Ye Zhichao

Ye Zhichao (Chinese: 葉志超; Wade–Giles: Yeh Chih-ch'ao; 1838-1901) was a Chinese general of the Qing Dynasty who fought in the First Sino-Japanese War, being the commander of Qing forces stationed in Korea.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Ye.

An aging veteran of the Nian Rebellion[1], he sided in November 1891 with Chinese secret society called Jindandao (金丹道), who rose in revolt in Inner Mongolia and massacred 150,000 - 500,000 Mongols. When Li Hongzhang, Governor-General of Chinese Zhili Province, dispatched Ye Zhichao, Commander-in-chief of Zhili, to suppress the rebels, he falsely reporting to the imperial court in Beijing that the Mongol banner army killed innocent Chinese. Prince Vangdudnamjil, the jasagh of the Kharachin Right Banner, who was consulted with by the imperial court, successfully rebutted General Ye's claim with a detailed report[2]

As commander of the Zhili provincial troops under Li Hongzhang when the Sino-Japanese war broke out in 1894,[3] General Ye initially led the 3,000 Chinese army at Asan, but when they were driven out of the city by the Imperial Japanese Army and he retreated north to Pyongyang. Following the defeat at Pyongyang by the Japanese in September 1894, Ye Zhichao ordered the Chinese defenders to retreat over the Yalu River (which marked the border between China and Korea) into Qing territory.[4] General Ye was sentenced to death for his failures, but managed to avoid being executed due to his guanxi connections.[5] He was also reputed to be an opium addict.[6]

Sources

References
  1. Paine (2017), p. 21.
  2. Borjigin Burensain, The Complex Structure of Ethnic Conflict in the Frontier: Through the Debates around the ‘Jindandao Incident’ in 1891, Inner Asia, Vol. 6, No.1, pp. 41-60, 2004.
  3. Paine (2003), p. 143.
  4. Schmidt (2007), p. 162.
  5. Schmidt (2007), p. 284.
  6. Paine (2003), p. 226.

Books
  • Paine, S.C.M (2003). The Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895: Perception, Power, and Primacy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81714-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Paine, S.C.M (2017). The Japanese Empire: Grand Strategy from the Meiji Restoration to the Pacific War. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 1107676169.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Schmidt, J.D. (2007). Within the Human Realm: The Poetry of Huang Zunxian, 1848-1905. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521036666.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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