Heritage event bridges seas and centuries
Lost Chinese sailors will be honoured at an event in Newcastle. Tony Henderson reports
The fate of six sailors buried in a Tyneside graveyard will provide the opportunity to forge links between UK and Chinese experts.
The focus is the Beiyang Sailors memorial in St. John’s Cemetery in Elswick, Newcastle, which marks the graves of Chinese sailors Yuan Peifu, Gu Shizhong, Lian Jinyuan, Chen Shoufu, Chen Chengkui, and Gan Zhaogon.
They were members of the first two naval delegations which China sent to Europe and were part of crews that came to Newcastle in 1887 to collect two new warships from the Tyneside Armstrong-Whitworth shipyard.
Now bringing together heritage professionals, community and cultural organisations, and academics from both countries, the Bridging Seas and Centuries: Beiyang Sailors Legacy symposium at Newcastle University will discuss how maritime legacies are remembered and interpreted.
The sailors died during the crews’ stay on Tyneside, but over the years the graves fell into poor condition, and a campaign was started in 2016 to repair the damaged gravestones after Chinese students and the Chinese community in Britain called for the restoration of the graves.
The China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation launched its first global crowdfunding campaign and raised the money for the restoration work.
The symposium, on July 21–22, as well as exploring broader questions of heritage, memory, and museums in the UK and China, will also look at opportunities for international collaboration and developing heritage tourism.
The event will be led by Dr Yin Liang, lecturer in Human Resource Management at Newcastle University Business School.
It has been organised in collaboration with the Confucius Institute at Newcastle University and will include representatives from Newcastle City Council, North East Museums, and a range of other organisations with shared interests in heritage.
It will also involve academics and also Yongqiang Qi, Head of the Beiyang Fleet Heritage Foundation UK, and Consul General Tang Rui, from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China.
Dr Liang said: “This is more than just an academic symposium – hopefully it will mark the beginning of a meaningful effort in collaboration between the UK and China for heritage preservation.”
The cruisers – Zhiyuan and Jingyuan – were sailed back to China to join its Beiyang Fleet.
They took part in the Battle of the Yalu River in 1894, which ended in a Japanese victory over the Chinese. The Zhiyuan was hit and sunk, while the Jingyuan suffered damage and was scuttled six months later.
At a rededication ceremony in 2017 to mark the restoration, Minister Ma Hui from the Chinese Embassy in Britain said: “This project is of great significance because China and the UK worked together to preserve Chinese cultural relics overseas.
"As we honour the memory of the sailors, we are also reminded of the friendship between the Beiyang Fleet officers and sailors and the people of Newcastle, which was established when the Chinese sailors came for the cruisers."