Song Qing () (1820–1902),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theo ...

Zhusan, was a Chinese general who served the

Imperial government The name imperial government (german: Reichsregiment) denotes two organs, created in 1500 and 1521, in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation to enable a unified political leadership, with input from the Princes. Both were composed of the em ...

during 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 p ...

and in the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an Xenophobia, anti-foreign, anti-colonialism, anti-colonial, and Persecution of Christians#China, anti-Christian uprising in China ...

. Song was a native of what is now

Penglai City Penglai, formerly known as Dengzhou or Tengchow, is a district belonging to the prefecture-level city of Yantai, Shandong Province, in the People's Republic of China. It lies on the northwest corner of the Shandong Peninsula on the southern coas ...

Shandong Province Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizatio ...

. Passing his imperial examinations for bureaucratic positions, he was assigned as a magistrate to what is now

Bozhou Bozhou () is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Anhui province, China. It borders Huaibei to the northeast, Bengbu to the southeast, Huainan to the south, Fuyang to the southwest, and Henan to the north. Its population was 4,996,844 at th ...

Anhui Province Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

. During the

Nien Rebellion The Nian Rebellion () was an armed uprising that took place in northern China from 1851 to 1868, contemporaneously with Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864) in South China. The rebellion failed to topple the Qing dynasty, but caused immense economic ...

, he led a local army against the rebels in southern

Henan Province Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

and northern Anhui Province. In 1862, he was promoted to general, and awarded the title of

Baturu Baturu (Manchu: ''baturu''; ) was an official title of the Qing dynasty, awarded to commanders and soldiers who fought bravely on the battlefield. In Manchu, ''baturu'' means "warrior" or "brave." It is originally from the Mongolian word '' baγa ...

. He later joined his forces to that of the

Huai Army The Huai Army (), named for the Huai River, was a military force allied with the Qing dynasty raised to contain the Taiping Rebellion in 1862. It was also called the Anhui Army because it was based in Anhui province. It helped to restore the stab ...

, and assisted

Sengge Rinchen Sengge Rinchen (1811 – 18 May 1865) or Senggelinqin ( mn, Сэнгэринчен, ᠰᠡᠩᠭᠡᠷᠢᠨᠴᠢᠨ) was a Mongol nobleman and general who served under the Qing dynasty during the reigns of the Daoguang, Xianfeng and Tongzhi em ...

in the suppression of 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 laste ...

, and subsequently (in 1869) fought in the Dungan revolt under the command of

Zuo Zongtang Zuo Zongtang, Marquis Kejing ( also spelled Tso Tsung-t'ang; ; November 10, 1812 – September 5, 1885), sometimes referred to as General Tso, was a Chinese statesman and military leader of the late Qing dynasty. Born in Xiangyin County, ...

. From 1880, Song worked under

Li Hongzhang Li Hongzhang, Marquess Suyi ( zh, t=李鴻章; also Li Hung-chang; 15 February 1823 – 7 November 1901) was a Chinese politician, general and diplomat of the late Qing dynasty. He quelled several major rebellions and served in important ...

towards overseeing the defence of

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...

against the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, and from 1882 had been stationed in strategic port of Lushunkou, home of the

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 ...

, but did little in the decade that he was there to either strengthen its defenses or improve on the training of his men. After the Qing defeat at the Battle of Pyongyang in the

, Li Hongzhang appointed Song as his deputy commander and assigned him the responsibility for defending the crossing of the

Yalu River The Yalu River, known by Koreans as the Amrok River or Amnok River, is a river on the border between North Korea and China. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between ...

. However, the appointment was unpopular with his troops, who equated his lethargic attitude with cowardice, and who deserted in large numbers before and during the

Battle of Jiuliancheng The Battle of Jiuliancheng (九連城之戰) was a land battle of the First Sino-Japanese War between the forces of Meiji period, Meiji Japan and Qing dynasty, Qing China. It is sometimes referred to as the , thus creating confusion with the ...

. Afterwards, Song assisted Viceroy

Liu Kunyi Liu Kunyi () (January21, 1830October6, 1902) was a Chinese official who came to prominence during the government suppression of the Taiping Rebellion and was active in the following Self-Strengthening Movement in the second half of the ninetee ...

at the equally disastrous Battle of Yingkou. After the war, in 1898, Song was assigned to the garrison of

Jinzhou Jinzhou (, ), formerly Chinchow, is a coastal prefecture-level city in central-west Liaoning province, China. It is a geographically strategic city located in the Liaoxi Corridor, which connects most of the land transports between North Chin ...

in Liaoning Province. He participated in the

of 1900, fighting the Allied army at the Battle of Yangcun. He died of illness in Beijing in 1902.

References

*Bouye, Thomas. '' China: adapting the past, confronting the future''. University of Michigan. 2002. *Dupuy, Trevor N. ''The Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography''. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1992. * Paine, S.C.M. ''The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perception, Power, and Primacy,'' 2003, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA, 412 pp. *Reynolds, Douglas Robertson. China, 1895-1912: state-sponsored reforms and China's late-Qing revolution . M E Sharpe (1966). . * {{DEFAULTSORT:Song, Qing 1820 births 1902 deaths People from Penglai, Shandong Qing dynasty generals Chinese people of the Boxer Rebellion Chinese military personnel of the First Sino-Japanese War Generals from Shandong