Liu Yongfu

Liu Yongfu
Name	Liu Yongfu
Birth date	1837
Birth place	Sanjiang, Guangxi
Death date	1917
Death place	Beijing
Occupation	Soldier, commander
Allegiance	Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (early), Black Flag Army, Qing dynasty, Republic of China
Rank	General

Liu Yongfu was a Chinese military commander and guerrilla leader active in the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century. He is best known as the founder and long-time leader of the Black Flag Army, a force notable for fighting French Third Republic forces during the Sino-French War and resisting the Empire of Japan during the brief Republic of Formosa. His career intersected with major figures and events across Guangxi, Vietnam, Guangdong, Taiwan, Beijing, and the broader imperial and republican transitions of late Qing China.

Early life and background

Liu was born in 1837 in Sanjiang, Guangxi province, into a Hakka family in a region marked by the Taiping Rebellion and local uprisings involving groups like the Tiandihui and the Nian Rebellion. In his youth he became involved with irregular bands that drew recruits from disaffected peasants and returned migrants, operating in proximity to the frontier between Qing dynasty territory and French Indochina. Early contacts with figures such as Hong Xiuquan were indirect, but the turbulence of the period shaped his military outlook. Liu later moved across the Red River frontier into Tonkin (northern Vietnam), where shifting alliances with local mandarin authorities and Chinese merchant networks brought him into conflict with colonial interests represented by the French Navy and the French Army.

Black Flag Army and resistance against French colonialism

In Tonkin Liu organized and led what became known as the Black Flag Army, composed largely of Chinese refugees, deserters, and bandit veterans. The Black Flags operated in the borderlands around the Red River delta and the strategic town of Hanoi, allying at times with Nguyễn dynasty mandarins such as Tôn Thất Thuyết and resisting incursions by the French Third Republic under commanders like Adhémar de Monteil and François de Négrier. Notable engagements included skirmishes along the Red River and the protracted defence of positions that culminated in participation in the Sino-French War (1884–1885). The Black Flag Army also clashed with rival forces including the Yellow Flag and White Flag bands, and confronted units of the French Foreign Legion and the Troupes coloniales.

The Black Flags combined guerrilla techniques with conventional set-piece ambushes, exploiting knowledge of terrain around Lạng Sơn and the Móng Cái frontier. Key confrontations, such as actions at Bắc Ninh and the Battle of Hài Hòa, showcased Liu's ability to coordinate irregular troops against European firepower. The Black Flag resistance influenced diplomatic outcomes, including negotiations between the Qing dynasty and the French Third Republic that eventually produced arrangements over the status of Tonkin and led to the Tientsin-era settlements.

Leadership of the Formosan Resistance (1895)

Following the First Sino-Japanese War and the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ceded Taiwan to the Empire of Japan, Liu was invited to lead the defense of the short-lived Republic of Formosa proclaimed in 1895. As commander-in-chief he sought to coordinate resistance with local leaders, Chinese gentry, and remnants of Qing military units against Japanese expeditionary forces led by figures such as Marquis Ōshima Takashi and General Nogi Maresuke. Liu organized irregulars and militia in key garrison towns including Tainan and Keelung, employing coastal defences and inland entrenchments.

Despite initial successes in harassing Japanese columns and staging counterattacks during sieges, the Formosan resistance was hampered by limited supplies, internal divisions among local elites and garrison commanders, and the growing logistical superiority of the Imperial Japanese Army. The fall of major centers and the capture of Tainan marked the collapse of organized resistance; Liu eventually retreated and evaded capture, leaving Taiwan as Japanese rule consolidated under the terms of the treaty.

Later career and service in the Qing and Republic of China

After leaving Taiwan, Liu returned to mainland China where he re-entered service under the Qing dynasty in roles that drew on his reputation as a frontier commander. He engaged intermittently with provincial authorities in Guangdong and Fujian, interacting with figures such as Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang's successors, and later navigated the complex politics of the late Qing reforms and the 1911 revolution. During the transition to the Republic of China (1912–49), Liu maintained ties with republican leaders and regional militarists, receiving appointments and honors indicative of his standing as a veteran commander. He spent his final years in Beijing, where he died in 1917 after a career spanning multiple regimes and colonial contests.

Personal life, legacy, and historical assessment

Liu's personal life reflected the transnational milieu of southern China and northern Vietnam; he married into local families and fostered patronage networks among merchants and mandarins. Historically, assessments of Liu vary: some historians emphasize his role as a defender of Chinese interests against French colonialism and Japanese expansionism, while others portray him as an opportunistic bandit-leader whose forces blurred lines between militia, mercenary, and pirate. His formation of the Black Flag Army left a durable imprint on regional memory found in accounts by Western officers, Chinese provincial records, and Vietnamese annals. Modern scholarship situates Liu within debates over irregular warfare, frontier sovereignty, and the collapse of imperial order, linking his career to contemporaries such as Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai, and Sun Yat-sen in analyses of late Qing military adaptation. Liu's legacy endures in regional histories of Guangxi, Tonkin, and Taiwan as an exemplar of 19th-century frontier leadership.

Category:Qing dynasty generals Category:People of the Sino-French War Category:Republic of Formosa