Chapter 20 The Historical Facts and Legends of Anti-British in San San Yuan Li

With the rapid development of Guangzhou city in the past ten years, today's Sanyuanli has become an urban area.However, during the Opium War more than 150 years ago, Sanyuanli was just a quiet small village about 2 kilometers north of Guangzhou City.The reason why it has such a great reputation today is that from May 29th to 31st, 1841, when the British army occupied Xiushan in the north of the city, a public anti-British incident centered on Sanyuanli broke out. For more than 150 years, the historical facts of the people's anti-British incident in Sanyuanli have undergone artificial amplification many times.Regardless of other things, it is the well-known and often mentioned "Pingyingtuan", which is not the truth at that time, but the title of later generations.As a researcher today, it is necessary to clarify this and distinguish the historical facts and legends in order to draw a real, reliable and pertinent conclusion.

According to various Chinese documents, the people in Sanyuanli and other places rose up to resist the British for three reasons: 1. The British army "opened the coffin and exposed the bones", 2. The British army looted property, and 3. The British army raped and molested women. Comparing with the British literature, the first accusation of "opening the coffin and exposing the bones" should be regarded as fact. On May 29, 1841, after Yishan and Yilu reached an armistice agreement, some British soldiers entered Shuangshan Temple in the north of the city.In the temple, there are many coffins of foreign human rights houses, which are prepared to be escorted back to their homeland in the future, so as to fulfill the wish of the dead to return to their roots.The British soldiers opened some of the coffin lids to view the bodies inside.Although the British literature attributes the motivation for this move to curiosity, according to Chinese tradition and religion, such disrespectful behavior that will bring disaster to the descendants of the deceased can only be done by animals.At that time, there were still sayings such as "opening the coffin and poking the corpse" and "excavating the grave", which were probably extended from this and spread rumors, and had a great agitating effect.

Although there is no positive mention of "looting" in the British literature, there are many traces in it that allow us to roughly speculate on the scene. On May 24, 1841, the British army began to attack Guangzhou, and the army commander Guo Fu ordered, "All ministries must carry two days' worth of dry food."Based on this calculation, the British army will run out of food on May 26.There are many records of "requisition" in the British literature to supplement this provision, and it is said that they "returned full of various livestock".This kind of "requisition" is difficult to get rid of the relationship of "plunder".

The last item, crimes against women, is more difficult to document.On the one hand, there is no such plot in the British records at the time, and on the other hand, the Chinese literature is extremely vague, saying only "gang rape of an old woman" and so on.Such incidents in the case would damage the reputation of the parties involved and should not be publicized. It is reasonable for the author of the Chinese document to hide the specific time, place, name, and plot.But after all, it feels vague. Nearly 8 years later, Debye, who was then the British Minister to China and the Chief Commercial Officer in China, admitted that Indian soldiers had raped women near Sanyuanli in his report to Palmerston in February 1848. .More than 100 years later, the Guangdong Museum of Culture and History conducted a re-investigation from 1951 to 1963, and discovered a new statement, saying that on May 28 or 29, 1841, more than 10 British troops were in Donghuali, Sanyuanli. "Li Xi, wife of villager Wei Shaoguang.

From this point of view, the British army did commit crimes against women during the occupation of the highlands north of Guangzhou City, although the plot of "molesting" Li Xi is still suspicious. The above facts led people at that time and now to draw the same conclusion: the atrocities of the British army aroused the resistance of the people in Sanyuanli and other places.The significance of this conclusion will be analyzed later. Looking through Chinese historical documents, the description of the whole incident is unclear, and each has its own theory, so it is difficult to sort out a clue.Among the more typical statements are:

1. Wang Tinglan, the procuratorate of Guangdong, wrote a letter to Zeng Wangyan, the chief minister of Fujian shortly after the war, saying: On May 30, 1841, the British army withdrew from the Yuexiu Mountain area in the north of the city, and returned to the British warship via Nicheng, Sanyuanli Waiting for thousands of people from one hundred and three townships, they set up an ambush halfway, wiped out more than a hundred enemies, beheaded two soldiers and eyes, and besieged the British army.Elliot asked Yu Baochun, the prefect of Guangzhou, to suppress it.Yu Baochun went out of the city privately to settle the peace, and the people gradually dispersed.There are also "Chinese and Western Chronicles" and "Daoguang Yang Ship Zhengfu Ji" similar to this statement, but the results of the battle have expanded. It is said that the British generals Bomai and Xiabi were killed, and 200 to 300 British soldiers were wiped out.

2. General Yishan of Jingni has made three memorials on this, with completely different opinions.The first memorial (June 13): He once ordered the leaders of the Tuanyong in the northwest and northeast of the city to search and arrest them separately. It is said that the leader of the British army who killed the British army on the South Bank may be Bohme.The second memorial (June 22): On May 30, the British army burned and plundered Tangxia Township (northwest of Sanyuanli) in the north of the city. .The third memorial (August 6): On May 28, the heavy rain washed away more than 100 traitors and British soldiers who were plundered in the north of the city; Sanyuanli and other villages volunteered to kill more than 10 British pioneer Xia Bi and Bing Bian (The performance did not say the specific time, contact the prelude, it should be May 30).Yishan's memorial described the anti-British incident in Sanyuanli as the work of group training and righteous courage, and the result of the battle was also reduced to more than 10 people.

3. Lin Fuxiang, who was the leader of Shuiyong at that time, wrote in 1843: On May 30, 1841, the British army robbed Niulangang via Sanyuanli. Tens of thousands of people in Yu Township surrounded the British army and wiped out more than 200 enemies. After Yu Baochun broke the siege, the British army returned from the siege.Lin Fuxiang stated that the purpose of the operation was to resist looting. Those who agree with this anti-looting theory also include "Guangdong Military Affairs Notes" and other materials. 4. At that time, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Qi