Ge Yunfei (, 1789–1841) was a Chinese general of 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 ...

. He served in the

First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...

and died during the British

capture of Chusan The First Capture of Chusan () by British forces in China occurred on 5–6 July 1840 during the First Opium War. The British captured Chusan (Zhoushan), the largest island of an archipelago of that name. Background The Kangxi Emperor estab ...

. Born in a military family in the Shanyin county of

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Ji ...

, Ge Yunfei learned

kung fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to commo ...

from his father. In 1819, Ge passed the local

imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

and acquired Military Juren title. In 1823, he passed the highest level of imperial examination and became military

Jinshi ''Jinshi'' () was the highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace, and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. Recipients are sometimes refer ...

He served for several years as assistant brigade commander in the navy based in Huangyan. In 1839, he was appointed as garrison commander of Zhenhai of Zhejiang. In September 1841, the British army attacked Zhenhai. Ge participated in the defense of Xiaofeng Mountain (晓峰) and Zhushan Gate (竹山门). He led the troop to fight in the rain for several days but the British army eventually seized the Zhushan Gate. Ge and over 200 soldiers continued fighting with swords. After being wounded over 40 times, he died of a major wound through the chest. His corpse was carried to Zhenhai by a villager named Xu Bao in the night. The Daoguang Emperor wept after he learned Ge's death and gave him the pension as the level for a provincial commander-in-chief. Ge was buried north to Huangwan Temple, in the Sanquanwang Village of

Xiaoshan County Xiaoshan is one of ten urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, East China. Xiaoshan was formerly a city in its own right, separated by the Qiantang River from Hangzhou proper, but the municipal ...

References

Draft History of Qing The ''Draft History of Qing'' () is a draft of the official history of the Qing dynasty compiled and written by a team of over 100 historians led by Zhao Erxun who were hired by the Beiyang government of the Republic of China. The draft was publ ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ge, Yunfei 1789 births 1841 deaths Writers from Hangzhou People of the First Opium War Qing military personnel killed in action Qing dynasty generals Chinese military writers Qing dynasty science writers Qing dynasty poets Generals from Zhejiang Poets from Zhejiang