Qihou Fort or Qihou Battery – 19th century fort, formerly guarding northern entrance to Kaohsiung harbour

Port of Kaohsiung

The Port of Kaohsiung is the largest harbor in Taiwan, handling approximately 10 million twenty-foot equivalent units worth of cargo in 2007. The port is located in southern Taiwan, adjacent to Kaohsiung City, surrounded by the city districts of Gushan, Yancheng, Lingya, Cianjhen, Siaogang, and...

.

History

First fortifications were built in 1720, during Kangxi's reign. After Japanese expedition in 1874

Taiwan Expedition of 1874

The , usually referred to in Taiwan and mainland China as the Mudan incident , was a punitive expedition launched by the Japanese in retaliation for the murder of 54 Ryukyuan sailors by Paiwan aborigines near the southwestern tip of Taiwan in December 1871...

 Chinese authorities constructed a modern fort, which in 1880 had new Armstrong's guns installed. It played no part in Sino-French War

Sino-French War

The Sino–French War was a limited conflict fought between August 1884 and April 1885 to decide whether France should replace China in control of Tonkin . As the French achieved their war aims, they are usually considered to have won the war...

; the fighting in Taiwan took place around Keelung

Keelung Campaign

The Keelung Campaign was a controversial military campaign undertaken by the French in northern Formosa during the Sino-French War. After making a botched attack on Keelung in August 1884, the French landed an expeditionary corps of 2,000 men and captured the port in October 1884...

 and during blockade French ships did not approach the port.

Taiwan was ceased to Japan according to the Treaty of Shimonoseki

Treaty of Shimonoseki

The Treaty of Shimonoseki , known as the Treaty of Maguan in China, was signed at the Shunpanrō hall on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing Empire of China, ending the First Sino-Japanese War. The peace conference took place from March 20 to April 17, 1895...

 in the aftermath of the first Sino-Japanese war. The local troops, however, fought on.

Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1895)

The Japanese invasion of Taiwan was a conflict between the Empire of Japan and the armed forces of the short-lived Republic of Formosa following the Qing Dynasty's cession of Taiwan to Japan in April 1895 at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War...

 On 12 October 1895, escadre commanded by admiral Arichi Shinanojo

Arichi Shinanojo

Baron was an admiral in the early Imperial Japanese Navy, and served as Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff in the late 19th century.-Biography:...

 (cruisers Yoshino

Japanese cruiser Yoshino

was a 2nd class protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy, designed and built by the Armstrong Whitworth shipyards in Elswick, in Great Britain. Yoshino is sometimes regarded as a sister ship to the , although the two vessels are of different classes...

, , , Yaeyama

Japanese cruiser Yaeyama

was a protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The name Yaeyama comes from the Yaeyama Islands, the southernmost of the three island groups making up current Okinawa prefecture.-Background:...

, Saien (ex Chinese Jiyuan

Chinese cruiser Jiyuan

The Jiyuan , sometimes translated as Chiyuan, was a cruiser in the Chinese Beiyang fleet of the Qing government. It was originally ordered as the third vessel in the class of battleships, but as the necessary funds could not be raised and the order was changed to a smaller armoured deck cruiser....

, captured in Weihaiwei

Battle of Weihaiwei

The Battle of Weihaiwei was a 23 day siege with a major land and naval component during the First Sino-Japanese War. It took place between 20 January and 12 February 1895 in Weihai, Shandong Province, China) between the forces of Meiji Japan and Qing China...

) and corvette Hiei

Japanese corvette Hiei (1877)

was the second and last vessel in the of armored sail-and-steam corvettes of the early Imperial Japanese Navy. Hiei was named after the Mount Hiei, outside of Kyoto, and the name was subsequently used for the World War II battleship .-History:...

) arrived at Kaohsiung and prompted the foreigners to evacuate, as they would conduct the attack on the next day. The foreigners boarded gunboat HMS Tweed and two tugs and withdrew (only to return once the fight was over). At 7 am, 13 October, Japanese ships opened fire on the forts, which returned the fire, but were silenced after half an hour. The forts fired 24 rounds altogether, the best of which landed ca 500 yards from Japanese cruisers. The Japanese troops seized the forts in early afternoon, suffering no casualties (4 Chinese soldiers were killed).

During Japanese era

Taiwan under Japanese rule

Between 1895 and 1945, Taiwan was a dependency of the Empire of Japan. The expansion into Taiwan was a part of Imperial Japan's general policy of southward expansion during the late 19th century....

 the fort was not used.

After World War II

Taiwan after World War II

Taiwan after World War II is the history of Taiwan which is ruled by the government of the Republic of China, since 25 October 1945 for present.-Early postwar society:...

 the hill was fortified by Chinese army

Republic of China Army

The ROC Army's current operational strength includes 3 armies, 5 corps. As of 2005, the Army's 35 brigades include 25 infantry brigades, 5 armoured brigades and 3 mechanized infantry brigades...

: light gun and machine gun nests cut in the rock can still be found there.

Construction

Planned by British engineer, H. W. Harwood, the fort consists of three parts:

• fortified barracks
  Barracks
  Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
  
  , around rectangular square, with close-defence parapet
  Parapet
  A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
  
   on the roof. Of the two gates, one leads to the battery, the other used to be a main southern gate. It bore a Chinese inscription, which could be translated as "Mighty blow to the South" – the characters for "mighty blow" were shot away by a shell from Yoshino
  Japanese cruiser Yoshino
  was a 2nd class protected cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy, designed and built by the Armstrong Whitworth shipyards in Elswick, in Great Britain. Yoshino is sometimes regarded as a sister ship to the , although the two vessels are of different classes...
  
  . The rest, still visible, serve as ironic remainder of history.
• central command post

• main rectangular battery with four open emplacements (two facing west, one north and one south) for four Armstrong's 7 inch rifled muzzle-loaders (RML 7-inch 6½-ton), with bunker
  Bunker
  A military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks...
  
  s for crews. Magazines are located on the lower level. Steep slopes of the Qihou hill served as fort's natural scarps.

Of the 19th century fortification at the foot of the hill, only remainders are still visible.