It's quite surprising that China still has an "enclave" in the UK? Although its area is not large, only 167, but it has a history of more than 140 years. Today, let's take a look.
It all has to start from the late Qing Dynasty.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the national strength was weakened, but it was still indulged in the dream of "** Shangguo", ignoring the rise of the West, and even full of contempt, thinking that those advanced technologies were "strange and obscene skills", which were not of great use!
At that time, Britain had just experienced the Industrial Revolution and was in urgent need of a large market to dump cheap goods, so it asked the Qing Dynasty for trade, but it was not allowed. Later, Lin Zexu sold cigarettes, which inspired the hearts of the Chinese, but caused dissatisfaction with the British, and the Opium War broke out, and the Qing Dynasty was beaten to the point where they had no power to fight back, and they were forced to sign the "Treaty of Nanjing" that humiliated the country.
Later, the Qing Dynasty was targeted by the major powers, and they all wanted to take a bite, and some people of insight realized that some changes must be made to save the poor and weak Qing Dynasty, so they set off self-help movements such as "middle school for the body, Western learning for use", "Westernization Movement", etc., one of which is to purchase foreign advanced ** and build a modern navy.
In 1881, the Qing Dynasty sent more than 200 people, including Ding Ruchang, to Newcastle, England, to bring back the two cruisers "Chaoyong" and "Yangwei" that had been ordered earlier, and at the same time visited the British naval base and other places to learn advanced ideas and technologies.
We all know that in those days, it was very hard to take a boat, from China to England thousands of miles away, long distances and bumps, and lack of food and drink, many people could not stand it and fell ill.
After arriving in the UK, everyone was even more unaccustomed to the soil, among which Yuan Peifu and Gu Shizhong died of illness in a foreign country.
Due to the long journey back to China and the lack of advanced body preservation technology, Qing ** finally decided to buy a piece of land in St. John's Cemetery in Newcastle, England, to bury two sailors who unfortunately died of illness.
On August 9, 1881, Brave and Yang Wei sounded their whistles and left Newcastle, England, and sailed back to the far East.
Six years later, in 1887, the Beiyang Naval Division again sent more than 400 men to Germany and England.
Among them, the one that went to Germany was responsible for receiving the two cruisers "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan", and the one that went to Britain was responsible for receiving the two cruisers "Zhiyuan" and "Jingyuan".
Unfortunately, in the process of receiving ** in Newcastle, England, three more soldiers of the Beiyang Naval Division died of illness, they were 21-year-old Lian Jinyuan and 30-year-old Chen Shoufu, and Fuzhou sailor Chen Chengkui.
As before, the three people who died of illness were buried in St. John's Cemetery in Newcastle, England.
In 1911, the cruiser "Haiqi" of the Qing Dynasty was sent to England to participate in the coronation celebrations of the British king.
The officers and men of the Marine Division did not forget their former brothers, and they sent people to Newcastle to renovate the five tombstones, but no one took care of them after that.
Until the 21st century, more and more Chinese know the story behind this.
It turned out that the cemetery where the five soldiers were buried was purchased by the Qing Dynasty government through the embassy in Britain and was about 180 square feet (about 16.).7 square meters), which cost a total of £15 at the time, and it has been 142 years since 1881, and the property rights still belong to China.
As a result, overseas Chinese, international students, and the China Cultural Relics Protection Association jointly launched a crowdfunding campaign.
The funds raised were used to renovate the cemetery where the five Beiyang Navy soldiers were buried and to hold a memorial service to comfort their souls in heaven!