Qing · Military Officer

Huang Guilan 黃桂蘭

Attested AD 1883 - AD 1884

Passages: 10
Chapters: 2
Histories: 1

Overview

The translated histories identify Huang Guilan as a general and military officer. This record brings together 10 passages from 2 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Huang Guilan	黃桂蘭	Huang Guilan
Personal	Huang Guilan	黃桂蘭	Huang GuiLan

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · qingshigao:458:s0008
Sex: male
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:463:s0019

Roles

General
Military Officer

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 光緒十年 · Regnal Year: 10 · Western Year: AD 1884
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:458:s0037, qingshigao:458:s0041, qingshigao:458:s0043
Source Date: Text: 光緒九年 · Regnal Year: 9 · Western Year: AD 1883
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:458:s0008, qingshigao:458:s0028, qingshigao:458:s0037
Source Date: Text: 十年 · Western Year: AD 1884
Explicit · qingshigao:463:s0019

Career and standing

Office: Brigadier / 提督 · Action: held · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒九年 · Regnal Year: 9 · Western Year: AD 1883
Explicit · qingshigao:458:s0008

Places and affiliations

Polity: Qing · Relation: active-in
Explicit · qingshigao:458:s0008

Events and relationships

Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: allowed his troops to plunder Vietnamese civilians · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒十年 · Regnal Year: 10 · Western Year: AD 1884
Explicit · qingshigao:458:s0043
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: commanded the left army in the defense of Bac Ninh · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒九年 · Regnal Year: 9 · Western Year: AD 1883
Explicit · qingshigao:458:s0028
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: his force collapsed at Bac Ninh and fled to Thai Nguyen · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒十年 · Regnal Year: 10 · Western Year: AD 1884
Explicit · qingshigao:458:s0037

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: extravagant, boastful, and unreliable · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:458:s0031, qingshigao:458:s0035, qingshigao:458:s0041

References in the histories

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

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 458Volume 458 Biographies 245: Xu Yanxu, Tang Jiong, He Jing, Zhang Zhaodong · 7 passages

會南定陷，朝命出鎮南關，與提督黃桂蘭、道員趙沃籌防，未行，越官劉永福戰勝懷德府紙橋，狀其績以上。 When Nam Dinh fell, the court ordered him to take command at Zhennan Pass and work out defenses with Brigadier Huang Guilan and Circuit Intendant Zhao Wo. Before he marched, the Vietnamese commander Liu Yongfu defeated the enemy at Paper Bridge in Hoa Duc prefecture and sent up a report of his victory.

於是令左軍黃桂蘭、右軍趙沃協防其地。 He then ordered Huang Guilan's left wing and Zhao Wo's right wing to defend the place together.

然沃等皆寡識，桂蘭尤侈汰，與越官張登壇日事宴樂。 Yet Zhao Wo and his fellows were shallow men, and Huang Guilan was especially extravagant. He and the Vietnamese official Zhang Dengtan spent their days in feasting and pleasure.

桂蘭復希風指，侈談部下能戰，延旭益信之，遂六上書請戰。 Huang Guilan again tried to read his commander's mind and boasted of his men's fighting power. Yanxu believed him all the more and six times memorialized asking permission to give battle.

十年，法軍陷扶良，三路攻北寧，桂蘭潰奔太原。 In the tenth year the French took Phu Luong and attacked Bac Ninh on three fronts. Huang Guilan's force collapsed and fled toward Thai Nguyen.

初，延旭之任西撫也，未及兩月，亦知桂蘭等未可恃。 When Yanxu first took up the governorship of the western provinces, he had known within two months that Huang Guilan and his like were not to be trusted.

而桂蘭等且縱兵剽奪，越民不堪命，忿滋甚。 Yet Huang Guilan and his men still let their troops loot and pillage until the Vietnamese could bear no more and their anger grew fierce.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 463Volume 463 Biographies 250: Tang Jingsong, Liu Yongfu · 3 passages

初，桂軍黃桂蘭等方守北寧，劉團被困山西，坐視不救，永福憾之深。 Earlier, Huang Guilan and other Guangxi commanders were holding Bac Ninh while Liu's Black Flag regiment was trapped at Son Tay; they looked on without helping, and Yongfu deeply resented it.

並勸桂蘭離城擇隘而守，弗聽。 he also urged Guilan to abandon the city and hold a narrow pass, but Guilan would not listen.

永福憤，請戰，出駐山西，迳諒山，謁提督黃桂蘭，乞援助。 Yongfu was indignant, asked to fight, garrisoned Son Tay, went straight to Lang Son, called on the provincial commander Huang Guilan, and begged for aid.