Dan Shichan

Born in Panyu (now a suburb of Guangzhou ) in Guangdong , the son of a wealthy tea merchant. The name given at birth is Yongchang (Chinese trade. 永昌, Pinyin Yongchang), the pseudonym is Zhengqing (Chinese trade. 正卿, Pinyin Zhengqing).

Dan Shichang belonged to the first generation of Chinese officers trained in the European system, enrolling in the first set of cadets in 1867 in the navigational department at the newly formed naval school in Mawai near Fuzhou ( Fujian province ), where he studied until 1871.
From 1871 to 1874 held practical training on the training ship "Jianwei" (Chinese trade. 建 威, Pinyin Jianwei). At the end of the floating practice, he was marked by the empire development officer Qing Shen Baozhen (沈葆桢, 1820-1879) and appointed assistant commander of the Chenhan transport (Chinese trad. 琛 航, pinyin Chenhang) of the Fuzhou squadron (Chinese trad. 福建 水师, Pinyin Fuzhou shuishi).
In 1875 he was transferred by the commander to the gunboat "Hajdungyun" (Chinese exercise. 海东 云, pinyin Haidongyun). Due to the danger of repetition of hostilities by Japan, which organized a military expedition to Taiwan in 1874, it was sent to the Penghu Islands (Chinese trade. 澎湖, Pinyin Penghu) to protect the archipelago, as well as patrolling in the Jilong area (China Trad. 基隆, Pinyin Jilong). For the fulfillment of the task was made the title of qianzong (Chinese trade. К 总, pinyin qianzong)
In 1878 he was appointed commander of the gunboat Chenwei (Chinese trad. 振威, Pinyin Chenwei).

In 1880, he was transferred to the Beiyang fleet (Chinese р 水师, Pinyin Beiyang shuishi), where he initially commanded the small messenger ship Feitin (Chinese р 霆, Pinyin Feiting). Then he was appointed commander of the "Randall" gunboat "Zhennan." While patrolling the Gulf of Bohai, he stranded a gunboat stranded off the island of Daludao, for which he was deprived of external insignia as a punishment. Since the gunboat was able to be stranded without major damage, the punishment was not long. In the same year, Dan Shichang was seconded to England to oversee the construction of ships for the Chinese fleet, as well as the acceptance of the Yanwei cruiser (Chinese trad., Pinyin Yangwei) and its transfer to China. Upon returning from England for several years he commanded the cruiser Yanwei. For the transfer of the cruiser from England to China, he was awarded the honorary title of Boyun-batur (Chinese р 勇 巴图鲁, Pinyin Boyong-batulu).
In 1887 he was again seconded to England to receive and drive the cruiser Zhiyuan . After returning to China, he was confirmed as the commander of the Zhiyuan cruiser, and became the head of the Bayeyang fleet cruisers. In 1888, Mr .. participated in a campaign in Taiwan to suppress the uprising of local tribes. During the campaign, Dan Shichan carried out a series of bombings of settlements defended by the natives.
In the same 1888, Dan Shichang was appointed commander of the central division of the Beiyang fleet (Ch. Exercise. 中 军 中 营 副将, pinyin Zhongjun zhongying fujiang). In fact, this was the position of the third deputy fleet commander - after Liu Buchan (commander of the flagship battleship Dingyuan, who headed the left wing of the fleet) and Lin Taitseng (commander of the battleship Zhenyuan, who headed the right wing of the fleet).
In 1891, as an honorary convoy, he participated in his cruiser in a meeting of the heir to the throne of the Russian Empire of the future Emperor Nicholas II, after which he took part in the first imperial review of the Navy of the Qing Empire, and also paid a visit to Japan.

Dan Shichan, who received a good education, visited England several times and had experience in long ocean voyages, was one of the most promising officers of the Chinese Navy before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. In 1891, after the first review of the Chinese Navy, he was honored by Li Hongzhang (01, 1823-1901) for merits in the development of the Navy and awarded the honorary title of Gers-batur (Chinese уп., Pinyin Geersa-batulu ) However, the fact that he was a native of Guangdong province greatly complicated his further advancement in the ranks - the Beidu Fleet Commander Tida Dean Zhuchan relied on the so-called. "Clique Min" - naval officers originating from Fujian. In particular, Liu Buchan, the commander of the Dingyuan flagship battleship, belonged to the Ming clique, and was also Ding Zhuchang's deputy. Some Chinese articles on the creation of the Bayan Navy claim that Ding Zhuchang and Deng Shichang were in a tense relationship and even went so far as Ding Zhuchang refused to give Deng Shichang an office apartment, after which Deng Shichang was forced to rent a house privately. However, the surviving documents do not confirm this version. In the Chinese feature film Jiu Fengyun (1962), dedicated to Dan Shichang, the relationship between Dan Shichang and Ding Zhuchang is presented as a relationship between a teacher (Ding Zhuchang) and a student (Dan Shichang), and sincere friendship.

Learning about the beginning of the war with Japan, Dan Shichang advocated the immediate start of active operations at sea, proposed that a cruiser be sent to the sea to intercept Japanese convoys with troops going to Korea, but an order was issued from Tsongli Yamen (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Emperor Qing) prohibiting access to Sea and operations outside the territorial waters of China.
September 17, 1894 Dan Shichan died with his ship in the naval battle at Yalu , trying to ram the Yoshino cruiser after the ammunition ended.
Of the entire crew, only 7 people were saved. According to a common legend, Dan Shichan refused to leave the captain’s bridge and died in the waves, holding on to the handrail and stroking his dog, accompanying him on all trips. According to another version, after the explosion, Dan Shichan was in the water and the dog tried to save the owner, but both were dragged into a whirlpool, which formed when the ship's hull went under water. According to the third version, expressed by the author of “Qing Shi Gao” Zhao Ersyun, he refused to escape, having thrown off the life buoy.
Today, Chinese divers surveyed the remnants of the Zhiyuan cruiser. After the survey, it was recognized that the cause of the death of the ship was hit by a large-caliber projectile in the equipped underwater torpedo tube.

After his death, Deng Shichang was awarded the honorary title of Zhuangjie (Chinese ex. 节 节, pinyin Zhuangjie - “Courageous and Pure in Soul”). In 1895, in the homeland of Dan Shichang, a memorial temple was erected, on the basis of which a museum is now deployed.
The training helicopter carrier ship of the Navy of the People's Republic of China, commissioned in 1996, was named "Shichan" in honor of the admiral.
Since 2002, one of Guangzhou secondary schools has been named after Dan Shichang.

Despite the fact that Dan Shichang is extolled as a talented naval commander, there are no historical reasons for this. For his activities, Dan Shichan took part in only one naval battle, during which he was not up to the mark - as one of the deputy commanders of the Beiyang fleet, he was obliged to take command if Dean Zhuchan for some reason could not lead the battle.
At the beginning of the battle, the Japanese Mars defeated the mars of the battleship Dingyuan and killed all the signalmen, Ding Zhuchang received several wounds. Controlling the battle from Dingyuan became impossible. The second flagship - the commander of the battleship Zhenyuan Lin Taitseng - also did not take the initiative and did not take command.
According to the version set forth in Qing Shi Gao, Dan Shichang took command of the squadron. However, according to the studies of the Chinese historian Cheng Yue, the cruiser Zhiyuan died at the height of the battle - at 15:50, being subjected to concentrated shelling from the ships of the Flying Squad, Admiral Tsuboi Kodzo, and the commander of the same cruiser Jingyuan took command of the Qing squadron at about 5 p.m. Ye Zuguy, previously forced to fight numerous fires on his ship. The actions of Ye Zuguya immediately affected the quality of command of the Qing squadron - obeying the commands from Jingyuan, the squadron lined up in a wake column and headed for Lishun.
Thus, during the battle, Dan Shichan proved himself to be an undoubtedly brave and loyal officer to his homeland, but nothing more. The highest rating given to his actions by Emperor Guangxiu was aimed at maintaining the morale of Qing sailors. Campaign of 1909-1911 for the rehabilitation of participants in the war of 1894-1895. and the glorification of its heroes entrenched in the minds of the Chinese people the image of "a knight without fear and reproach."
The image of Dan Shichang was used to enhance the morale of the Chinese sailors in the war of 1937-1945. For example, in 1939, one of the Chinese torpedo boats received the name "Shichan" in honor of Dan Shichang.

• Hummel, Arthur William , ed. Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644-1912). 2 vols. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1943.
• Paine, SCM The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perception, Power, and Primacy, 2003, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA, 412 pp. ISBN 0-521-61745-6
• Zhao Hersun “Qing Shi Gao” (Draft History of the Qing Dynasty), Beijing, 1927.
• Patyanin S. V., Pastukhov A. M. “Armored cruisers of the Zhiyuan type / Marine Campaign No. 3, 2010, pp. 12-22.
• Pastukhov A. M. “Torpedo boats of the Republic of China (1920-1945)” / “Marine Campaign” No. 7, 2010, p. 35-39.