SS ''Kiangya'' or ''Jiangya'' ( Chinese: t , s , p ''Jiāngyà Lún'') was a Chinese passenger

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamship ...

that was destroyed in an explosion near the mouth of the

Huangpu River The Huangpu (), formerly romanized as Whangpoo, is a river flowing north through Shanghai. The Bund and Lujiazui are located along the Huangpu River. The Huangpu is the biggest river in central Shanghai, with the Suzhou Creek being its maj ...

north of

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

on 3 or 4 December 1948. Her wreck was cleared from the channel in 1956 and her hull refurbished, re-entering service. She was renamed the ( t , s , p ''Dōngfāng Hóng Bā'', "The East is Red #8") during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

and retired during modernisations in 1983. The ''Kiangya'' was one of eight ships operated by the Shanghai Merchants Group and the

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

of the (, ''Jiāngjìng Lún''). She had a displacement of 2,100

tons Tons can refer to: * Tons River, a major river in India * Tamsa River, locally called Tons in its lower parts (Allahabad district, Uttar pradesh, India). * the plural of ton, a unit of mass, force, volume, energy or power :* short ton, 2,000 poun ...

. At the time of her explosion during the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...

, she was bound for

Ningpo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...

from Shanghai's

Shiliupu Dock {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) Dongmen Road (東門路) is a road in Shanghai, China. It extends in the west from the site of the old East Gate of Shanghai on Zhonghua Road, part of the ring road surrounding the Old City of ...

. She was packed with refugees fleeing the advancing

Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. She probably hit a mine, possibly laid by the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The exact death toll is unknown. Although her official capacity was 1,186 passengers, the manifest listed 2,150 and she was almost certainly carrying many additional

stowaway A stowaway or clandestine traveller is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as a ship, an aircraft, a train, cargo truck or bus. Sometimes, the purpose is to get from one place to another without paying for transportation. In other ...

s. Rescuers were unaware of the disaster for some hours. With an estimated death toll of between 2,750 and 3,920 people, with 700 survivors being picked up by other vessels, it remains the second deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in history.

SS ''Dongfang Hong 8''

The hull of the ''Kiangya'' had broken in half but, in 1956, the two pieces were removed in order to dredge that area of the river. The process took 160 days, after which the pieces were moved to the Jiangnan Shipyard and refurbished. She re-entered service at Shanghai's Shiliupu Dock on 4 February 1959, after which she served as a local

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...

and for shipping between Shanghai and

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city a ...

. She was renamed the ''Dongfang Hong'' 8 in November 1966 during the

. She was retired in 1983. During

shipbreaking Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extraction ...

operations in June 2000, a major oil fire broke out.

Legacy

The ship's wooden steering wheel is preserved at the

East Zhejiang Maritime Affairs and Folk Customs Museum The East Zhejiang Maritime Affairs/Folk Custom Museum. is a museum located in Yinzhou District in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China. It is located in the , a reconstructed complex which once housed a temple to the sea-goddess Mazu. Originally built in ...

Ningbo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...

. The ship gave her name to Jiangya Nansha, one of the component

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...

s of

Jiuduansha Jiuduansha is a collection of four intertidal wetland shoals at the mouth of China's Yangtze River. They are administered as an island region of the municipality of Shanghai's Pudong New Area. These shoals and the submerged land surrounding t ...

off eastern

Footnotes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiangya Steamships Maritime incidents in 1948 1948 in China Shipwrecks in rivers Ships of China Ships sunk by mines Shipwrecks in the East China Sea Maritime incidents in China Shipwrecks of China

SS ''Dongfang Hong 8''

Legacy

See also

Footnotes

References

External links