History: the historical facts of Weihai people's resistance to British colonial rule

Historical Background China's failure in the Sino-Japanese War accelerated the process of imperialist aggression against China. While strengthening their economic aggression against China, the western powers stepped up their occupation of important coastal ports in China, and fought fiercely in China to seize the leased land and divide their spheres of influence. During this period, the spearhead of the great powers to carve up China was North China. 1898, Germany leased JIAOZHOU bay with the support of Russia, and Russia immediately leased Lushun Dalian under the pretext of boycotting Germany. In the same year, France leased Guangzhou Bay (now Zhanjiang Port) in South China. Britain was the first capitalist country to invade China, and it had the most political and economic rights and interests in China. In the frenzy of the great powers to carve up China, in order to maintain its political and economic monopoly position in China, Britain revised its existing China policy and decided to lease and occupy Ahava and Hongkong New Territories, in order to confront Russia in the north and Germany and France in the south. 1On March 7th, 898, British Foreign Secretary Balfour asked his diplomatic envoys in China to do everything possible to get the priority of renting Ahava. On March 25th, the British government formally instructed its ambassador to China, Claude Maxwell MacDonald, to take all measures to lease and occupy Ahava. As Shandong has been included in the German sphere of influence, according to treaty of shimonoseki, Ahava was occupied by Japan to supervise the Qing government to pay war reparations. So when Britain decided to lease Ahava, it actively tried to buy off the Germans and Japanese. As for Germany, he said on March 26th that Ahava was occupied out of helplessness and would never infringe on Germany's interests. Later, on April 20th, it was officially announced that it would not build a railway from Ahava to Shandong mainland, so as to admit that Shandong is the sphere of influence of Germany, and thus gain Germany's acquiescence in its aggression plan. Because of the fierce conflict with Russia in Northeast China, Japan also hoped to use Britain to contain Russia, and immediately agreed when Britain asked about its attitude. After reaching an understanding with Germany and Japan on the basis of sharing stolen goods, Britain pursued its invasion plan even more unscrupulously.

Forced Occupation While intensifying collusion with Germany, Japan and other countries, Britain sent more than/kloc-0 warships from Hong Kong to Yantai on March 65, 1998, in an attempt to preempt Ahava after the Japanese army retreated, and forced the Qing government to submit by force, thus achieving its lease purpose. On May 7th, the Qing government paid all the reparations to Japan in London. On May 9th, the main Japanese troops stationed in Ahava began to retreat. On May 2 1, the Qing government sent personnel to receive Ahava and Liu Gongdao. On May 19/22, British warships Narcissus and Agility invaded Ahava, occupying the barracks, fortresses, bases and leased land evacuated by Japanese troops with their assistance. On May 23rd, the handover between China and Japan was completed, and the 8th Japanese Army withdrew from Ahava and Liu Gongdao. May 24th is the birthday of Queen Victoria of England, and the British army chose this day to hold the occupation ceremony in Huangdao. At 6:5438+0:30 in the afternoon, the commander "Narcissus" led the Marine Corps to board Liu Gongdao and occupied Huangdao. Kim Hall, the British Reception Commissioner in Zhifu Port, and Hopkins, the consul, accompanied by Brown, the military attache of the British Embassy in China, and Smith Duolun, the captain of Agile, went to the ceremony site under the Huangdao battery. Yan Daohong, a member appointed by the Qing government to handle Ahava affairs, and Lin, a guerrilla in front of the aid ship, also went with him. After King Hall read the declaration of occupation, the British flag began to rise in Ran Ran. When the flag flew to the masthead, the band played the British national anthem and the British army raised their guns to pay tribute. Subsequently, the ceremony ended with the cheers of "long live the queen". At this point, Britain completed its military occupation of Ahava and Liu Gongdao.

On March 28th, Claude Maxwell MacDonald, British ambassador to China, formally asked the Qing government to lease Ahava, claiming that it was extremely dangerous for Russia to use Lushun as a military port, but leasing Ahava to Britain was enough to control Russia's arrogance. However, the Qing government rejected Ahava on the grounds that it was still under Japanese occupation. Claude Maxwell MacDonald immediately issued an ultimatum to the Qing government on March 3 1: If the exact information is not available, the matter will be handed over to the British naval commander in China. The Qing government was forced to agree to its lease request on April 3, and on April 20, it appointed Qing Prince Yi Kuang and Minister of Justice Liao Shouheng to negotiate with the British minister. In July 1898, 1, China and Britain signed a contract to lease ahava articles in Beijing. The Chinese signatories are Yi Kuang and Liao Shouheng, and the British signatory is Claude Maxwell MacDonald. According to the "Special Terms", Ahava and its adjacent waters will be leased to Britain for the same period as when Russia occupied Dalian, and Britain has the right to build forts and garrisons along the coast. China reserves the right that troops can still enter; Weihai Acropolis is managed by China, and former officials in the city can still do their own things in the city; China warships can still use the surface of Weihai. Since then, from April 25th, 1900 to May 7th, the same year 17, China and Britain have designated the northeast seashore of Dalantou village in the east, Mashanzui in the west and Caomiaozi in the south, except for 738. 15 square kilometers outside ahava, which is a leased area with a population of about120,000. As a result, Britain gained the strategic position in North China, and the defense ability of the Qing government was further weakened.

(2) Armed resistance to Britain

The strong guns of the invaders can make the fatuous and decadent Qing government succumb to it, but the people of Weihai, who are highly patriotic, cannot be humiliated. In the thirty-two years that Britain leased Ahava, in the face of the invaders' military invasion and colonial rule, the people of Weihai, rich in the tradition of defending the country and the country, waged an indomitable and heroic struggle to defend national independence and national sovereignty.

Anti-British rally 1900 Boxer Movement flourished in Shandong mainland. Cui Shoushan, a scholar in Jiangnan Village, Weihai, was deeply encouraged. In order to defend the British family, he contacted Tong Gu Huiting, Dong Shaoliang of Laihai Village, Yu Jiakuang Village Cong and others, recruited members of the training group and raised funds to buy arms, organized secret armed forces, and prepared to launch an armed anti-British movement. 1900 On March 26th, Cui Shoushan organized four or five thousand people to hold an anti-British rally at Cisheng Temple in Zhang Cun. After learning the news, the colonial government immediately sent British Colonel Bauer to the scene to suppress it and forced the masses to disarm and disband. But the participants were not intimidated by the threat of force, and the two sides were deadlocked 1 hour. The British immediately interrogated Cui Shoushan and Gu Huiting on the spot. Cui Shoushan was fearless and furious, recounting all kinds of evil deeds of British aggression against China, and bluntly organizing mass militia was to expel the British from the country. Bauer was angry and ordered them to be taken to Ahava. The meeting was suddenly angry and nervous. In order to protect the masses, Cui Shoushan stepped forward, and Zhang Yu and Dong Shaoliang were detained by the British army in Liu Gongdao prison. In prison, he went on a hunger strike and stood firm in the face of bribes from senior officials of the British colonial authorities. At the same time, people outside the prison set off a large-scale rescue activity. The British army was released a month later for fear of causing more resistance. With heroic spirit and unyielding fighting spirit, the preparations for mass armed forces and the assembly of Cisheng Temple showed the strong will and determination of Weihai people to safeguard national dignity and resist foreign aggression, and sounded the first horn of Weihai people's armed forces against Britain. Shortly thereafter, a large-scale armed struggle against demarcation broke out.

On April 25th, at 0900, the Chinese-British Boundary Demarcation Committee was escorted by British troops to demarcate the boundary from west to east, and jiepai was buried. On April 28th, after the British army laid 25 boundary pillars, China demarcation officials, Yan Daohong and Lin came to Dongdaotou Village out of bounds, and the British army camped at the foot of Taibao Mountain, three miles away from Daotou. That night, more than 600 people surrounded the residence of China officials in Dongdaotou Village, denouncing the traitorous behavior of Li Xijie and others, and preventing them from going out to demarcate the border. At the same time, nearly a thousand people surrounded the British camp, shouting slogans, protesting the British invasion and demanding that the British troops withdraw from Ahava. The British army immediately arrested six people. Instead of dispersing the people, it increased the number of people gathered, reaching more than 2,000 the next day. The British army was forced to release the six arrested people, but the crowd still refused to disperse and demarcation could not be carried out. The British immediately mobilized a large number of reinforcements from Ahava to clear the gap. On May 4th, British leaders Bauer and Parn Ross, escorted by British troops, unilaterally forcibly demarcated the border, leaving more than 30 soldiers, headed by Captain Walter Sony, stationed in Taibaoshan Camp, ready to rescue the trapped China officials. At dawn on May 6th, Walter Sony Barracks were attacked by more than 2,000 people from Sunjiatan Village Yu, Majingshan, Sun Yiqing, Caomiaozi Village and Xujiatuan Village Yu Dianhai. In the fierce battle, the local guns and cannons of the armed masses fired at the British military camp 666665. More than 30 British soldiers, led by Captain Walter Sony, hid and opened fire everywhere, and 10 people died heroically in the battle.

On the evening of May 4th, the British troops who demarcated eastward came to camp in Linquan Hetao at the foot of mountainous areas. After learning the news, Liu Jingshan and Wu Xiucai from Jiangjiakou Village, Yu Renshan from Juanyujia Village and Xu Renshan from Nanhukou Village, etc. Immediately contact the surrounding people through the chicken hair letter and gather at Beikou Temple on May 5. Then he led 1500 villagers to the British camp. At 2: 30 pm, when the crowd reached a place four miles away from the British camp1/,they met 15 British troops returning from the demarcation line. Liu Jingshan immediately directed the masses to attack the British army with stones, hoes and shovels. British Major Parn Ross was seriously injured on the spot and four soldiers were knocked to the ground. In the fierce battle, Liu Jingshan and others 19 people died heroically. The besieged crowd was suppressed by British reinforcements.

When the people of Weihai were engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the invaders, the Qing government stayed out of it and stood by. On May 9, Yuan Shikai, the governor of Shandong Province, mobilized 400 Qing soldiers from Yantai to Ahava to rescue Li Xijie and others, but ignored the request of the masses to send troops to attack the British army. Subsequently, notices were issued at important checkpoints in Weihai, severely reprimanding the people's anti-British behavior and forcing them to "check the contract to protect themselves". Frightened by the armed resistance of the masses, the British army was forced to suspend the demarcation for several days until May 15. The colonial authorities have always suspected that Weihai people's struggle against demarcation was instigated by the China authorities in ahava. So when the news reached Hong Kong, the British Hong Kong authorities used it as an excuse to demand that Kowloon City be transferred to Hong Kong on the grounds that the presence of China officials in the city was not in harmony with Hong Kong's defense.

The anti-British armed struggle of Weihai people is a glorious page in Weihai's modern history. Although the struggle failed in the end because of poor weapons and equipment and lack of combat experience. However, people are deeply impressed by the dedication and heroism of the anti-British fighters. Until today, their heroic achievements have been widely praised by the local people and become a glorious banner to inspire future generations to forge ahead, build their homes and revitalize China.