Black Flag Army

The Black Flag Army (Chinese: 黑旗軍; pinyin: Hēiqí Jūn; Vietnamese: Quân cờ đen) was a splinter remnant of a bandit group recruited largely from soldiers of ethnic Zhuang background, who crossed the border in 1865 from Guangxi, China into Upper Tonkin, then part of the Empire of Annam (Vietnam). Although brigands, they were known mainly for their fights against the invading French forces, who were then moving into Tonkin. With the sanction of both Vietnamese and Chinese authorities, the Black Flags joined the Vietnamese regular forces, stemming French encroachment beyond the Red River Delta. The Black Flag Army is so named because of the preference of its commander, Liu Yongfu, for using black command flags.

The rise and fall of the Black Flag Army

In 1857, Liu Yongfu (Vietnamese: Lưu Vĩnh Phúc), a Hakka soldier of fortune, commanded a group of about 200 men within a larger bandit group in Guangxi province headed by Huang Sihong (黃思宏). He defected with his men to the band of Wu Yuanqing (Wu Yuan-ch'ing, 吳元清) under his own – black – flag. Liu organized a ceremony reminiscent of the tiandihui rituals and what became known as the Black Flag Army was born. The "army" operated as an independent unit under Wu Yuanqing and under his son and successor, Wu Yazhong (Wu Ya-chung, 吳亞終) or Wu Hezhong. Although not part of the Taiping forces, both Wu Yuanqing and Wu Yazhong laid claim to be Taiping "princes".

Black Flag

Black Flag or black flag may refer to:

Anarchism

Flags

Music

Other uses

List of black flags

This is a list of flags which are entirely or largely black.

In history

Black Flag (song)

"Black Flag" is a song by the American alternative rock group King's X. It was released as a single in support of their 1992 album King's X.

Track listing

Charts

Personnel

Adapted from the Black Flag liner notes.

Release history

References

External links