On this Day in Chinese History; 26 February

This day, 26 February, in 1841, Commander-in-Chief of Naval Forces Guan Tianpei died heroically in a fierce battle with British forces in the Battle of the Bogue. In the British account of the Battle, Guan was called “a fine specimen of a gallant soldier”, while the following day, HMS Blenheim fired a salute of minute guns in his honour. Guan was born in 1781 in Shanyang county (today’s Huai’an City) in Jiangsu Province.