01
On June 9, 1898, the Beijing National Affairs Yamen, the Qing Dynasty (Li Hongzhang) and the British (British Minister to China, Dou Nale) signed the "Sino-British Extension of Hong Kong's Boundary Treaty".
According to the treaty, on July 1, 1898, the Qing Dynasty was to "lease" all the land in Xin'an County, Guangdong Province (present-day Shenzhen, Guangdong) south of the Shenzhen River and north of Si Di Street in Kowloon to the British for a period of 99 years.
Fully accept the rule of the British Empire and become part of British Hong Kong.
(See the yellow part of the picture above)
The treaty was signed, but the British were in no hurry to take over the land.
Because since the Opium War in 1840, the British have repeatedly clashed with the local gentry in Guangdong, and the British have seen the fierceness of the local folk customs, and know that the Cantonese people with strong local concepts and strong clan ties are not easy to rule.
Therefore, this time the British were very cautious and decided to fully investigate and study before taking over.
对新界调查的任务分派给了港英政府的二把手——港督府的辅政司骆克（James Stewart Lockhart）。
This person is a "China expert", not only can speak fluent Cantonese, but also has a lot of research on Chinese culture, and even knows the Confucian classics, calling himself a "Confucian scholar".
In order to create a false impression for the residents of the New Territories that "Britain will practice benevolent governance", wherever they went, they did not disturb the people, and secondly, they did not want to receive them anywhere, and even took the initiative to donate money and property to the poor people.
It worked well - except for a few villages that resolutely resisted, the rest of the villages were deluded by the illusion, and at least there was no resistance to Locke's arrival.
China and Britain set up boundary monuments on the Shenzhen River, and the red circle is Locke
Immediately afterwards, the British government in Hong Kong began to make intensive preparations for a full takeover of the New Territories.
02
On January 21, 1899, 25 Hong Kong policemen, under the protection of 150 British troops stationed in Hong Kong, came to Tai Po Market in the New Territories, erected bamboo scaffolding, hung up a sign of "Hong Kong New Territories Police Station of the British Empire", and raised the "rice flag".
Suddenly, thousands of people poured in from all directions, demanding that the rice flag be lowered and the bamboo shed demolished.
How could the British give in? Lined up in battle formation, more than 100 guns were aimed at the people armed with broadswords and steel forks.
The two sides were locked in a standoff.
Upon hearing of the accident at Tai Po Market, Bu Li immediately dispatched more than 200 soldiers, armed with two machine guns, to quickly reinforce them.
And more and more people rushed to reinforce them, but most of them were holding all kinds of cold weapons, some even holding farm tools as weapons, and only a few people were holding earthen guns.
With such a disparity in strength, in the end, in order to avoid unnecessary sacrifices, the squire of the New Territories beckoned the villagers to withdraw from the scene.
The crisis was lifted for the time being, but a larger revolt was brewing.
03
Last year, when Locke went to the New Territories to conduct investigations, the villages of Ping Shan and Kam Tin in the New Territories refused to let Locke enter the village, and even threw rocks at Locke.
These villages are inhabited by the Tang family, which has the oldest and most prestigious history in the region.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, they moved in from Jiangxi.
In the past 800 years, the descendants have spread to Dongguan County and Huizhou Prefecture, and have become famous gentry in Xin'an County.
Tang Clan Ancestral Hall, Kam Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong
Why did the Deng family resist?
First, the Tang family owned a large amount of land in the New Territories. They heard that after Hong Kong was ceded to the British, all the land was expropriated by the British without compensation, so they were deeply afraid that when the "ghosts" came, their own land and property would also be robbed;
Second, they heard that Hong Kong has British law, there is no ancestral hall, and concubines are not allowed, and even Christmas can only be celebrated instead of the New Year. It's okay not to let concubines go, but not to let them go into the ancestral hall to worship their ancestors and burn incense, which is tantamount to asking for their lives.
From this conflict, the Deng family saw that the British were well-armed and well-trained, and the villagers were by no means opponents.
Therefore, while contacting the descendants of the Deng clan in various places, they also raised funds to buy weapons and train village warriors.
Prepare for a big fight with the British, and never let the "rice flag" be raised in the New Territories!
04
By mid-March, news came from Hong Kong that Hong Kong Governor Bully planned to officially hold a "flag-raising ceremony" at Tai Po Market on April 17, that is, the British would officially take over the New Territories on this day.
Time was pressing, and Deng Yishi, the leader of the Deng family in Kam Tin, decided to immediately convene the representatives of the squires to form an anti-British guild.
However, except for the representatives of the Deng family, who firmly expressed their opposition to the British, most of the other representatives were cold.
Their reason is: the court doesn't want us anymore, and there is no need to rush to be a Qing person. Besides, what level of equipment the British had, we have all seen it in Tai Po Market, just our earthen guns and artillery to do with the British, isn't it an egg to hit a stone?
Deng Yishi was afraid that the anti-British strength would not be enough, so he hurriedly sent someone to Yantian Village, Dongguan County, to find his brother of the same clan, Deng Fuliang, and asked him to come to help.
Deng Fuliang was born as a martial artist, brave and fierce, and he had long been very resentful of the imperial court's behavior of giving up land to foreigners.
After receiving the letter for help, he immediately summoned the villagers, packed his weapons, prepared dry food, and set off quickly.
Anti-British New Territories Bravery
According to Tang Yishek's plan, an attack was launched on April 17 at Tai Po Market during a flag-raising ceremony, annihilating the heads of the Hong Kong government in one fell swoop.
But what he didn't expect was that an unexpected event disrupted the entire plan and caused this war of resistance against Britain to break out in advance......
05
On April 14, the New Territories Police Station set up by the British Government of Hong Kong in Tai Po Market set up a temporary ceremonial booth and viewing platform in preparation for the flag-raising ceremony.
The people of Tai Po were furious when they saw it, and when night fell, a fire burned the altar and viewing platform.
The British immediately opened fire on the villagers who set the fire, and the villagers returned fire with earthen guns.
When Deng Yishi got the news, he immediately made a decision to send the villagers of Ping Shan and Kam Tin to reinforce him, and sent people to dig trenches at the eastern foot of Tai Po Tau Mountain, set up horse rejection to cut off the only road from Hong Kong to Tai Po.
In the early morning of April 15, Hong Kong Governor Brik received news that in view of the fact that the road from Hong Kong to Tai Po had been cut off, he ordered 500 British troops led by Locke to board warships, bypass the Sai Kung Peninsula, and attack Tai Po from the sea.
On the morning of 16 April, the British fleet arrived at Tolo Harbour east of Tai Po Market and immediately shelled the Heung Yong position, while the infantry forced a landing.
Deng Yishi commanded the villagers to hold out with backward weapons until noon, and finally could not resist it and were forced to retreat in the direction of Kam Tin.
At around 2 p.m., Locke led the LinkedIn Army into Tai Po Market, held a simple flag-raising ceremony, and then ordered a pursuit north, vowing to eradicate these rebels.
The flag-raising ceremony at Tai Po Market in the New Territories photographed by a British
06
On the morning of 17 April, the British pursued to Lam Village, north of Tai Po Market.
Deng Yishi led 2,500 villagers and set up an ambush.
The vanguard of the British army was beaten to the ground. However, large units of the army arrived one after another, using machine guns and light field artillery, inflicting heavy casualties on Xiang Yong.
Deng Yishi decisively retreated backwards.
The British army pursued relentlessly, and late that night, the pursuit reached Shiwei, and the people were sleepy and tired, so they had to camp and rest.
What they never expected was that when they woke up the next morning, no less than 5,000 villagers had gathered in Shiwei.
It turned out that Deng Fuliang led 3,000 Yantian Township Yong to meet Deng Yishi's team.
Shek Wai is very close to the center of Kam Tin, Ji Hing Wai, and the British army must be dealt a big blow here to ensure the safety of Ji Hing Wai.
When the British saw this posture, they knew that the situation was not good, and wanted to break through quickly, but they did not expect that the leading officer was knocked down by a fire gun as soon as he rushed out of the stone encirclement, and he was seriously wounded.
The British army was leaderless, so they had to stay in the stone wall, relying on their firepower advantage to resist the attack of the villagers.
When Locke heard about it at Tai Po Market, he immediately ordered the British warships anchored at Tolo Harbour to launch long-range fire strikes at Shek Wai.
Schematic diagram of the six-day anti-British battlefield in the New Territories
Xiang Yong, who was backward in weapons, suffered heavy casualties again, and held out until the afternoon, when Deng Yishi ordered the whole team to withdraw to Jiqingwei, preparing to rely on the fortifications of Jiqingwei to make a final resistance.
Ji Hing Wai is the place where the ancestors of the Tang family first settled in Kam Tin.
Since the Kangxi period, the Deng family has built a wall more than 6 meters high and more than 3 meters thick around the village, and dug a moat more than 10 meters wide.
There is only one entrance and exit to the whole village, and it is equipped with a sturdy chain of iron gates.
There are also many shooting holes in the perimeter wall.
If it's an ordinary bandit pirate, there's really no way to take such a fence.
It's a pity that in the face of the most advanced British army, the ancient walls and iron gates are already difficult to resist.
On the 19th, in the afternoon, Deng Yishi and Deng Fuliang escaped from Jiqingwei under the cover of their clansmen and ran all the way to the north of the Shenzhen River.
The British army vigorously searched for Xiang Yong, and the iron gate was unloaded and transported back to Hong Kong as trophies.
The chain iron gate at the entrance of Chi Hing Wai Village The gate was returned to the Tang family by the British government in Hong Kong in 1925
07
The New Territories rebellion failed, and Locke had even greater ambitions-
On the evening of May 16, a large number of British troops suddenly crossed the Shenzhen River and invaded the Shenzhen Market.
There were originally more than 1,000 Qing troops stationed here, but in the face of the fierce British army, they didn't dare to fire a single shot, and directly disarmed and surrendered.
The British army continued to advance northward, attempting to seize more land.
Rao is no matter how weak and incompetent the Qing Kingdom is, it can't bear it at this time.
Li Hongzhang immediately sent a note to Dou Nale and asked why Britain did not abide by the treaty?
Dou Nale bit back: The anti-British movement in the New Territories was instructed behind the back by Tan Chung-lin, the governor of Liangguang, and there were Qing troops wearing uniforms who mixed into the countryside to participate in the war, so it was the Qing Dynasty that breached the contract first.
Li Hongzhang retorted: Governor Tam sent notices to the people of the New Territories several times, informing them of what the British were about to accept, and asking the villagers to abide by their duties and not to cause chaos. You say that Governor Tan secretly instructed the people to resist the British, where is the evidence?
In fact, Dou Nale knew in his heart that Tan Zhonglin really had nothing to do with this matter, but he resolutely refused to withdraw his troops.
After several battles, Britain set conditions for withdrawing troops - to remove Tan Chung-lun, and at the same time compensate Britain for 150,000 silver dollars in military expenses, and apologize to Britain.
In the face of such unreasonable and arrogant demands, the Qing government finally showed an unprecedented hardline attitude and resolutely refused to accept it.
However, it was just that they did not accept the unreasonable demands of the British and sent troops to counterattack and recover Shenzhen, which they did not dare to kill.
Those who dare to do it with ghosts have to be the people of Guangdong.
08
After the British army occupied Shenzhen, Deng Fuliang, who ran back to his hometown in Yantian, immediately gathered the villagers and once again organized more than 3,000 anti-British volunteers to camp in Buji and Shatoujiao, north of the Shenzhen market, and confronted more than 1,000 British troops.
After the Battle of the New Territories, Deng Fuliang knew that the British army was fierce, so he did not face the British army, but organized a small group of death squads to constantly harass the British camp and kill the British sentries at night.
In this way, from May to October, the British casualties continued to rise, and the cost of military operations increased day by day.
Finally, the British government had to reassess the rationality of the invasion of Shenzhen.
After evaluation, the British government believes that this area has a large population and a strong sense of resistance, and if Britain wants to occupy it for a long time, it will definitely pay a great price, and the gains outweigh the losses.
Finally, on November 13, the British army withdrew across the Shenzhen River.
09
This anti-British campaign in the New Territories caused very limited losses to Britain militarily.
According to British statistics, only 2 British officers were wounded, and more than 30 Indian and Chinese soldiers were killed or wounded.
More than 500 people were killed and thousands were wounded.
But politically, it's a very profitable battle-
In view of the fierce protests of the villagers in the New Territories, the British government in Hong Kong had no choice but to implement "one Hong Kong, two systems", that is, to implement British law in Hong Kong and Kowloon, and to implement the "Great Qing Law" in the New Territories, retain the land ownership of the New Territories gentry, respect the local customs and habits, ancestral halls, ancestor worship, concubines, and everything is business as usual.
At the same time, a large number of squires were also recruited to join the management body of the New Territories, and the "Anglo-Chinese co-management" was implemented.
Therefore, in a sense, Hong Kong and Kowloon are "British colonies" in the true sense of the word, everything is decided by the British, and the New Territories can only be regarded as "semi-colonies", and the Chinese still have a lot of weight in their words.
In 1925, the Governor of Hong Kong, Stubbs, handed over the iron gate to Jiqing Wai
Shenzhen's anti-British movement is even more significant-
Let Shenzhen avoid becoming a second New Territories.
PS：
When Lao Wang traveled to Hong Kong in 2017, the hotel he stayed in was on "Lockhart Road" on Hong Kong Island.
The road, named after Locke, is located close to Victoria Bay and is bustling with many bars.
However, few people know about the righteous mounds of the New Territories villagers who died in 1899.
Bibliography:
Manuscripts of Qing History, Records of the Qing Dynasty, History of Hong Kong, The Forgotten Six-Day War, 6000 Years of Hong Kong: Ancient Times-1997, Locke and the New Territories of Hong Kong