thought that the Japanese navy could not match this ship at this time, having a heavier tonnage than modern French built Japanese cruisers. (The ''Dingyuan'' was eventually scuttled after the

Battle of Weihaiwei The Battle of Weihaiwei (Japanese: was a battle of the First Sino-Japanese War. It took place between 20 January and 12 February 1895, in Weihai, Shandong Province, China, between the forces of Japan and Qing China. In early January 1895, the ...

in 1895.) Japan's setback during the Gapsin Coup, in which 400 Japanese soldiers had been driven off by 2000 Qing soldiers was still recent and fresh. The Qing made demands to the Japanese government that from then on the Japanese police would not prohibit the wielding of swords, in which they succeeded and Japanese were forced to make a large sum of reparation. However, as a result of this incident, anti-Qing sentiment rose in Japan, presaging further confrontation. In addition, the event also produced another consequence: the cracking of the Qing intelligence code. A Japanese man named Wu Oogoro picked up a Beiyang Navy sailor's dictionary which was marked with 0-9 between the Chinese characters (Kanji). The Japanese intelligence department subsequently analysed these characters and figures and determined it was a guide to decipher the Qing codes. In order to completely crack the code, Japanese Foreign Minister

Mutsu Munemitsu Count was a Japanese statesman and diplomat in Meiji period Japan. Early life Mutsu Munemitsu was born in Wakayama domain, Kii Province as the sixth son of Date Munehiro, a ''samurai'' retainer of the Kii Tokugawa clan. His father was activ ...

deliberately provided a writing in Chinese characters of moderate length to the Qing ambassador Wang Feng Cao. The next day the

Japan Telecom SoftBank Telecom Corporation ( ja, ソフトバンクテレコム会社), previously as Japan Telecom Co. Ltd. ( ja, 日本テレコム株式会社, links=no,Nippon Terekomu Kabushiki-gaisha) was a Japanese telephone company of the SoftBank gro ...

legation successfully intercepted the telegram sent by the embassy to

Zongli Yamen The ''Zongli Yamen'' (), short for Office for the General Management of Affairs Concerning the Various Countries (), also known as Prime Minister's Office, Office of General Management, was the government body in charge of foreign policy in imp ...

. Sato Yoshimaro, a bureaucrat in the telecom legation used this kanji text with known content to crack the Qing code. This had effects similar to the cracking of the

Enigma Enigma may refer to: *Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling Biology *ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain Computing and technology * Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup * Enigma machine, a family ...

and handed Japan an advantage in the

First Sino-Japanese war The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the po ...

References

{{Japanese coups 1886 in China 1886 in Japan 1886 in international relations 1886 riots August 1886 events Riots and civil disorder in Japan China–Japan relations History of Nagasaki Beiyang Fleet Military history of the Qing dynasty

Outline

Effects of the incident

See also

References