Ma Yukun, courtesy name Jingshan was a Chinese army general who primarily served the

Huai Army The Huai Army (), named for the Huai River, was a military force allied with the Qing dynasty raised to contain the Taiping Rebellion in 1862. It was also called the Anhui Army because it was based in Anhui province. It helped to restore the stabil ...

and the Resolute Army; he served during the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...

and the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

Biography

Early years

Ma was born in 1838, at Maji, Anhui,

Mengcheng County Mengcheng County () is a county in the northwest of Anhui Province, China. It is under the administration of Bozhou Bozhou () is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Anhui province, China. It borders Huaibei to the northeast, Bengbu to ...

. His family was poor and were primarily an agricultural one; however, Ma was a martial artist and became a well-known local trainer. Due to his martial arts skills, Song Qing found an appreciation for him and personally enlisted him to attack the Nian Army during the

Nian Rebellion The Nian Rebellion () was an insurrection against the Qing dynasty in northern China from 1851 to 1868, contemporaneously with the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) in southern China. The rebellion was suppressed, but the population and economic ...

, and accumulated meritorious work to the capital, giving him the title of ''Zhenyong Baturu''. In 1874, Ma Yukun and

Zuo Zongtang Zuo Zongtang (左宗棠, Xiang Chinese: ; Wade-Giles spelling: Tso Tsung-t'ang; November 10, 1812 – September 5, 1885), sometimes referred to as General Tso, was a Chinese statesman and army officer of the late Qing dynasty. Born in Xian ...

's department jointly fought against the aggression of Agubo and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

in the

Qing reconquest of Xinjiang The Qing reconquest of Xinjiang () was the event when the Qing dynasty reconquered Xinjiang after the Dungan Revolt in the late 19th century. After a century of Qing rule, the Uzbek adventurer Yakub Beg conquered almost all of Xinjiang during ...

, and then led the army to garrison the northwest for more than 10 years. During the Guangxu period, he was transferred to

Zhili Zhili, alternately romanized as Chihli, was a northern administrative region of China since the 14th century that lasted through the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty until 1911, when the region was dissolved, converted to a province, and renamed ...

. In 1894, he was awarded the commander-in-chief of Taiyuan Town,

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

, to assist Song Qing in garrisoning the Beiyang Naval Base in Lushunkou before the

broke out.

First Sino-Japanese War

During the war, he would command 6 garrisons of the Yi Army to Northern Korea to guard the east bank of the

Taedong River The Taedong River () is a large river in North Korea. The river rises in the Rangrim Mountains of the country's north where it then flows southwest into Korea Bay at Namp'o.Suh, Dae-Sook (1987) "North Korea in 1986: Strengthening the Soviet ...

outside the South Gate of

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

. In the early morning of the 15th, there was a fierce battle with the Japanese ninth brigade. Because of Ma's strict defense and good command, he wiped out nearly 3 Japanese squadrons, killing 140 Japanese soldiers and wounded more than 290 soldiers, and secured Pyongyang South Road despite the later Chinese defeat at the battle. After the fall of Pyongyang, he led his army back to the Chinese mainland and assisted Song Qing in defending the Yalu River defense line. On October 24, the Battle of Jiuliancheng broke out and led his own men to assist Qing with the Japanese. After yet another defeat, Yukun participated at the

Battle of Lüshunkou The Battle of Lüshunkou (; Japanese: ) was a land battle of the First Sino-Japanese War. It took place on 21 November 1894, in Lüshunkou, Manchuria (later called Lüshunkou, Port Arthur, in present-day Liaoning Province, China) between the f ...

, defending the west hill of Longwang Temple as the two sides fought until 2 PM that afternoon when the Japanese sent reinforcements. When Hei Tian could no longer fight, Ma pulled back temporarily returned to the camp at Shilibao. Ma then launched a counterattack which managed to kill 50 Japanese but because his army was fatigued and he didn't bring artillery, Chinese casualties during the battle were high and almost all of Ma's officers were killed during the battle. On February 24, 1895, during the Japanese offensive on Haicheng, Ma Yukun led his troops to defend villages such as Qiligou in Beishan, climbing the ice and laying by the snow, overseeing the battle. The Japanese attacked from three sides and set up dozens of cannons to continuously bombard the Qing army. After a day of fierce fighting, the Qing army had no backup, ran out of ammunition and food, and fell into a heavy siege. Song Qing ordered a breakout. Ma Yukun broke through the siege and found that Song Qing was still surrounded, and then rushed into the enemy's encirclement to reinforce Song's army. Song's three horses were all killed by artillery shells as Ma Yukun led his subordinates to break through the siege many times, changing mounts three times, killing more than 300 Japanese soldiers and wounding more than a thousand soldiers. Later, he moved to

Yingkou Yingkou ( zh, s=, t=, p=Yíngkǒu) is a coastal prefecture-level city of central southern Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, on the northeastern shore of Liaodong Bay. It is the third-smallest city in Liaoning with a total area of , a ...

, Tianzhuangtai and other places with Song Qing. Because of his bravery in battles and his repeated achievements, the Japanese army feared him. In 1899, he was promoted to Admiral of Zhejiang Fleet. During the

, the

Eight Nation Alliance The Eight-Nation Alliance was a multinational military coalition that invaded northern China in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, with the stated aim of relieving the foreign legations in Beijing, which were being besieged by the popular Boxer ...

and others invaded, Ma Yukun lead the Resoloute Army to resist. The two armies fought in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

and Beicang. They held a stalemate for more than a month, and Ma Yukun finally retired due to isolation and helplessness. By the next year, he would return to

Peking Beijing, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city by urban area after Shanghai. It is l ...

and died in there in 1908 from illness.''

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 ...

'', Volume 461 Biography 248 Ma Yukun

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma, Yukun 1838 births 1908 deaths Qing dynasty generals Generals from Anhui Politicians from Bozhou Republic of China warlords from Anhui Huai Army personnel Chinese people of the Boxer Rebellion