Huichow Uprising

1900: Dr. Sun Yat-sen staged Huichow Uprising

When the Boxer Rebellion was in full force and the Eight Allied Powers invaded, Dr. Sun Yat-sen led members of the Revive China Society (Hsing Chung Hui) to Hong Kong to organize an uprising. Stopped by British colonial forces at the shore, they held their meeting aboard the ship and decided to launch the uprising in the Sanzhou Tea Farmland in Huichow. Zheng Shiliang was put in charge of command, while Dr. Sun went to Taiwan for aid.

The uprising army defeated the Qing army in every battle and expanded to 20,000 soldiers in no time. As they reached Xiamen (Amoy) in Fujian Province, ready to coordinate with Sun Yat-sen and receive munitions ordered from Japan, however, Japanese Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi unexpectedly changed his former policies with China and gave an order to stop exporting munitions. He also prohibited activities by Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries in Taiwan.

After more than half a month of bloody battle, with the ammunition exhausted, Zheng had no choice but to disassemble most of uprising army and lead a portion of the soldiers to find safety in Hong Kong and await instruction from Sun Yat-sen.