Liu Yongfu

Liu Yongfu (simplified Chinese: 刘永福; traditional Chinese: 劉永福; pinyin: Liú Yǒngfú; Wade–Giles: Liu Yung-fu; Vietnamese: Lưu Vĩnh Phúc) (1837–1917) was a Chinese soldier of fortune and commander of the celebrated Black Flag Army. Liu won fame as a Chinese patriot fighting against the French in northern Vietnam (Tonkin) in the 1870s and early 1880s. During the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885) he established a close friendship with the Chinese statesman and general Tang Ching-sung, and in 1895 he helped Tang organise resistance to the Japanese invasion of Taiwan. He succeeded Tang as the second and last leader of the short-lived Republic of Formosa (5 June–21 October 1895).

Early years

Liu Yongfu was born on 10 October 1837 in the town of Qinzhou (Ch'in-chou, 欽州) in southern China, close to the Vietnamese border. Qinzhou, now in Guangxi province, was at that time in the extreme southwest of Guangdong province. The ancestral home of Liu's family was the village of Popai in Guangxi province, and when he was eight his parents moved to Shangsizhou (Shang-ssu-chou, 上思州) in Guangxi. Liu's family was poor, living by manual work for others, and was only just able to scrape a living. In 1857 Liu joined a local militia force commanded by Wu Yuanqing (Wu Yuan-ch'ing, 吳元清), who claimed to hold a commission from the Taipings.