Ding Ruchang (丁汝昌)

Overview

The translated histories identify Ding Ruchang as a general, military officer, and official. This record brings together 30 passages from 3 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Ding Ruchang	丁汝昌	Ding Ruchang
Title	Admiral Ding Ruchang	提督丁汝昌
Surname	Ding	丁	Dīng
Personal name	Ding Ruchang	丁汝昌	Dīng Rǔchāng
Personal name	Ding Ruchang	丁汝昌
Given	Ruchang	汝昌	Ruchang
Given	Ruchang	汝昌	Rǔchāng
Title	Xieyong Batulu	協勇巴圖魯
Courtesy name	Yuting	禹廷	Yǔtíng

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:460:s0048, qingshigao:462:s0002, qingshigao:467:s0002

Roles

General
Military Officer
Official

Life and dates

Death

Cause: took poison / 飲藥死 · Place: Weihai / 威海
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0032

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 二十年 · Western Year: AD 1894
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:467:s0027, qingshigao:467:s0024
Source Date: Text: 光緒九年 · Western Year: AD 1883
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0010
Source Date: Text: 光緒二十年 · Western Year: AD 1894
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:460:s0059, qingshigao:460:s0065
Source Date: Text: 光緒二十年 · Western Year: AD 1894
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0015
Source Date: Text: 光緒八年 · Western Year: AD 1882
Explicit · qingshigao:460:s0049, qingshigao:462:s0007
Source Date: Text: 光緒初 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1875 · End: AD 1879
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0006
Source Date: Text: 光緒十四年 · Western Year: AD 1888
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0012
Source Date: Text: 威海陷 · Western Year: AD 1895
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:462:s0032
Source Date: Text: 宣統二年 · Western Year: AD 1910
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0034
Source Date: Text: 捻平 · Western Year: AD 1868
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:462:s0005, qingshigao:462:s0004
Source Date: Text: 旅順陷後 · Western Year: AD 1894
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:462:s0023
Source Date: Text: 逾歲 · Western Year: AD 1895
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0025

Career and standing

Label: assistant brigade commander (canjiang) / 參將 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0004
Label: commander of the Tianjin garrison / 天津鎮總兵 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0010
Label: commander-in-chief of the navy / 海軍提督 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0012
Label: overall director of the fleet / 綜水師 · Action: assumed
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0006
Label: admiral / provincial commander of navy / 提督 · Action: held
Explicit · qingshigao:460:s0056
Label: provincial commander-in-chief / 提督 · Action: promoted
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0005
Label: official rank / 官 · Action: restored
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0034
Label: yellow riding jacket / 黃馬褂 · Action: awarded
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0011
Label: nominal rank of ministry president / 尚書銜 · Action: granted
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0015
Label: Xieyong Batulu / 協勇巴圖魯 · Action: granted
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0005
Status: dismissal-and-arrest · Action: suffered · Label: stripped of office and detained for inquiry / 褫職逮問
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0023
Status: denied-posthumous-honors · Action: suffered · Negated: false
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0033

Places and affiliations

Polity: Qing / 清 · Relation: served
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:462:s0006, qingshigao:462:s0012
Place: Lujiang, Anhui / 安徽廬江
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0003
Place: Britain / 英國 · Relation: traveled-to
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0006
Place: Weihai / 威海 · Relation: withdrew-to
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0023
Organization: Huai Army / 淮軍 · Relation: member-of
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0013
Organization: Yangtze River navy / 長江水師 · Relation: member-of
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0004

Works and attributed material

Work: naval regulations on discipline and encouragement / 海軍懲勸章程 · Relation: author
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0022

Events and relationships

Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: Battle-of-the-Yalu · Place: Dadonggou / Yalu estuary / 大東溝、鴨綠江口
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0017, qingshigao:462:s0018
Kind: diplomatic-military · Role: purchaser · Action: bought-warships · Place: Britain / 英國
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0006
Kind: military · Role: officer · Action: campaigned-against-Nian · Other Person Id: Liu Mingchuan (劉銘傳)
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0004
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: commanded-fleet · Place: Dadonggou / 大東溝 · Ship: Dingyuan / 定遠
Explicit · qingshigao:460:s0065
Kind: military · Role: defender · Action: defended-Weihai · Place: Weihai / 威海
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0026, qingshigao:462:s0028
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: directed-battle-from-fighting-top
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0021
Kind: military · Role: flagship-commander · Action: fought-from-Dingyuan · Place: Yellow Sea / 大東溝
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0018
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: ordered-scuttle-then-surrendered-fleet
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0032
Kind: diplomatic · Role: supervisor · Action: oversaw-Korea-US-treaty · Other Person Id: Ma Jianzhong (馬建忠) · Place: Korea / 朝鮮
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0007
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: patrolled-coast · Place: Qinzhou / Bailongwei / 欽州白龍尾
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0011
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: protected-merchants-at-Inchon-Seoul
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0008
Kind: military-diplomatic · Role: commander · Action: seized-Daewongun · Other Person Id: Yi Ha-eung (李應罡)
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0009

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: guilty yet repaid the state with death and still feared the law · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0097
Assessment: unversed in naval warfare; authority did not hold · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:460:s0057
Kind: injury · Statement: stunned and collapsed from flagship gun blast during battle
Explicit · qingshigao:462:s0021

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 460Volume 460 Biographies 247: Zuo Baogui Younger Brother: Bao Xian, Yong Shan, Deng Shichang, Liu Buchan, Lin Taiceng, Dai Zongqian · 12 passages

Open chapter

從丁汝昌赴英購鐵艦，益詳練海戰術。 He accompanied Ding Ruchang to England to buy ironclads and grew thoroughly versed in naval tactics.

八年，朝鮮內亂，復從汝昌泊仁川，為吳長慶陸軍後距。 In the eighth year of Guangxu, during civil strife in Korea, he again followed Ruchang to anchor at Incheon and covered Wu Changqing's land forces from the sea.

十四年，台灣生番畔，以副將從汝昌往討。 In the fourteenth year, when the aborigines of Taiwan rose in revolt, he went as vice commander under Ruchang to suppress them.

時定海軍經制，借補中軍副將，而以汝昌為提督，其左右翼總兵則閩人林泰曾、劉步蟾也。 When the navy's permanent organization was fixed, he was made acting central vice commander under Admiral Ding Ruchang; the left and right wing commanders were the Fujian men Lin Taiceng and Liu Buchan.

汝昌故不習海戰，威令不行。 Ruchang had never been trained in naval warfare, and his authority did not hold.

世昌憤欲進兵，汝昌尼其行，不果。 Shichang, furious, wanted to advance to the fight, but Ruchang held him back and nothing came of it.

汝昌乘定遠居中，列諸船左右張兩翼。 Ruchang took the Dingyuan at the center and drew up the fleet in two wings to left and right.

日艦魚貫進，據上風，汝昌令轟擊，距遠不能中。 The Japanese came on in column, holding the weather gauge; Ruchang ordered his guns to fire, but at that range the shots fell short.

世昌身環氣圈不沒，汝昌及他將見之，令馳救。 Shichang was kept afloat by a life buoy and did not sink; Ruchang and the other commanders saw him and ordered a boat to hurry to his rescue.

顧喜引用鄉人，視統帥丁汝昌蔑如也，時論責其不能和衷，致僨事。 Yet he favored fellow provincials and treated Admiral Ding Ruchang with contempt; contemporaries blamed him for refusing to cooperate with his commander, which helped bring on defeat.

夜宿藥庫，丁汝昌詣籌戰守策，宗騫曰：「綏、鞏軍已西去，孤台危棘，恐資敵。」 That night he slept in the powder magazine; Ding Ruchang came to discuss strategy, and Zongqian said, "The Sui and Gong armies have already gone west; this isolated battery is untenable and will only arm the enemy."

汝昌令毀台，強掖之下。 Ruchang ordered the battery destroyed and had him brought down by force.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 462Volume 462 Biographies 249: Ding Ruchang, Wei Rugui Younger Brother: Ru Cheng, Ye Zhichao · 17 passages

Open chapter

丁汝昌衛汝貴弟汝成葉志超 Ding Ruchang; Wei Rugui; Ru Cheng, his younger brother; and Ye Zhichao

丁汝昌，字禹廷，安徽廬江人。 Ding Ruchang, whose style was Yuting, came from Lujiang in Anhui.

捻平，賜號協勇巴圖魯，晉提督。 After the Nian were suppressed, he received the honorific Xieyong Batulu and was promoted to provincial commander-in-chief.

八年，朝鮮與美議互市，請蒞盟，汝昌與道員馬建忠東渡監約。 In year eight of Guangxu, Korea negotiated commercial treaties with the United States and requested a Chinese representative at the signing; Ruchang and Circuit Intendant Ma Jianzhong sailed east to oversee the pact.

既而朝軍譁變，焚日使署，遂率濟遠、揚威二艦赴仁川、漢城護商，而日軍已先至，汝昌還請益師。 Soon afterward Korean troops mutinied and burned the Japanese legation; he took the Jiyuan and Yangwei to Inchon and Seoul to protect merchants, but the Japanese had already landed, so Ruchang withdrew to seek more troops.

軍故多閩人，汝昌以淮軍寄其上，恆為所製。 The fleet had long been dominated by Fujian men; Ruchang, a Huai Army officer placed above them, was perpetually hamstrung.

朝亂再起，汝昌欲至濟物浦先攻日艦，將啟行，總署電柅之。 When unrest erupted in Korea again, Ruchang meant to strike Japanese warships first at Chemulpo, but as he was preparing to sail the Zongli Yamen telegraphed to hold him back.

定遠為汝昌座船，戰既酣，擊沉其西京丸一艘。 Ruchang fought from the Dingyuan; as the battle intensified, his force sank the Japanese Saikyo Maru.

汝昌猶立望樓督戰，忽座船砲震，暈而仆，舁以下。 Ruchang still stood on the fighting top directing the battle; suddenly a blast on his flagship stunned him and he collapsed, and men carried him below decks.

汝昌鑑世昌之死，慮諸將以輕生為烈，因定海軍懲勸章程，李鴻章上之，著為令。 Mindful of Shichang's death, Ruchang worried officers would treat rash suicide as glory; he drafted naval regulations on discipline and encouragement, Li Hongzhang submitted them, and they were issued as standing orders.

旅順陷，汝昌渡威海，是時兩軍相去二百二十餘里，朝士爭彈之，褫職逮問。 After Lüshun fell, Ruchang withdrew to Weihai; the two forces were then more than two hundred li apart, court critics clamored for his blood, and he was dismissed and placed under arrest.

汝昌亟以木簰塞東西兩口，復慮南岸三台不守、砲資敵，欲毀龍廟嘴台砲，陸軍統將戴宗騫電告鴻章，責其通敵誤國，不果毀。 Ruchang hurriedly blocked the eastern and western entrances with rafts of timber; fearing the three south-shore batteries might fall and arm the enemy, he also wanted to spike the guns at Longmiao Corner, but Army Commander Dai Zongqian wired Li Hongzhang charging him with collusion and treason, and the guns were not destroyed.

會日暮大風雪，汝昌盡毀緣岸民船，而南北岸已失，日艦入東口猛攻，定遠受重傷，汝昌命駛東岸，俄沉焉，軍大震，競向統帥乞生路，汝昌弗顧，自登靖遠巡海口。 At dusk a blizzard struck; Ruchang scuttled every civilian craft along the shore, but both shores had already fallen and Japanese warships stormed in through the eastern entrance. The Dingyuan was crippled; Ruchang ordered her driven toward the eastern shore, and she soon sank. The fleet panicked and officers crowded the commander begging for their lives; Ruchang ignored them and went aboard the Jingyuan to patrol the harbor entrance.

馬格祿欲以眾挾汝昌，德人瑞乃爾潛告曰：「眾心已變，不如沉船夷砲台，徒手降，計較得。」 Ma Gelu wanted the men to force Ruchang's hand; the German adviser Ruineier whispered to him: "Morale has collapsed. Scuttle the ships, destroy the batteries, and surrender without a fight—that is the shrewder course."

汝昌從之，令諸將同時沉船，不應，遂以船降，而自飲藥死，於是威海師熸焉。 Ruchang agreed, ordered the commanders to scuttle their ships together, and when they refused he surrendered the fleet; he then took poison and died, and with that the Weihai squadron was wiped out.

事聞，諸將皆被卹，汝昌以獲譴，典弗及。 When word reached the court, the other commanders received posthumous honors; Ruchang, already under censure, was denied the usual rites.

汝昌雖有罪，而能以一死報國，尚知畏法。 Ruchang was guilty, yet he atoned with his life and still showed regard for the law.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 467Volume 467 Biographies 254: Li Bingheng, Wang Tingxiang, Nie Shicheng, Luo Rongguang, Shou Shan Zu Sun : Rui Chang, Feng Xiang, Chong Yu · 1 passage

Open chapter

聞旅順不守，劾罷丁汝昌、龔照嶼等，以警威海守將。 When he learned that Lüshun had fallen, he impeached Ding Ruchang, Gong Zhaoyu, and others, intending to warn the commanders at Weihai.