Biography of Young Kai (楊楷)
Young Kai in military uniform
(By
analyzing the medals that he was wearing, this photo might be taken after he
was promoted to the rank of Chief Engineer of the cruiser Hai Chi, which was in
December 1920 when he was about 56 years old.)
According to the information on the web, Young
Kai (1864-?) was a naval officer, the Second Engineer and then the Chief
Engineer of the Cruiser Hai Chi(海圻號巡洋艦), in the Beiyang Navy Fleet(北洋海軍/北洋艦隊) (1,2,3,29) of China in late Qing
Dynasty and early years of the Republic of China, i.e. in early 20th
century.
He belonged to the native village of the
Young's clan (楊家村) in Mumian district (木棉)
which was in Sanshui county (三水縣), Guangdong province (廣東省)
of China. (1,2)
When he was young, he entered the ‘College of
Skills’ (福建船政藝圃) (4,6,7) which was a subdivision
of the Foochow Shipbuilding Institution, also known as Fujian Arsenal Academy (福建船政學堂). (4,5,6,7,36) He then joined the Imperial Beiyang
Navy Fleet (北洋海軍) of the Qing Empire. (1,2,3)
'The College of Skills' was established in
1868 to train shipbuilding technicians. (4,6,7) Trainees were
admitted within the age of 17-20 and were trained there for five years. (4)
Outstanding graduates might receive further practical training in France.
(6)
He survived in the First Sino-Japanese War
and became the Second Engineer (大管輪) (1,2,8,9,30) of the largest
Chinese navy cruiser ‘Hai Chi’ (海圻號) before 1910 which was just before the end
of the Qing Dynasty (清朝). (1,2,8) The Second Engineer was
a rank lower than the Chief Engineer. He retired at approximately 70 years old
in 1934, just before the broke out of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
He devoted the golden stage of his career to
Hai Chi. He was probably separated from his family when he was working on the
cruiser.
The cruiser Hai Chi served the Chinese navy
from 1899 to 1937, almost 40 years. It was built and bought from England. It
was one of the two largest cruisers in that era. As the other large cruiser Hai
Tien was sunk in 1904, Hai Chi became the largest and most representative
cruiser in the Chinese navy until after World War II. It visited Hong Kong,
Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam in 1909.
From April 21, 1911 to May 1912, Cheng Biguang (程璧光), the Commander-in-chief
of the Cruiser Fleet (巡洋艦隊統領), led Hai Chi to represent the Chinese navy and visited England
and North America, which was the first worldwide voyage of a cruiser in the
naval history of China. (13, 16) It reached Portsmouth of England in
May 1911 and joined the Coronation Fleet Review (19 June - 28 June) to
celebrate the coronation of King George V. It then crossed the Atlantic Ocean
and visited Cuba, Mexico and New York. It also helped to pacify the
anti-Chinese riots in Cuba and Mexico during this voyage. (10-16)
This was also the first time that the Chinese
navy crossed the Atlantic Ocean (13) and the first Chinese naval
visit to a U.S. port. (13, 28) Young Kai was the Second Engineer
(second to Chief Engineer) of Hai Chi during this worldwide voyage. (8)
Senior officers of the cruiser Hai Chi
This
photo was probably taken in 1911 during the voyage to England and New York. The
4th person from the left in the middle row might be Young Kai, sitting beside
the Commander-in-chief Cheng Biguang who was in the center of the middle row.
Young Kai in the above photo (enlarged image)
The cruiser Hai Chi visiting New York in September, 1911
(The Chinese name
of Hai Chi 「海圻」was marked in the
front of the ship.)
Hai
Chi's visit to New York, reported in New York Times, 13 September, 1911 (28)
(The
Commander-in-chief Cheng Biguang was described as
‘Rear
Admiral Chin Pih Kwang’ in this news article.)
The
Qing Empire in China was overthrown in October 1911 and was replaced by the
Republic of China regime. Hai Chi had not yet returned to China at that time,
and Commander-in-chief
Cheng Biguang led all the officers on board of Hai
Chi to report loyalty to the new regime. (10-16)
Hai
Chi returned to China in May 1912 , and Young Kai was appointed as the Second
Engineer Acting Chief Engineer (輪機正署輪機長)
(1,2,8,9,30) of Hai Chi by the Republic of China regime.
On January 11, 1913, he was promoted to the
rank of Lieutenant Colonel Engineer of the Navy (海軍輪機中校) (1,2) by the Beiyang Government (20)
(北洋政府, also called Northern Government). On May 9, 1913, he was
awarded the Fifth-class Tiger Medal (五等文虎章). (1,2, 22-25)
Fifth-class Tiger Medal
On May 25, 1914, he was promoted to the rank
of Marine Colonel Engineer of the Navy (海軍輪機上校) and was awarded the Fourth-class Tiger
Medal (四等文虎章). (1, 2, 22-25) On September 28,
1914, he was awarded the Seventh-class Grain Medal (七等嘉禾章
). (1, 2, 22-25)
On New Year's Day in 1916, he was awarded the
Third-class Tiger Medal (三等文虎章). (1, 2, 22-25) In April 1916, he
was transferred to the post of Second Engineer of the Navy's First Fleet (海軍第一艦隊輪機正). (1, 2) On October 12, 1916, he was awarded the
First-class Golden Medal of the Army-Navy (陸海軍一等金色獎章). (1, 2, 22-25)
On New Year's Day in 1917, he was awarded the Sixth-class Grain Medal (六等嘉禾章). (1, 2, 22-25)
Sixth-class Grain Medal
Although Hai Chi
belonged to the Northern Seas Navy Fleet in northern China, it had made a trip
to southern China in 1917-1922, because in July 1917, Cheng Biguang led the First
Fleet (第一艦隊) including Hai Chi to southern China in
order to participate in Sun Yat-sen's 'Constitutional Protection Movement' (護法運動).
This was in fact an internal war against a northern warlord. (10, 11, 16,
17, 21)
On July 7 1919, the Guangzhou military regime
awarded Young Kai the Second-class Tiger Medal (二等文虎章). (1, 2, 22-25)
On January 5, 1920, he was promoted to the
rank of Rear-Admiral Engineer of the Navy (海軍輪機少將). (1, 2, 3, 22-25)
On December 10, 1920, he was promoted to the
post of Chief Engineer of the cruiser Hai Chi (海圻巡洋艦之輪機長). (1, 2, 22-25)
According to some books about the historical
events in the Chinese navy in modern China (37, 38, 39), Young Kai
was still working on Hai Chi as the Chief Engineer when he was about 70 years old,
which was in mid 1930s just before the broke out of the Second Sino-Japanese
War in 1937. His subordinate plotted against him, intended to overthrow him and
replace him, which led to hostile conflicts between two clans of officers on
board. However, it was not clear whether he retired because of this crisis, but
he had probably retired before the broke out of the Second Sino-Japanese War,
which should be a good arrangement for him to be safe from life-threatening
warfare.
His last rank in the navy was Rear Admiral
and he returned to his native village of the Young's clan in Sanshui,
Guangdong, after his retirement.
An analysis of Young Kai's life from the perspective of the
historical and political events in China during 1890s-1920s
The above account of Young Kai's military life was brief
and incomplete. It was mainly based on Baidu Wikipedia in Mainland China and the Chinese
Wikipedia in Taiwan about naval officers of the Republic of China. (1, 2) The accounts of Young Kai in these two websites were
basically the same. They only mentioned the posts, ranks, and awards from 1910
to 1920. (1,2) It was likely that the same account originated in the
same source of naval record.
Young Kai studied in the Arsenal
Academy before serving in the Beiyang Navy Fleet and that he survived
during the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). However, no related information
could be found on the web about his work in the Beiyang Navy Fleet before 1910,
say, which ship he had served in during this war or prior to his work on Hai
Chi.
It was worthy to note that the military and political
situation in China during his career life was very complicated and perilous.
Although Young Kai had received lots of awards and medals, he was often in
peril and had also encountered lots of hardships. Thankfully, he reached his
retirement safely in the end. The following was an analysis of Young Kai's life
from the perspective of the historical and political events in China during 1890s-1930s
to understand how fortunate he was.
1.
In
1894-1895, he survived in the First Sino-Japanese War
The Beiyang Navy Fleet of the Qing Empire was once ranked
the first in East Asia and the ninth in the world. Yet the whole fleet was
totally defeated during the First Sino-Japanese War. Most of the warships were
either sunk or surrendered, with many officers either surrendered, committed
suicide or being killed. Only 5 warships remained after the war. (18)
The Qing regime then dismissed all the officers in the fleet. (18,
19)
Thankfully, Young Kai had survived
in this war and later he was being recruited again just as his superior Cheng
Biguang was, probably because of his special ability in ship engineering and
his good performance. Prior to 1910, he even became the Second Engineer of the
largest Chinese cruiser Hai Chi. (1,2)
2. In 1911, he was not affected by the change of regime
The Qing regime tried to rebuild its naval power after the
total defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War. New ships were bought from England
and Germany. Two largest cruisers were built in England and Hai Chi was the
remaining one when the other one Hai Tien was sunk in 1904. (1,2,12,16)
Hai Chi started its service in the Chinese navy in 1899. In
April 1911, Hai Chi represented the Qing Empire and left China for its
worldwide visits to England and North American ports under the leadership of
the Commander-in-chief Cheng Biguang. (17) However, when it returned
to China in May 1912, the Republic of China (中華民國) had already replaced the Qing regime after the success of
the Xinhai Revolution (辛亥革命) in
October 1911 (10-16) led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen (孫中山), the Father of Modern China. As Cheng was born in the
same county as Dr. Sun, i.e. Xiangshan County (香山縣) in Guangdong, he supported Dr. Sun and led the whole crew to report loyalty to the new regime.
(17)
As Hai Chi was not in China during that period of time,
Young Kai had avoided the revolution and was
not affected by the change of regime.
3. In 1918, his superior Cheng Biguang was assassinated but
he was not affected
Cheng Biguang was the superior of Young Kai from 1911-1918.
In 1917, Cheng was the Minister of Navy. Cheng led the First Fleet southward to
reach Guangzhou in order to support Sun Yat-sen's Constitutional Protection
Movement (1917-1922), which was to fight against the Northern government
regime. (10, 11, 21)
However, Cheng was being assassinated in 1918. The real
motive behind his assassination was unclear, some even said that his
assassination was organized by Dr. Sun's subordinates. (10, 11, 17,21)
Young Kai was promoted to Chief Engineer of Hai Chi in 1920
and Hai Chi returned to northern China in 1923. (10, 11) This
implied that Young Kai was not affected by his superior Cheng’s assassination
and the politics behind this crisis.
4.The legendary and complicated destiny of the cruiser Hai
Chi
Hai Chi served in the Chinese navy from 1899-1937.
From 1911 to the broke out of the Second Sino-Japanese War
in 1937, it was a long period of turmoil in China. Warlords in different parts
of China fought against each other. Yet, Young Kai still received many awards
and promotions especially from 1912-1920. (1, 2, 3) In other words,
he was not affected by the internal warfare and had been loyal to each regime.
From 1910 to mid 1930s, he was also fortunate to serve in
the navy instead of the army. Compared with the army, the navy had relatively
less warfare. Yet the destiny of Hai Chi was not really that safe and sound
throughout. (26)
In fact, from 1917 to 1935, Hai Chi had changed its ‘boss’
six times within 18 years’ time. (16) Different regimes had tried to
take over the control of Hai Chi, for example Hai Chi was even assigned to
attack another Chinese warship during an internal warfare. (10, 11)
In 1933, when Hai Chi reached Guangdong province, Guangdong
warlord Chen Jitang took control of it. (10,
11) But in 1935, conflicts arose between the leaders of Hai Chi
and Chen Jitang, and Chen almost wanted to bomb Hai Chi! Hai Chi and another
ship fought its way past a blockade to reach Hong Kong. Eventually, it reached
the capital Nanjing and came under the direct command of the Ministry of
Defense. (10, 11)
In the end, the Chinese navy scuttled Hai Chi in 1937 to
create a blockade in Yangtze River to obstruct the advance of Japanese invasion
(10-16), and this sadly ended the legendary and complicated life of
Hai Chi.
To conclude, it was a period of upheaval from 1917 to 1935. Military life was perilous and not safe. Moreover, as different parties competed to take over the control of this cruiser, Young Kai must have encountered lots of dangers during his life on board.
5. Life threatened by subordinates twice during the 12 years from 1922-1934
A Canadian Chinese newspaper called
the Chinese Times had reported a conflict against Young Kai in its paper on 7 March
1922, with the heading saying that “News in Guangdong: Fukien naval officers
had protest act against officers from other province”. The article reported
that Young Kai was gun pointed and was not allowed to go on board
the Cruiser Hai Chi as a Fukien subordinate plotted to take over his position. The Fukien sailors did not even listen to the captain who
tried to stop this act. This incident reflected that the life of military
officers was under power struggles, very perilous with dangers coming from both
internal and external sources.
The second incident was mentioned in
two civilian Chinese naval history books (38, 39) that when Young Kai was still the Chief Engineer of Hai Chi when
he was around 70 years old, his Fukien subordinate Li King-sum, the
Assistant Engineer, plotted against him and intended to replace him. The Shantung sailors on board stood up on Young Kai's side and even fought with the Fukien sailors who backed up Li King-sum. He might
have left Hai Chi because of this crisis. If this were the real case, this
would be the saddest part of his career in Hai Chi.
He had worked on Hai Chi for more than 20 years. However,
if he did retire around seventy years old (1934), he would have avoided the crisis in 1934 when the Guangdong warlord Chen Ji-tang nearly bombed Hai Chi with a plane and also the broke out of the Second
Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Then this would be fortunate for him to be able to avoid these two dangerous situations.
Young Kai returned to his native village of the Young's
clan after retirement and enjoyed a peaceful life thereafter. This implied that
he had survived in five major crises during the turmoil from 1890s to 1930s in
China: the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894-95, the 1911 Revolution, the
Constitutional Protection Movement during 1917-1922, the struggle of powers
among warlords during 1912-1930s, and the Second Sino-Japanese War from
1937-1945.
Reflections
1. The legendary
and fortunate life of Young Kai
The above analysis tried to align his military career with
the political events in that era, because without understanding the
corresponding political background, such as Hai Chi had changed its ‘boss’ six
times within 18 years’ time, we could not understand that in fact he had faced
lots of perilous situation and challenges. Thankfully, he had survived and
enjoyed his retirement life. He could not control his fate. It all depends on
the political situation.
Yet it's unusual that a boy who lived in a farming village
in Guangdong, southern China, went to the College of Skills at the Foochow
Shipbuilding Institution for ship engineering training. He became the Second
Engineer of the largest Chinese cruiser Hai Chi before 1910 and was even
promoted to Chief Engineer of Hai Chi in 1920 and reached the climax of his
career. However, that was also a political upheaval period in China.
He had not left behind any personal history record about
himself to his descendants, except the old portrait in naval uniform. The
portrait was being kept throughout this hundred years’ time and was transferred
from one generation to another. Finally, this portrait has helped us know his
handsome look as well as helped us identify him in the group photo. This is a
treasure for his descendants.
2. Valuable family history account being written, kept and
retrieved
A handwritten family history account was written in 2002. His
name in Chinese, his post in the cruiser Hai Chi, and his rank before
retirement was mentioned in this account. The account was then passed on to one
of his descendants. In May 2020, this account was recovered with great
astonishment.
Knowing these crucial facts about Young Kai and followed by
a thorough search on the web, more related information about him and the
cruiser Hai Chi was discovered. Otherwise, who could know what happened a
hundred years ago?
3. More information about the Chinese navy could be found
on the web
On the other hand, if it were not because Young Kai was an
officer with senior posts and ranks, and that he had served on the largest Chinese
cruiser Hai Chi, and that the governments in Taiwan and Mainland China had kept
records of naval officers, it was not possible that information could still be
found on the web about him after a century.
As for the description in two naval history books that
Young Kai’s subordinate had tried to take over his post, this could not be
found in other web information, except a Vancouver newspaper reporting a similar
case, but the year was much earlier in 1922 (40). However,
logically, there is no reason why the authors of the history books need to make
up such a story. But if this were true, this would be the saddest part in his
career. This also reflected that the life of military men was full of perilous
situation.
4. This biography was particularly meaningful as it was written a century later
Young Kai was promoted to the post of Chief Engineer of Hai
Chi in December 1920. This biography was completed in both Chinese and English
versions in December 2020, which was exactly a hundred years after that. How
meaningful this act is!
Conclusion
After knowing all the above information, what are the
inspirations and implications for his descendants?
His life experience was so extraordinary. In the tough oceans and the political turmoil in China, he had led a perilous and yet remarkable life. However, I think we should not just focus on his ranks and medal awards. He lived in early modern China when warlords were fighting for power and control.
Living in such a turmoil era, he had probably faced lots of perilous situation. His career and the fate of Hai Chi were closely knitted. He worked for more than twenty years on the cruiser and must be seldom at home to meet his family. He had contributed to the country in expense of his family life.
Therefore, what should be learnt from his good example? It’s stretching
his strengths, facing challenges bravely and still striving for life
positively.
Remarks
The writer found that the same account about Young Kai that was used in references 1 & 2 were mistakenly used in two other Mainland China websites to describe a man also called ‘楊楷’ with calligraphy on sale and poems written.
However, after searching related
information about the government central exams during the Qing dynasty and
during that period, the writer could make the inference that this person was a
scholar from Jiangsu province (江蘇), not Young Kai from Sanshui in Guangdong province (三水) (1,2). Moreover, this scholar scored ‘進士’ in the central government exam and so he was not a
military man. Therefore, the calligraphy and poems were probably his works and
not from the naval officer Young Kai on the Cruiser Hai Chi, but the two websites
had mistakenly used Chinese Navy’s biography account (1,2) of Young
Kai for this scholar’s calligraphy and poems.
References
1. Account of naval officer Young Kai in a Taiwanese Chinese
Wikipedia website about the naval officers of the Republic of China:中文百科 - 民國海軍將領楊楷
2. Account of Young Kai in the Wikipedia of Baidu website in
Mainland China: 楊楷 - 百度百科
3. List of Naval Officers: 中華民國海軍將軍表 - 台灣百科全書
4. Foochow Shipbuilding Institution/Fujian Arsenal Academy: 福建船政學堂- 百度百科
5. Foochow Shipbuilding Institution/Fujian Arsenal Academy: 船政學堂- 維基百科
6. Foochow Shipbuilding Institution/Fujian Arsenal Academy: 马尾船政学堂
7. Exhibition
shows Fujian Arsenal impact on modern China's maritime culture
8. A record of Cruiser Hai Chi's visit to England with names and
ranks of officers on board: 海圻艦訪英紀錄
9. Second Engineer: 大管輪 - 百度百科
10. Introduction of Cruiser Hai Chi: 海圻號巡洋艦- 維基百科
11. Introduction of Cruiser Hai Chi: Chinese Cruiser
Hai Chi - Wikipedia
12. Introduction of Cruiser Hai Chi: 清朝到民國的功動戰艦 - 海圻號巡洋艦
13. The first worldwide trip of Qing navy's Cruiser Hai Chi: 清末海军海圻舰首次环球航行
14. Introduction of Cruiser Hai Chi: http://china-defense.blogspot.com/2009/04/hai-chi-of-qing-imperial-navy.html
15. Cruiser Hai Chi: 海圻號巡洋艦
16. History of Cruiser Hai Chi: 一代名艦海圻號的前世往生
17. Biography of Cheng Biguang: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheng_Biguang
18. The reorganization of the Qing Navy after the First
Sino-Japanese War:
19. The reorganization of the Qing Navy after the First
Sino-Japanese War:
老照片，甲午戰後開始重建的清朝海軍，這是近代海軍一個新的開始
20. Beiyang Government: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beiyang_government
21. Constitutional
Protection Movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_Protection_Movement,
22.
Award system under the Republic of China Beijing Government: 中華民國北京政府時期勳章獎章
23. Tiger Medal: 文虎勳章初探
24. Medal award system under the Republic of China Beiyang Government: 北洋政府勛位章註解
25. Medal award system of the Chinese Army-navy: 陸海軍獎章 - 徽章帝國
26. The naval crises under the rule of the Republic of China
Government during 1912-1945: 青天白日旗下民國海軍的波濤起伏 (1912-1945)
27. The biography
of an assistant captain of the Cruiser Hai Chi who was the father of a famous
Chinese writer: 玫瑰的盛開與凋謝:
冰心與吳文藻 (1900-1951)
28. Report of Hai
Chi's visit to New York in September 1911 by New York Times:
29. Beiyang Fleet: Beiyang
Fleet (Northern Seas Navy Fleet)
30. The duties of
Chief Engineer and Second Engineer in a ship: 船舶輪機人員的職責與分工
31. The biography
of a Second Engineer Lai Yuen-hung (later the first temporary President of the
Nationalist Government) on a Chinese warship during the First Sino-Japanese
War: 黎元洪甲午戰爭當逃兵
32. The biography
of a Second Engineer Lai Yuen-hung (later the first temporary President of the
Nationalist Government) on a Chinese warship during the First Sino-Japanese
War: 甲午海戰中逃生的大管輪，22年後竟成國家大總統
33. The
names of the captains and assistant captains of Hai Chi:
https://wenku.baidu.com/view/cf38beadd1f34693daef3ed8.html
34. The biography of Hai Chi’s Captain Tong Yin-guang:
http://www.lbzyj.com/newsdetail.asp?sn=190325332765
35. The last days of Hai Chi:
https://user.guancha.cn/main/content?id=131302
36. A Book about
Foochow Shipbuilding Institution – The first higher education college in
China’s modern history:
37. Book search in
Google for “Hai Chi” + ”Young Kai”：
https://www.google.com.hk/search?tbm=bks&hl=zh-TW&q=%22%E6%B5%B7%E5%9C%BB%22%2B%22%E6%A5%8A%E6%A5%B7%22
38. Assistant
Engineer Li King-sum plotted against Young Kai and intended to replace him as
Chief Engineer:
39. Conflicts among
Hai Chi’s officers because of Li King-sum’s plot against Young Kai:
40.
Naval officers from
Fukien Province refused to let Young Kai from Guangdong Province to go on board
the Chinese Cruiser Hai Chi in 1922, which could not be stopped even by the
Captain, reported by a Chinese newspaper in Vancouver on 7 March 1922:
https://chinesetimes.lib.sfu.ca/ctimes-24755/page-7
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