Dong Fuxiang
General of the Qing Army (the 'Kansu Braves')
"The Braves of the Northwest do not fear the foreigner's guns."
Biography
A hard-fighting Muslim general from the northwest, Dong Fuxiang commanded the 'Kansu Braves' — tough Hui and other Muslim soldiers whose ferocity made them the most effective Qing troops in the war. His men did much of the real fighting against the foreigners, attacking the legations and the relief columns, and it was reportedly one of his soldiers who shot dead the German minister von Ketteler in the street, an act that helped ignite the international response. Because the powers demanded his execution in the peace terms, and because his army was too important to the frontier to sacrifice, the court could only cashier and exile him rather than put him to death. He retired to the northwest and died in 1908. He remained a hero to China's Muslims for having fought the invaders when the rest of the empire's armies faltered.
Did you know?
His Muslim 'Kansu Braves' were considered the fiercest fighters in the Qing service, and several of their officers later became major warlords in China's northwest.
Key Battles
The Siege of the International Legations
Eight-Nation Alliance victoryJune 20 – August 14, 1900 · 2,500 total casualties
The siege of the legations was the dramatic heart of the crisis, a fifty-five-day ordeal reported breathlessly around the world that galvanised the eight-nation intervention and became the defining image of the Boxer Rebellion in the West.
The Relief March: Beicang and Yangcun
Eight-Nation Alliance victoryAugust 5–6, 1900 · 1,500 total casualties
The relief march was a remarkable, if fractious, multinational operation; its victories at Beicang and Yangcun broke the last organised Qing resistance between Tientsin and the capital.
Life Journey
Timeline
1839
🌅 Birth
Born in Gansu
June–August 1900
⚔️ Battle
His Braves attack the Peking legations
1908
✝️ Death
Dies in exile in the northwest