Guan Tianpei (; 1781 – 26 February 1841) was a Chinese admiral 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-spea ...

who served in the First Opium War. His Chinese title was "Commander-in-Chief of Naval Forces". In 1838, he established courteous relations with British Rear-Admiral

Frederick Maitland General Frederick Maitland (3 September 1763 – 27 January 1848) was a British Army officer who fought during the American War of Independence, the Peninsular War and later served as Lieutenant Governor of Dominica. Life The youngest son ...

.Hall, William Hutcheon; Bernard, William Dallas (1844).
Narrative of the Voyages and Services of the Nemesis, from 1840 to 1843
'. Volume 1. London: Henry Colburn. p. 2. Guan fought in the First Battle of Chuenpi (1839), the

Second Battle of Chuenpi The Second Battle of Chuenpi () was fought between British and Chinese forces in the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong province, China, on 7January 1841 during the First Opium War. The British launched an amphibious attack at the Humen strait (Bog ...

(1841), and the Battle of the Bogue (1841). The British account described his death in the Anunghoy forts during the Battle of the Bogue on 26 February 1841 as follows:

Among these hinese officers the most distinguished and lamented was poor old Admiral Kwan, whose death excited much sympathy throughout the force; he fell by a bayonet wound in his breast, as he was meeting his enemy at the gate of Anunghoy, yielding up his brave spirit willingly to a soldier's death, when his life could only be preserved with the certainty of degradation. He was altogether a fine specimen of a gallant soldier, unwilling to yield when summoned to surrender because to yield would imply treason.Hall & Bernard 1844, p. 342

The following day, his body was claimed by his family and a salute of minute-guns was fired from HMS ''Blenheim'' in his honor. Attack_and_Capture_of_Chuenpee,_near_Canton

Attack_and_Capture_of_Chuenpee,_near_Canton

Early life

Guan Tianpei was born in 1781 in Shanyang county (now

Huai'an Huai'an (), formerly called Huaiyin () until 2001, is a prefecture-level city in the central part of Jiangsu province in East China, Eastern China. Huai'an is situated almost directly south of Lianyungang, southeast of Suqian, northwest of Yan ...

) in Jiangsu province. His courtesy name is Zhongyin (). In the eighth year of the Emperor Jiaqing (1803), he passed the

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 ...

for military service, and he was successively assigned to the Bazong (), Qianzong (), Shoubei (), Youji (), Canjiang () and vice general (), and these were the military ranking system during the

. In the sixth year of the Emperor Daoguang (1826), he was assigned to the vice-general of the Taihu camp in Jiangsu province. In 1827, Guan was assigned to the army officer in

Susong county Susong County () is a county in the southwest of Anhui Province, situated on the northwest (left) bank of the Yangtze, bordering the provinces of Hubei to the west and Jiangxi to the south. It is located in the southwest of the jurisdiction of the ...

Jiangnan Jiangnan or Jiang Nan (; formerly romanized Kiang-nan, literally "South of the River" meaning "South of the Yangtze") is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, incl ...

. In the thirteenth year of the Emperor Daoguang (1833), Guan was assigned to the military commander of the Jiangnan area.

Anti-Opium Movement

In the fourteenth year of the Emperor Daoguang (1834), Guan was assigned to the navy commander of the

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

province. When he arrived at

, he devoted himself to strengthen the coastal defense affairs. In the nineteenth year of the Emperor Daoguang (1839),

Lin Zexu Lin Zexu (30 August 1785 – 22 November 1850), courtesy name Yuanfu, was a Chinese political philosopher and politician. He was the head of states (Viceroy), Governor General, scholar-official, and under the Daoguang Emperor of the Qing dynas ...

was assigned to imperial commissioner to prohibit the use of opium in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

. When Lin arrived, Guan was influenced by Lin. Guan mobilized his navy to coordinate with Lin to prohibit the Opium trade. They captured about 20,000 chests of opium from the British merchants.

Battle Between the Qing and the British Forces

In 1839, British warships attacked Qing navy in Chuenpi, Guan Tianpei commanded his navy and fought back, British warships were heavily inflicted by Guan's navy. In the twentieth year of the Emperor Daoguang (1840), Lin Zexu was dismissed by the Emperor Daoguang. Qishan replaced Lin's position. Qi gave orders to remove Guan's coastal defence affairs by reducing the number of navy soldiers, and this gave the British forces the chance to invade. Many Guangdong local government officials hoped to make peace with the British forces. But Guan Tianpei was not swayed, and he was preparing to fight the British forces. Before the battle started, he dispatched a soldier to take his old clothes and tooth back to his hometown to give to his relatives. In January 1841, British forces captured Shajiao () and Dajiao fort (). Thus,

Weiyuan Fort Weiyuan Fort () is a coastal-defense fort, now in ruins, in Humen, Dongguan, Guangdong, China. The fort was constructed in 1835 and was in use during the Opium Wars. The fort is situated immediately under the Humen Bridge. There were 44 cannons t ...

lost the protective screen. Guan Tianpei was defending with a few soldiers on the front line. Guan requested Qishan to reinforce, but Qi did not send an army to support Guan. Guan used his money for army

food supplement A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement one's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources or that are synthetic in order ...

, and he encouraged his soldier to fight the British forces. On February 26, British forces massively attacked

Humen The Humen, also Bocca Tigris or Bogue, is a narrow strait in the Pearl River Delta that separates Shiziyang in the north and Lingdingyang in the south near Humen Town in China's Guangdong Province. It is the site of the Pearl River's discharge ...

. Guan led 400 soldiers to fight back. Several forts were captured by the British force. A soldier asked Guan to retreat, but Guan refused and kept fighting. Guan gave his commander seal to a soldier and asked him to take it back to the emperor. A shell fired and hit Guan. Guan died along with 400 soldiers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guan, Tianpei 1781 births 1841 deaths Qing dynasty admirals People of the First Opium War Qing military personnel killed in action People from Huai'an