Ye Mingchen
Encyclopedia
Ye Mingchen was a high-ranking Chinese official during the Qing Dynasty
, known for his resistance to British
influence in Guangzhou
in the aftermath of the First Opium War
.
province and was awarded the highest degree in the imperial exams in 1835, after which he briefly held the position as a compiler in the imperial elite school, the Hanlin Academy
. In 1838, Ye received his first official appointment as prefect of Xing'an in Shaanxi
province and he subsequently rose rapidly through the ranks in the Qing civil service. In the following years he served as circuit intendant of Yanping in Shanxi
provinces, salt inspector in Jiangxi
, surveillance commissioner in Yunnan
and financial commissioner first in Hunan
, later in Gansu
and finally Guangdong
province.
province, which brought him into open conflict with Britain because of his refusal to allow British traders to reside in the city of Guangzhou proper, which the British claimed they had a right to according to the Treaty of Nanking
. As a matter of fact, the treaty read differently in its English and Chinese versions, the latter only permitting foreigners to reside temporarily in the harbors of the newly opened treaty ports.
As a reward for his ostensible success in keeping the British out of Guangzhou, he was promoted to Viceroy of Liangguang
as well as imperial commissioner in 1852, which made him the chief official in charge of relations with the West. Ye Mingchen remained steadfastly opposed to yielding to British demands, but he was not able to resist the British with military force. The conflict with the British Empire came to a head in 1856, when Ye seized the British-owned lorcha Arrow, which provided the British and French
with an excuse to start the Second Opium War
. During the hostilities, British forces captured Ye and brought him as a prisoner of war
to Calcutta in British India where he lived comfortably in exile. Ye reportedly refused to eat local food and he died of starvation in 1859 after he had run out of his own food.
, but his policy fell out of favor when hostilities broke out. Contemporary British public opinion regarded "Commissioner Yeh" as the embodiment of Chinese xenophobia
and he was frequently caricatured in British media. But his image in the West was not unanimously negative. For instance, the German writer Theodor Fontane
, who learned about Ye while working in London in the late 1850s, was touched by Ye's fate and later published an essay on the official.
In official Chinese historiography, Ye was long given the blame for precipitating the Second Opium War, but now he is frequently hailed as an early Chinese patriot and a monument have been erected in his memory in Guangzhou.
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
, known for his resistance to British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
influence in Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
in the aftermath of the First Opium War
First Opium War
The First Anglo-Chinese War , known popularly as the First Opium War or simply the Opium War, was fought between the United Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty of China over their conflicting viewpoints on diplomatic relations, trade, and the administration of justice...
.
Early career
Ye came from a scholarly family in HubeiHubei
' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...
province and was awarded the highest degree in the imperial exams in 1835, after which he briefly held the position as a compiler in the imperial elite school, the Hanlin Academy
Hanlin Academy
The Hanlin Academy was an academic and administrative institution founded in the eighth century Tang dynasty China by Emperor Xuanzong.Membership in the academy was confined to an elite group of scholars, who performed secretarial and literary tasks for the court. One of its main duties was to...
. In 1838, Ye received his first official appointment as prefect of Xing'an in Shaanxi
Shaanxi
' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...
province and he subsequently rose rapidly through the ranks in the Qing civil service. In the following years he served as circuit intendant of Yanping in Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
provinces, salt inspector in Jiangxi
Jiangxi
' is a southern province in the People's Republic of China. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south, it shares a border with Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to...
, surveillance commissioner in Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
and financial commissioner first in Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
, later in Gansu
Gansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
and finally Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
province.
Conflicts with Britain
In 1848, Ye was appointed governor of GuangdongGuangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
province, which brought him into open conflict with Britain because of his refusal to allow British traders to reside in the city of Guangzhou proper, which the British claimed they had a right to according to the Treaty of Nanking
Treaty of Nanking
The Treaty of Nanking was signed on 29 August 1842 to mark the end of the First Opium War between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Qing Dynasty of China...
. As a matter of fact, the treaty read differently in its English and Chinese versions, the latter only permitting foreigners to reside temporarily in the harbors of the newly opened treaty ports.
As a reward for his ostensible success in keeping the British out of Guangzhou, he was promoted to Viceroy of Liangguang
Viceroy of Liangguang
The Viceroy of Liangguang , fully referred to as the Governor General of Liangguang and surrounding areas; Overseeing Military Affairs, Food Production; Manager of Waterways; Director of Civil Affairs , was one of eight viceroys in China proper during the Qing Dynasty of China...
as well as imperial commissioner in 1852, which made him the chief official in charge of relations with the West. Ye Mingchen remained steadfastly opposed to yielding to British demands, but he was not able to resist the British with military force. The conflict with the British Empire came to a head in 1856, when Ye seized the British-owned lorcha Arrow, which provided the British and French
French colonial empires
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
with an excuse to start the Second Opium War
Second Opium War
The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war pitting the British Empire and the Second French Empire against the Qing Dynasty of China, lasting from 1856 to 1860...
. During the hostilities, British forces captured Ye and brought him as a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
to Calcutta in British India where he lived comfortably in exile. Ye reportedly refused to eat local food and he died of starvation in 1859 after he had run out of his own food.
Legacy
The Cantonese community is said to have respected Ye Mingchen for his intransigence against the British, but also ridiculed his inability to resist them on the battlefield. In Guangzhou he was known as the "six nots": "he would not fight, not make peace and not defend; he would not die, not capitulate and not run away." Ye briefly won the favor of the Xianfeng EmperorXianfeng Emperor
The Xianfeng Emperor , born Aisin-Gioro I Ju, was the ninth Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and the seventh Qing emperor to rule over China, from 1850 to 1861.-Family and his early years:...
, but his policy fell out of favor when hostilities broke out. Contemporary British public opinion regarded "Commissioner Yeh" as the embodiment of Chinese xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
and he was frequently caricatured in British media. But his image in the West was not unanimously negative. For instance, the German writer Theodor Fontane
Theodor Fontane
Theodor Fontane was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist writer.-Youth:Fontane was born in Neuruppin into a Huguenot family. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to an apothecary, his father's profession. He became an...
, who learned about Ye while working in London in the late 1850s, was touched by Ye's fate and later published an essay on the official.
In official Chinese historiography, Ye was long given the blame for precipitating the Second Opium War, but now he is frequently hailed as an early Chinese patriot and a monument have been erected in his memory in Guangzhou.
Iconography
A sketch of Ye captured and kept on board of HMS Inflexible was made to depict him as a hideous monster. It got broad circulation as British propaganda justifying the Arrow (second Opium) War.Further reading
- Hummel, Arthur WilliamArthur W. Hummel, Sr.Arthur William Hummel, Sr. was an American Christian missionary to China, noted Sinologist and father of Arthur W. Hummel, Jr., a career diplomat and U.S. Ambassador to China.-Biography:...
, ed. Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644-1912). 2 vols. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1943. - Huang, Yen-yü. "Viceroy Yeh Ming-ch'ên and the Canton Episode (1856-1861)." Harvard Journal of Asiatic StudiesHarvard Journal of Asiatic StudiesThe Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies is an English-language scholarly journal published by the Harvard-Yenching Institute. HJAS features articles and book reviews of current scholarship in East Asian Studies, focusing on Chinese, Japanese, and Korean history, literature and religion, with...
6, no. 1 (1941): 37-127. - Nolde, John J. "The 'False Edict' of 1849." Journal of Asian StudiesJournal of Asian StudiesThe Journal of Asian Studies is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Asian Studies, covering Asian studies. The journal was first established in 1941 as The Far Eastern Quarterly, obtaining its new title in September 1956...
20, no. 3 (1961): 299-315. - Wong, J. Y. Yeh Ming-Ch'en: Viceroy of Liang Kuang 1852-8. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976.