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 China, officially the People's R ...

Zhusan, was a Chinese general who served the Imperial government 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 anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, b ...

. Song was a native of what is now Penglai City,

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 civilizati ...

. 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 the ...

in Anhui Province. 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 economi ...

, 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, and assisted Sengge Rinchen 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 last ...

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

against the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, 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 th ...

, 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 tru ...

, 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 betwe ...

. 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. Afterwards, Song assisted Viceroy Liu Kunyi at the equally disastrous

Battle of Yingkou The Battle of Yingkou (Japanese: ) was a land battle of the First Sino-Japanese War between the forces of Meiji Japan and Qing China, fought outside the treaty port town of Yingkou, Manchuria. It is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Ni ...

. 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 Chi ...

in Liaoning Province. He participated in the

of 1900, fighting the Allied army at the

Battle of Yangcun The Battle of Yangcun was a battle during the march of Eight-Nation Alliance forces from Tianjin to Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion. The Alliance forces defeated the Qing and were able to continue their march towards Peking. Background On ...

. 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