Remembering maritime heroes from abroad

More measures are needed to record contributions of foreign officers who served in China's Beiyang fleet, as Peng Yining reports.

Philo Norton McGiffin, a late 19th century naval officer from the United States, was buried wearing a uniform of imperial China's Beiyang fleet, after he died in 1897.

In a US cemetery in Pennsylvania, McGiffin rests under a tomb carved with the Star-Spangled Banner and a flag sporting the dragon and sun, the ensign of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Beneath the two crossed flags, the inscription reads:

"Commander of the Chinese Battleship, Chen Yuen At the Battle of the Yalu September 17, 1894"

McGiffin was badly wounded in the battle, which was a crucial confrontation during the First Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1894 and ended in 1895 with China defeated.

His health and eyesight were permanently damaged. In a picture he took after the battle, half of his head was bandaged and his trousers blown to shreds.

In a letter he wrote to his father before the war, he said: "China and Japan will soon be at war and it is possible that I may not see you again. If I don't, remember it is a point of honor with me to have stayed: after ten years of service and all their goodness to me, it would be mean of me to desert them now ... you must not grieve too much if I am killed. It is the best way to die. Our cause is right, and, anyhow, I am for China. I do not fear to die. I command a good ship and crew. We don't die if we can help it."

Between 1875 and 1895, when the Beiyang fleet was founded and came to an end, there were more than 200 naval officers and technicians from the US and Europe. They were known as Yang Yuan or foreign officers, who worked for the fleet to help China build a modern navy and fight the Japanese, according to Chen Yue, a historian who has been studying the First Sino-Japanese War for 15 years.

"Despite the defeat of the Beiyang fleet, foreign officers made a great contribution to the Chinese navy and China," Chen said. "They gave their best years and even their lives for a strange people under a strange flag."

Among the eight foreign officers who participated in the Battle of the Yalu River, two were killed and four were wounded.